32 



THE WOELD OE LIEE 



Floras of Europe, showing Influence of Latitude 



Countries. 



Europe 



Lapland 



Scandinavia and 

 Denmark . . . . 



Sweden 



Britain 



Germany 



Switzerland . . . 



France 



Italy 



Sardinia 



Sicily 



Area. 

 Square Miles. 



No. of 

 Species. 



;3,850,000 

 150,000 

 456,000 



173,000 



87,500 



208,000 



16,000 



204,000 



91,400 



9,300 



9,940 



9500 



500 



1677 



1165 

 1860 

 2547 

 2454 

 4260 

 4350 

 1770 

 2070 



Nyman 



A. De Candolle 



(( 



Lend. Cat., 1895 



Garehe, 1908 



Schinz and Kellar, 1908 



Coste, 1906 



Beccari 



The above table shows us a continuous and well-marked 

 increase as we go from north to south, the irregularities in 

 this increase being well accounted for bj local conditions and 

 by allowing something for differences of area. Sweden is so 

 much poorer than Britain, owing to its having been completely 

 ice-clad during the glacial epoch, while much of southern Brit- 

 ain was free. Gennany is poorer than Erance, partly on 

 account of its severer continental climate, but also owing to 

 Erance possessing a greater variety of surface, owing to its 

 including a portion of the loftiest Alps in the south-east, the 

 isolated Pyrenees in the south, the Jura and Vosges mountains 

 on the north-east, and its central volcanic ranges, together with 

 its southern Mediterranean coast, and a very extensive west- 

 ern and northern coast-line. It also has a more diversified 

 soil, owing to far less of its surface being buried under glacial 

 debris. Italy has still greater advantages of a similar kind, 

 and its slight superiority to Erance, with less than half the 

 area, is about what we should expect. It well illustrates the 

 fact, already ascertained, that difference of area within moder- 

 ate limits is of far less importance than comparatively slight 

 advantages in soil and climate. 



