346 POPULAR GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



that a corresponding peculiarity exists in the species of 

 insects.* 



The plants of which the group is composed which cha- 

 racterizes the British mountain flora (No. IV.), and which 

 are identical in species with those on the mountains of Scan- 

 dinavia, are found in the greatest number on the mountains 

 of Scotland, a " progressive diminution of Alpine forms " 

 being observed towards the south. The first plant of this 

 northern stamp which " disappears sputhwards," called Nor- 

 wegian Sandwort (Arenaria Norvegica), is "confined to the 

 most northern of the Shetland Isles/' The plant next men- 

 tioned is a beautiful little Primrose (Primula Scoticd), which 

 grows in the Orkney Islands and on the northern shores of 

 Scotland, but extends no further southward ; but in Norway 

 it was discovered growing in abundance by Professor Forbes. 

 The blossoms of this pretty little Primrose grow about five 

 in a cluster, on a stalk not more than three or four inches 

 long ; the colour is a pale violet. The calyx and the leaves 



* " Les animaux doues d'une faculte de locomotion peu developpee, comme 

 les mollusques terrestres, ceux qui vivent dans les eaux douces, et les in- 

 sectes particuliers a certaines plantes, out une distribution geographique 

 basee sur les memes lois et les memes conditions que les vegetaux." A. De 

 Candollis ' Geographic Botanique Eaisonnee' 



