BOTANY. 101 



" The same is the case, and even in a higher degree, with 

 respect to tropical countries ; the plants change more accord- 

 ing to the soil, and the earth on which they grow, than 

 according to the distance. To prove this, I would mention 

 India, in which country, wherever the same soil is found, one 

 may be sure to find, not only the same families, but also the 

 same species. I forbear mentioning instances, as they would 

 prove too numerous. The high mountains, throughout the 

 globe, possess a vegetation entirely different from that of the 

 low country, and even from that of the lower mountains ; but 

 which present every where not only the same species, but 

 often the same families, and always the same forms. 



" It was very interesting to me to examine the Neilgherry 

 Hills, which perhaps cannot be classed among the Alps of 

 our globe, but which have a vegetation quite Alpine, embel- 

 lished, and enlarged by the tropical sun, and the perpendicular 

 beams of light ; nearly all the forms of plants of the Euro- 

 pean Alps, with few exceptions, are found also here. A great 

 number of families, and genera are similar, but not one single 

 species, which I had occasion to observe, is the same, with the 

 exception perhaps of Viola canina, which might be one of 

 those subvariations, as Viola canina, Alpina, Pyreniana, neg- 

 lecta, &c. which I have not sufficiently compared. Berberis, 

 so similar to B. communis, differs from it ; it is perhaps B. 

 vulgaris Nigra, of the Levant. Most other plants, as Bubus 

 fruticosus, Fragaria silvestris, &c. have been called so, by 

 persons who suffered themselves to be deceived by a super- 

 ficial (slight) resemblance. 



" It would be very difficult for me, without an Herbarium 

 without books, and even engravings, to speak positively, and 

 to state, that the Neilgherries have no species, in common 

 with any other part of the globe. For instance, I think the 



