330 POPULAR GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



I. The mountainous districts of the west and south-west 

 of Ireland are characterized by the presence of a few prolific 

 species. " The nearest point of continental Europe, where 

 these plants are native, is the north of Spain/' 



II. In the south-west of England and south-east of Ire- 

 land the flora includes a number of species not elsewhere 

 seen in the British Isles, and is intimately related to that of 

 the Channel Islands and the neighbouring part of Trance. 



III. In the south-east of England, where rocks of chalk 

 most predominate, the vegetation corresponds with " the 

 opposite coast of Prance." 



IY. The species which compose the British mountain 

 flora are, with one exception, identical with many of those 

 on the mountains of Scandinavia. 



Y. "The general flora of the British Isles, which is 

 everywhere present, alone or in company with the others, 

 is identical as to species with the flora of Central and 

 Western Europe,'' and is styled Germanic. 



Before telling over the names of all the different species, 

 which respectively characterize these five distinct provinces, 

 we ought to have some notion of the various changes which 

 the surface and outline of the countries in question have 

 undergone, and of the different epochs during which the 



