Wild Flowers 375 



height, particularly distinguished by the largeness of 

 their flowers, and the purity and brilliancy of their 

 colour. He will have seen masses of the lovely white 

 blossoms of the Ranunculus glacialis (Glacier Crow- 

 foot), intermingled with the handsome yellow corolla 

 of the Ranunculus nivalis (Snow Crowfoot), and the 

 brilliant pink flowers of the Saoaifmga oppositifoUa, 

 and, probably, as on Knudsho in the Dovrefjeld, one or 

 two specimens to be found here only in the Old 

 World. 



Professor Blytt, the distinguished scientist and pro- 

 fessor of botany at Christiania University, explains 

 this seeming incongruity in his interesting pamphlets 

 — which are published in Christiania, and unfortunately 

 have no circulation in England — entitled ' On Varia- 

 tions of Climate in the Course of Time,' and ' Essay on 

 the Immigration of the Norwegian Flora during alter- 

 nate Eainy and Dry Periods.' The former pamphlet 

 begins as follows : — 'If we examine the meteorological 

 charts of Norway, we observe at once what a great 

 influence the sea and the mountains exercise over the 

 climate in various parts. Nearly all the climatological 

 lines run more or less with the shape of the coast, so 

 that we encounter far greater variations when proceed- 

 \\\<y from the centre coastwards, than from south to 

 north. In keeping with this peculiarity are the varia- 

 tions of the flora.' 



He then proceeds to call attention to the following 

 facts : — 



The alpine flora of the slaty tracts in the mountains 

 of Norway is also found in Arctic regions, and is there- 

 fore of an Arctic character. As these plants naturally 



