216 LAMARCKIAN HYPOTHESIS OF THE 



each of these is partaken of by a portion of the opposite con- 

 tinent. There are, first, a flora confined to the west of Ire- 

 land, and imparted likewise to the north-west of Spain ; se- 

 cond, a flora in the south-west promontory of England and 

 of Ireland, extending across the Channel to the north-west 

 coast of France ; third, one common to the south-east of Eng- 

 land and north of France ; fourth, an Alpine flora developed 

 in the Scottish and Welsh Highlands, and intimately related 

 to that of the Norwegian Alps ; fifth, a flora which prevails 

 over a large part of England and Ireland, * mingled with 

 other floras, and diminishing slightly as we proceed west- 

 ward :' this bears intimate relation with the flora of Germany. 

 Facts so remarkable would force the meanest fact-collector or 

 species-demonstrator into generalization. The really ingeni- 

 ous man who lately brought them under notice (Professor 

 Edward Forbes) could only surmise, as their explanation, that 

 the spaces now occupied by the intermediate seas must have 

 been dry land at the time when these floras were created. 

 In that case, either the original arrangement of the floras, ol 

 the selection of land for submergence, must have been appo- 

 site to the case in a degree far from usual. The necessity 

 for a simpler cause is obvious, and it is found in the hypo- 

 thesis of a spread of terrestrial vegetation from the sea into the 

 lands adjacent. The community of forms in the various 

 regions opposed to each other merely indicates a distinct 

 marine creation in each of the oceanic areas respectively in- 

 terposed, and which would naturally advance into the lands 

 nearest to it, as far as circumstances of soil and climate were 

 found agreeable." 



Such, regarding the origin of terrestrial vegetation, are the 

 views of Maillet, Oken, and the author of the " Yestiges." 

 They all agree in holding that the plants of the land existed 

 jn their first condition as weeds of the sea. 



Let me request the reader at this stage, ere we pass on to 



