SURVEY. JUST PUBLISHED, THE REPORT OF PROGRESS FROM THE COMMENCEMENT TO 1863. Illustrated by 498 wood-cuts. One volume large octavo, pp. 1011. Price $5. From the London Saturday Review. The style in which the work has been got up, the precision of the drawing and the accuracy of the wood-cuts may almost challenge comparison with the execution of similar productions on this side of the Atlantic. There has been a steady persistence in the conduct of this remarkable survey, honorable alike to the successive Governments that have encouraged it, and to the officers who have carried out the work. No other Colonial Survey has ever yet assumed the same truly national character; and the day may come-ifever the "Imperial Colony" shall claim and obtain independence-when the Scientific public of a great nation, looking back upon the earlier dawnings of science in their land, shall regard the name of Logan, a native born, with the same affectionate interest with which English geologists now regard the names of our great geological map-makers, William Smith and De la Beche." DAWSON BROS., MONTREAL. THE AIR-BREATHERS OF THE COAL PERIOD; A descriptive account of the remains of Land Animals found in the Coal Formation of Nova Scotia, with remarks on their bearing, on Theories of the Formation of Coal and of the Origin of Species, by J. W. DAWSON, LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S., Principal of McGill University, Montreal, 8vo., pp. 81; illustrated by 7 full-page Lithographs, containing over 200 drawings. PRICE $1.00. A few copies have been publishe1 with a Microscopic Photograph, containing 11 illustrations. PRICE $1.50. Montreal: DAWSON BROTHERS;-Toronto: CHEWETT & Co.;-New York: BAILLIERE BROTHERS;-London: H. BAILLIERE. PAGE Observations on Canadian Geographical Botany; By A. T. Drummond, B.A., LL.B....... 405 On the Geology of the Ottawa Valley; By Jas. A. Grant, 419 On Peat and its uses; By Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, A.M., F.R.S., of the Geological Survey of Canada...... 426 Natural History Society. Proceedings of 441 Report of Scientific Curator, J. F. Whiteaves, F.G.S.. 442 Entomological Society. On a Gall-producing Hymenopter, reared from Triticum repens, Linn.; By Wm. Couper, Quebec......... 444 Meeting of British Association. Observations on the Salmonida; By Dr. J. Davy....... 446 452 On a New method of extracting Gold from ores; By Mr. 466 The Gold of Nova Scotia of Pre-Carboniferous Age.... 459 Obituary. The late Professor Silliman of New Haven...... 461 Review. Circular and Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History........ 470 Meteorological Tables for July and August.... to follow page 324 October, November, and December. 472 Index.... 475 iii Published Jan. 11, 1865. THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. SECOND SERIES. OBSERVATIONS ON CANADIAN GEOGRAPHICAL BOTANY. BY A. T. DRUMMOND, B.A., LL.B. The more observable features in the distribution of our native plants can now, I think, be indicated with some degree of accuracy by the aid of the catalogues, published and unpublished, of various collectors in different parts of the province. The range of many species is of course not yet satisfactorily ascertained, and doubtless in coming years there may be some plants at present thought to be restricted to particular localities, which will be found to have a somewhat wider distribution. I feel certain, too, that a careful search along our boundary-lines will be rewarded by the discovery of many species as yet unknown to Canadian collectors, which will thus increase the floras peculiar to different districts. Many details, therefore, require to be yet worked out, before results entirely satisfactory can be arrived at. Geographically, Canada extends over an area of about twentyeight degrees of longitude and ten and three quarters degrees of latitude; stretching from East Cape, Anticosti, to the River Kaminastiquia, which flows into Lake Superior; and from Point Pelée, which juts into Lake Erie, to latitude 52° 45', the northern limit. This area, whilst extensive, has some peculiar physical features, which have a most important bearing upon the distribution of the plants composing its flora. The southern and western limits are bounded, for the greater part of the distance, by the river St. Lawrence and a chain of extensive sheets of water, which stretch through several degrees of latitude, locating our province VOL. I. BB No. 6. in the same parallels with Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, and nearly the whole of New York and Massachusetts on the east, and with Michigan on the west. Our north-eastern border, moreover, adjoins Labrador, and extends far into the Hudson's Bay Territory. We therefore meet in the western part of the province many plants having decidedly a southern character, and some of a peculiarly western type; while on Anticosti and the neighboring shores are found alpine species till recently unobserved south of the Labrador coast. While the remarkable natural extension of our boundaries has the effect of including within our limits many interesting plants, other causes have also exerted their influence. Apart from the characters of soils, as their looseness and temperature, there is one cause the chain of great lakes-which must exert a very considerable influence upon the vegetation of Canada. These bodies of water, on account of their great extent and depth, have an equalizing effect upon the temperature of the air near their shores, the water not being subject to those sudden extremes of heat and cold which we observe in the atmosphere. The great amount of evaporation, constantly taking place over the broad surface of each lake, also tends to make the neighboring air more moist than in inland localities. A similar effect being produced upon the sea-coast, instances of alpine and sub-alpine plants occurring far down on the coast-line are not rare. In taking a general view of the distribution of the various species of plants which occur in Canada,-excluding mosses, lichens, and lower forms, I think that the following types will be readily recognized: I. CANADIAN TYPE.-Species generally distributed through the whole or greater part of the province. II. ERIE TYPE.—Species chiefly restricted to the district bordering Lake Erie. NOTE. In addition to published catalogues of plants, I have to acknowledge having received much valuable information from lists made at the following places :-Newfoundland, J. Richardson of Geol. Survey, coll. in herb. Bot. Soc. Can.; Gaspé, J. Bell, B.A.; Quebec, J. Richardson, coll. in herb. Bot. Soc. Can.; L'Orignal, J. Bell, B.A.; Carleton Place, J. Bell, B. A.; Ramsay, Rev. J. K. McMorine, M. A.; Brockville, R. Jardine, B.A.; Belleville, J. Macoun. My own collections have been chiefly made at Montreal, among the Thousand Islands, at Kingston, Stone Mills, Cobourg, Collingwood, Niagara Falls, London, and Port Stanley.-A.T.D. |