52 Baron Humboldt on the Laws which are observed 
This agreement in the greater part of the results is the more 
striking, that the coefficients have been obtained from very un- 
equal masses of plants. In France 3645, in Germany only 
1844 phoenogamous plants have been employed, in order to de- 
termine the particular proportions of the families. Since the 
two countries border on each other, the species should in like 
manner be much the same. The agreement of the results with- 
in limits thus marked (the greater part commonly within | of 
difference), prove two facts equally remarkable : 1^^, That the 
1700 to 1800 species of phaenogamous plants which the French 
catalogue has more than the excellent catalogue of M. Schrader 
employed for Germany, are distributed among the different fa- 
milies almost in the same proportions which we observe among 
the plants common to the two countries : 2d, That the species 
of Leguminosae, of Cruciferae, and of Umbelliferae, which Ger- 
many would appear to possess exclusively, are substituted in 
France by a nearly equal number of species belonging to the 
same families. In general, where the greatest discrepancies are 
observed, they may be attributed to the circumstance, that Ger- 
many is situate more to the north than France is. We know 
that the Cyperaceae and the Ericeae increase so rapidly towards 
the north pole, that, while in the temperate zone the Cyperaceae 
are and the Ericeae in the frigid zone there is I of Cy- 
peraceae, and of Ericeae. On the other hand, the propor- 
tions of the Orchideae, of the Malvaceae, and of the Euphor- 
biaceae, increase with equal rapidity towards the south. On com- 
paring the preceding table with the table of the three zones, 
(the torrid, the temperate, and frigid), we observe the same 
laws. I have addled to this comparative table of the vegeta- 
tion of France and Germany the arrows which, in the general 
table, indicate the directions increase^ from the pole to the 
equator, and from the equator to the pole. It is a very re- 
markable circumstance, also, that the coefficients of the fa- 
milies do not change so much, if, instead of examining exten- 
sive countries which have from 2600 to 3800 species of phaeno- 
gamous plants, we confine our researches to an extent of some 
square leagues ; for example, to the Flora of Berlin, which, 
according to the work of M. Kunth, comprehends only 900 spe- 
cies. In that small extent of land, the Leguminosae are 
