791 



the Highland type will comprehend about a fifteenth of the whole 

 flora of Britain ; its species scarcely reaching a hundred. But if we 

 should unite the Highland and Scottish types, as one boreal type in 

 contrast against the austral or English, they would together constitute 

 about an eighth of the species now fairly wild in Britain. As ex- 

 amples of thoroughly Highland species, such as do not occur in any 

 province southward of the Highlands, we may cite Azalea procura- 

 bens, Cherleria sedoides, Veronica alpina, Alopecurus alpinus, Phleum 

 alpinum, Juncus trifidus, Sibbaldia procumbens, Erigeron alpinus, and 

 Gentiana nivalis. And as examples of other species which occur like- 

 wise on the more southern mountains, and mostly descend lower on 

 those of the Highland provinces, we may enumerate Salix herbacea, 

 Silene acaulis, Saxifraga stellaris, Oxyria reniformis, Thalictrum al- 

 pinum, Luzula spicata, Juncus triglumis, Rubus Chamaemorus, Epi- 

 lobium alsinifolium, Draba incana, Dryas octopetala, and Alchemilla 

 alpina. 



" 5. The Germanic Type. — The distribution of several species 

 which might otherwise be associated with those of the English type, 

 is peculiarly characterized by a tendency to the eastern side of the 

 island. Some few of these are absolutely restricted to the south-east- 

 ern provinces of England, — Channel, Thames, Ouse, one or more ; 

 while others of them extend farther northward or westward, yet de- 

 cidedly diminishing in abundance in either direction. As the creta- 

 ceous deposits lie almost solely in the eastern and south-eastern pro- 

 vinces of England, the ' chalk plants ' are included with the others 

 referred to the present type ; although, it is to be recollected, that the 

 type is primarily founded upon botanico-geographical pecuUarities, 

 and not upon any geological characters. Some of the eastern species 

 extend even into Scotland ; but, for the most part, they are the spe- 

 cies of England. The name of ' Germanic ' type is not apphed with 

 reference to any supposed origin from Germany, but simply as indi- 

 cating the tendency of the species to a distribution connected with 

 those provinces of England which are bounded by the German or 

 North Sea eastward, including the Straits of Dover and upper part of 

 the English Channel ; for the species of this present, and those of the 

 next type, more or less intermingle in the counties of the English 

 Channel. The species which can be assigned to this type may run 

 between a fifteenth and a twentieth of those which are reputed to be 

 indigenous in Britain ; the number varying according to the degree of 

 decrease westward which may be deemed sufficient to warrant the as- 

 signment of species to the present rather than to the English type. 



