INTRODUCTORY EXPLANATIONS. 51 



species of this present, and those of the next type, more 

 or less intermingle in the counties of the English Channel. 

 The species which can be assigned to this type may run 

 between a fifteenth and a twentieth of those which are re- 

 puted to be indigenous in Britain ; the number varying 

 according to the degree of decrease westward which may 

 be deemed sufficient to warrant the assignment of species 

 to the present rather than to the English type. Among 

 the examples of the type may be instanced the following; 

 namely, Frankenia laevis, Anemone Pulsatilla, Reseda lu- 

 tea, Silene noctiflora, Silene conica, Bupleurum tenuissi- 

 mum, Pimpinella magna, Pulicaria vulgaris, Lactuca Sca- 

 riola, Atriplex pedunculata, Aceras anthropophora, Ophrys 

 aranifera, and Spartina stricta. 



6. The Atlantic Type. — Contrary to the peculiarity of 

 distribution which constitutes the Germanic type, there is 

 in that of other species a marked tendency towards the 

 western and south-western coasts or counties. Some few 

 species are absolutely restricted to the single province of 

 the Peninsula. Others occur also in one or more of the 

 adjacent provinces. And others, again, run far up the 

 western coasts in a northerly direction, often plentifully 

 there, and yet occur very rarely, or not at all, towards the 

 eastern coasts of the island. These species, although thus 

 dissimilar in respect of their area and census, correspond 

 in the one circumstance of having some decided tendency 

 to the western or Atlantic side of the island, in contradis- 

 tinction to the eastern or Germanic side. Although there 

 may exist other reasons for specially denominating some 

 of these the " Atlantic species,'' the name of the type will 

 be here understood as having reference only to their dis- 

 tribution within Britain itself, and by itself About the 

 same number of species are likely to be referred to this 

 type, as to the Germanic ; its arithmetical value being 



