1921] Fernald, — Expedition to Nova Scotia 93 



land, of a large coastal plain element, 1 and the fact that several 

 such species, unknown in adjacent New Brunswick and eastern Maine 

 are obviously isolated on Nova Scotia as remnants of the flora which 

 in the late Pleistocene or even later had lived on the then elevated 

 but now submerged continental shelf, it became very evident that not 

 only was there plenty of good botanizing left in peninsular Nova 

 Scotia but that the region must hold some secrets of profound im- 

 portance to a clear understanding of the history of life in eastern 

 America. 



And since the least botanized and least cultivated region of the 

 peninsula happens to be the area of highly silicious and mostly acid 

 quartzites and slates extending from Digby County around the coast 

 via Yarmouth and Shelburne to Halifax, thence on to Canso, consti- 

 tuting the "gold-bearing series" of the province, and the great 

 granite masses which are interspersed through the quartzite area, it 

 seemed probable that good results would be obtained by devoting a 

 season to these formations. The silicious rocks of the gold-bearing 

 series are essentially identical with the Avalonian formation of 

 southeastern Newfoundland, where have been found many species 

 isolated, some from the South, some from Atlantic Europe. In the 

 silicious regions of Cape Cod and of Newfoundland the most fruitful 

 habitats have always proved to be the boggy barrens and the pond- 

 shores and, upon studying the detailed topographic maps of Nova 

 Scotia, it was consequently a most promising sign, to find that in 

 the belt of Avalonian and granitic rock there are no fewer than 2,600 

 lakes and fresh-water ponds, as well as an endless profusion of bogs, 

 savannahs and barrens, vastly more than in the other half of the 

 province, where a count shows fewer than 800 lakes. 



There was, therefore, no further doubt about the region to be 

 explored and a summer's campaign was made possible through the 

 liberal support of such generous friends as Colonel John E. Thayer 

 and Mr. Walter Deane and the cooperation of Dr. William Mclnnes, 

 Directing Geologist of the Geological Survey of Canada, and of Mr. 

 R. R. Farrow, Canadian Commissioner of Customs. Through the 

 helpful interest of Professor Kenneth G. T. Webster of Harvard 

 University and his brother, Dr. Charles Webster of Yarmouth, a 

 suitable home with a dry barn was secured in the latter town and, 



> See Fernald, Rhodora, xiii. 135-162 (1911); Am. Journ. Sei. ser. 4, xl. 17 (1915): 

 Am. Journ. Bot. v. 238 (1918). 



