ADAPTATION TO PLACES. 173 



Iceland, in which an egg can be cooked in four 

 minutes, a species of plant is known to flourish ; 

 and in the mud of a hot spring in the Island of 

 Amsterdam, the heat of which is considerably be- 

 yond the boiling-point, a kind of liverwort grows. 

 On the other hand, in the realms of perpetual 

 frost, the snow, which scarcely yields to the influ- 

 ence of the solar rays in midsummer, is often red- 

 dened for miles by the profuse growth of the 

 minute cryptogamic plant known as "red snow," 

 and the lichen, which forms the food of the rein- 

 deer, grows in great luxuriance entirely buried 

 under the snow. In like manner, in situations 

 where in general these roots can find no moisture 

 whatever, numerous races of plants thrive with 

 apparently as much luxuriance as " willows by the 

 watercourses." In all such instances it is obvious 

 there must be a designed correspondence and 

 adaptation of the plant and its organisation to the 

 conditions under which it is to exist. 



These observations obtain a striking illustra- 

 tion from the physiology of sea-shore plants, 

 strictly so called. Some of them make their 

 abode on shores and rocks, in gravel, or in the 

 sand. In such instances there is either no soil 

 whatever, or the soil contains no moisture, and is 

 destitute of the chemical properties which belong 

 to the ground in inland situations. For such pe- 

 culiarities of condition there must be an express 

 provision in the organisation of the plant, otherwise 

 it could not subsist. 



Without referring to those plants which, al- 



