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its perfection. In September, the grass is parched, the heather 

 begins to wither, and a brown or gray tint prevails over the 

 whole landscape, little relieved even by the red and yellow hues 

 of the autumnal trees. While, again, if we turn our attention 

 from the general outlines of the scene, and look more closely at its 

 details, we shall find no less cause to admire the effects of an 

 atmosphere moist and warm. To it we owe not only the abundant 

 growth of natural wood which clothes the glens and sea-cliffs, but 

 also the size and splendour of many of our finest shrubs and wild 

 flowers, such as the laburnum, the hawthorn, the foxglove, the 

 honeysuckle, and perhaps most strikingly of all, the luxuriant 

 profusion of the whole fern tribe, from the stately Osmunda to 

 the lowly Hymenophyllum. 



105. On proceeding to analyze the flora of a given district, that is, 

 to examine the internal relations of its constituent parts, noting what 

 species, or genera, or families, are abundant, what rare, and what 

 character is thus imparted to the vegetation, we may regard 

 it under two aspects, as illustrating the peculiar features of the 

 tract itself, or as indicating the relations of that tract to the 

 surrounding regions, what may be called its general botanico- 

 geographical position. Glancing at the flora of Arran from this 

 latter point of view, we shall observe some interesting facts. 

 Writers on the botanical geography of Britain class the plants 

 of our country according to several " types of distribution," to 

 denote their geographical range and affinities. Thus many species, 

 occurring chiefly in the east and south of England, are assigned to 

 the Germanic type ; others, most of them denizens of the Scottish 

 Highlands, are referred to the Scandinavian ; while others again, 

 characterizing Ireland and the westerly coasts of Britain, are grouped 

 under the Atlantic type. Some few there are, found only in Corn- 

 wall and the west of Ireland, whose affinities are with the Spanish 

 Peninsula, and especially with the mountains of the Asturias, and for 

 these there is proposed a Lusitanian type. Somewhat similar to the 

 position of Britain, if we may be allowed to compare great things 

 with small, is the position of Arran. Most of its common species 

 the plants of the field, the road-side, the marsh it has in common 

 with the western Lowlands of Scotland, which stand to it in the same 

 relation that the continent does to England. These Lowland plants 

 form the bulk of its flora. They include almost all those of common 

 occurrence, as well as several of the rarer sort such as Ranunculus 

 Lingua, Heliantliemum vulgare, Epipactis ensifolia, Samolus Vale~ 

 randij the BotrycMum and Ophioglossum, A splenium ruta-muraria, 



