GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 49 



traveller, informs us that in Spitzbergen "the rocks of 

 schistus rising out of the mass of everlasting ice are thickly 

 clothed with mosses." 



Such is the covering afforded to the frozen soil during the 

 short summer in these dreary wastes. The scene recalls to 

 our recollection a passage in Darwin's ' Loves of the Plants/ 

 in which some verdant Muscus is represented addressing 

 the ruddy-complexioned Ccenomyce : — 



" Awake, my love, enamour'd Muscus cries, 



Stretch thy fair limhs, refulgent maid, arise ; 



Ope thy sweet eye-lids to the rising ray. 

 ******* 



Down the white hills dissolving torrents pour, 



Green springs the turf, and purj)le blows the flower ; 



His torpid wing the rail exulting tries, 



Mounts the soft gale, and wantons in the skies ; 



Kise, let us mark how bloom the awaken'd grores, 



And 'mid the banks of roses hide our loves." 



But a small proportion of the species from these regions 

 are found in fructification,, — a circumstance, as Dr. Hooker 

 remarks, which "gives additional force to the argument 

 that what we consider the seeds of these plants, are by no 

 means necessary for their increase." 



Here we may remark that Mosses are subject, in their 

 distribution, to the same law that regulates plants of a 



E 



