The Romance of a Wayside Weed. 77 



heavy frosts, and slowly dying out under our very 

 eyes, they have yet left here and there a k^ isolated 

 descendants to tell the story of their origin and their 

 failure. Curiously enough, these little lingering colo- 

 nies of Mediterranean plants exist only on the southern 

 and western slopes, among the cliffs and combes and 

 bays which face and overlook the submerged lands 

 whence their ancestors were driven by the advancing 

 sea. So oddly do they confine themselves to the 

 islands and the most insular peninsulas that their 

 geographical distribution almost looks like a precon- 

 certed arrangement. 



Thus we may observe once more that one little 

 islet of the Bristol Channel alone preserves the red 

 paeony. Holyhead Island has half a dozen rare 

 species. The Jersey centaury, Pelisser's linaria, and 

 several other southern flowers have died out every- 

 where save in the Channel Islands. Scilly shares 

 with them in the sand bird's foot. The Irish. Arran 

 and other Irish islands have many peculiar species ; 

 and a kvi southern types even reach Bute and the 

 western Highlands ; for, as every one knows, Rothesay 

 has a climate almost as warm as Torquay. So, too, 

 with the peninsulas. The Lizard, with the most 

 equable temperature on the English coast, is a perfect 

 mine of wealth to the botanist. It has three peculiar 



