V. INEQUALITIES OF DISTKIBUTION. 431 



although a much wider European area would require to 

 be taken under view in order to bring all the remaining 

 British species within its limits, after excluding the few 

 not certainly known to occur anywhere in Europe. And 

 as some of these few are elsewhere found in America only, 

 the extra-britannic area, large enough to include repeti- 

 tions of all the British species, is a very wide one indeed ; 

 even supposing that no true species is absolutely and 

 exclusively restricted to these islands. 



2. Distrihutivc Diversities. — In the lists printed on 

 former pages of this volume, having reference to the 

 areas and census of species, inequalities and other diver- 

 sities of distribution appear to be almost as numerous as 

 the sj)ecies themselves. Arrangements of the plants 

 might be made, and some of them have been made, 

 according to latitude, — according to longitude, — ac- 

 cording to altitude, — according to climate, — according to 

 provinces, — according to counties, &c., &c. None of the 

 groups so formed would exactly corresijond with each 

 other by the species included in them. Those plants 

 which agreed in one character of their distribution, would 

 be found to differ in another ; those which might be 

 placed together in some of the groups or arrangements, 

 would be separated in others. The floral diversities be- 

 tween different countries, or between different portions of 

 any single and separated country, are inevitable results of 

 the existing inequalities of distribution between species, 

 such as have been already enumerated and shown specially 

 for Britain. It would perhaps be more correct to say, 

 that they really are those inequalities themselves, brought 

 under notice, and variously apportioned, through the 

 customary manner of dividing the earth's surface into 

 sections, political and geogi'aphical. 



