210 COLIN CLOUT'S CALENDAR. 



to interfere with crest of Ben Lomond or of Scawfell ; 

 we must rather account for it by the gradual secular 

 mitigation of the seasons and the slow retreat of the 

 Alpine types before the triumphant march of the central 

 European flora. 



On the other hand, the mass of the Scotch highlands 

 is still occupied by a whole flourishing flora of glacial 

 plants, which will require many ages yet before they are 

 finally driven out by the intrusive phalanx of Germanic 

 species. Indeed, to this day it is not too much to say 

 that while the general aspect of vegetation in Devonshire 

 and Cornwall, or in the Killarney district, is now Span- 

 ish or Portuguese, and while the general aspect in Nor- 

 folk and Suffolk is German, the general aspect in the 

 Perthshire hills is arctic or Alpine. The most northern 

 and most glacial forms are to be found only on a few 

 scattered peaks ; but the slopes and the straths are still 

 richly clothed with more vigorous sub-arctic types ; 

 with winter-greens and bear-berries ; Alpine bartsia and 

 Alpine veronica ; the snowy gentian and the arctic 

 butterwort. Indeed, in a land of ptarmigans and 

 white hares we may say that the glacial epoch in its 

 final phase continues among us even yet. 



