[136] See "The Virginia Colony of Helix nemoralis," T. D. A. Cockerell, in The Nautilus, Vol. III. No. 7, p. 73.
[137] I am indebted to Mr. Mitten for this curious fact.
[138] The following remarks by Dr. Richard Spruce, who has made a special study of mosses and especially of hepaticæ, are of interest. "From what precedes, I conclude that no existing agency is capable of transporting the germs of our hepatics of tropical type from the torrid zone to Britain, and I venture to suppose that their existence at Killarney dates from the remote period when the vegetation of the whole northern hemisphere partook of a tropical character. If I am challenged to account for their survival through the last glacial period, I reply that, granting even the existence of a universal ice-cap down to the latitude of 40° in America and 50° in Europe, it is not to be assumed that the whole extent, even of land, was perennially entombed 'in thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice.' Towards the southern margin of the ice the climate was probably very similar to that of Greenland and the northern part of Norway at the present day. The summer sun would have great power, and on the borders of sheltered fjords the frozen snow would disappear completely, if only for a very short period, and I ask only for a month or two, not doubting the capacity of our hepatics to survive in a dormant state under the snow for at least ten months in the year. I have gathered mosses in the Pyrenees where the snow had barely left them on August 2nd; by September 25th they were re-covered with snow, and would not be again uncovered till the following year. The mosses of Killarney might even enjoy a longer summer than this; for the gulf-stream laves both sides of the south-western angle of Ireland, and its tepid waters would exert great melting power on the ice-bound coast, preventing at the same time any formation of ice in the sea itself." This passage is the conclusion of a very interesting discussion on the distribution of hepaticæ in a paper on "A New Hepatic from Killarney," in the Journal of Botany, vol. 25, (Feb. 1887), pp. 33-82, in which many curious facts are given as to the habits and distribution of these curious and beautiful little plants.
[139] While these pages are passing through the press I am informed by my friend Mr. W. H. Beeby that in the Shetland Isles, where he has been collecting for five summers, he has found several plants new to the British flora, and a few altogether undescribed. Among these latter is a very distinct species of Hieracium (H. Zetlandicum), which is quite unknown in Scandinavia, and is almost certainly peculiar to the British Islands. Here we have another proof that entirely new species are still to be discovered in the remoter portions of our country.
[140] In the first edition of this work the numbers were 400 and 340, showing the great increase of our knowledge during the last ten years, chiefly owing to the researches of Mr. A. H. Everett in Sarawak and Mr. John Whitehead in North Borneo and the great mountain Kini Balu.
[141] These are Allocotops, Chlorocharis, Androphilus, and Ptilopyga, among the Timeliidæ; Tricophoropsis and Oreoctistes among the Brachypodidæ; Chlamydochœra among the Campophagidæ.
[142] In a letter from Darwin he says:—"Hooker writes to me, 'Miguel has been telling me that the flora of Sumatra and Borneo are identical, and that of Java quite different.'"
[143] "On the Geology of Sumatra," by M. R. D. M. Verbeck. Geological Magazine, 1877.
[144] Pitta megarhynchus (Banca) allied to P. brachyurus (Borneo, Sumatra, Malacca); and Pitta bangkanus (Banca) allied to P. sordidus (Borneo and Sumatra).
[145] The following list of the mammalia of the Philippines and the Sulu Islands has been kindly furnished me by Mr. Everett.