The climatic reasons for the supposition that the boulder-clay is a marine deposit have already been given (p. 66). However, it may be asked what about the glacial flora which has been proved to have existed all over the plains of Northern Europe?--what about the relics of this same flora which still linger on in a few localities to the great delight of the systematic botanist? They have been spoken of as indications of a former Arctic climate in Europe. The presence of an Arctic species such as _Dryas octopetala_ in any of the pleistocene deposits is often looked upon as an absolute proof of a very severe climate having prevailed at the time they were laid down. Professor Geikie tells us that the South of England was clothed with an Arctic flora, when the climate became somewhat less severe than it had been during the climax of the glacial cold (p. 398). Relics of such a flora have been detected at Bovey Tracey, in Devonshire, the Arctic plants found comprising _Betula nana_ and _B. alba_, _Salix cinerea_ and _Arctostaphylos uva-ursi_. Now three of these four species of plants are still natives in the British Islands, and all are forms which probably came to us with the Arctic migration which I described in Chapter IV. They travelled south with the reindeer, or before it, and may have covered large tracts of country at the time. With the increased struggle for existence on the arrival of the Siberian and Oriental migrants, they have probably been evicted by these more powerful rivals. A discovery of their remains does not necessarily indicate that a great change of climate has taken place since they lived in the country. And certainly these Arctic plants cannot be taken as indicating a low temperature, for it has been shown that Alpine plants are mostly intolerant of very low temperatures. "Arctic and Alpine species in the Botanical Gardens at Christiania," says Professor Blytt (p. 19), "endure the strongest summer heat without injury, while they are often destroyed when not sufficiently covered during the winter." Similar observations have been made in other countries. For this reason they have to be generally wintered in frames in the Botanic Gardens at Kew and Dublin, and are thus exposed to higher temperatures than at present obtain in the British Islands. This fact suggests that the Alpine and Arctic plants really did not originate in countries with cold temperatures. They probably made their first appearance long before the Glacial period--perhaps in early Tertiary times--chiefly in the Arctic Regions, which at that time had a mild climate. They have since become adapted to live in cold countries where they flourish, provided they receive sufficient moisture in the summer, and are protected from severe frost in the winter by a covering of snow.