73. ORCHlDACEiE. 427 



to suppose a connexion between the two series of facts. 

 And yet we still find good botanical observers, feeble in 

 the faculty of reasoning, who deny any connexion between 

 the soil and vegetation, other than one depending upon the 

 mechanical characters of the former, such as its state of 

 adhesion or porosity. 



1052. Orchis latifolia, Linn 



Area general. 



South limit in Cornwall, Isle of Wight, Kent. 



North limit in Shetland, Orkney, Hebrides. 



Estimate of provinces 18. Estimate of counties 82, 



Latitude 50 — 61. British type of distribution. 



Agrarian region. Inferagrarian — Superagrarian zones. 



Descends to the coast level, in the Peninsula. 



Ascends to 350 yards, in East Highlands. 



Range of mean annual temperature 52 — 43. 



Native. Uliginal, &c. It would not be easy to select 

 any counties from which this species will be found wholly 

 absent, although rather a scarce plant in several ; and the 

 estimate has consequently been made to include all. Yet 

 there seems something false or anomalous in thus placing 

 Orchis latifolia in the same class of frequency as the Bellis 

 or the Montia, which are so much more general and abun- 

 dant. The anomaly would disappear, however, if we could 

 take a census on a more minute and numerous division of 

 Britain, than thai into 82 counties. Suppose each county 

 subdivided into ten sections, the Bellis or the Montia 

 would be found in far more of the 820 sections than would 

 tlie Orchis latifolia. 



