42 The Ottawa Naturalist. |May 



SUB -EXCURSIONS. 



About fifty members and friends of the club met at St. 

 Patrick street bridge on Saturday afternoon April iith. The 

 leaders present were Professor John Macoun, W. T. Macoun, 

 Andrew Halkett, A. E. Attwood and W. J. Wilson. The party 

 proceeded to Beechwood and McKay Lake collecting- plants, 

 animals and rock specimens by the way. The plants found in 

 bloom were Anemone Hepattca, A. acutiloba, spring beauty, 

 CLaytonia Caroliniana and blue cohosh [Cau/ophyllum thaLictroides), 

 The three first named were found in considerable abundance. 

 Attention was directed to the rock formations as shown on the 

 map of the Ottawa district. In going from St. Patrick street 

 bridge the Utica shale outcrops in numerous places and is seen up 

 to the first road leading into Beechwood. Then by a fault the 

 chazy limestone comes up on the left and a narrow band of Black 

 River limestone on the right. About half way from Beechwood 

 gate to McKay Lake chazy shale appears, and this is the surface 

 rock to the river where it is well seen at Rockliflfe. The pleisto- 

 cene formation round McKay Lake is of much interest. The 

 water in this lake was at one time at least twenty-five feet higher 

 than at present, and was then held in by a deposit of Leda clay 

 through which the small stream which drains it has slowly cut a 

 deep channel to the Ottawa River. All along the eastern shore 

 there are large deposits of shell-marl, composed chiefly of fresh 

 water species, many of which are now living in the lake. Under 

 these deposits are beds of stratified sand and clay which hold 

 marine shells, though we were not fortunate in finding any speci- 

 mens of these on Saturday. In a sand pit recently opened there 

 is a splendid section of the stratified ma erial. The lower part is 

 very irregular and shows false bedding, while the upper part is 

 in horizontal layers. 



At five o'clock the company assembled on a hill overlooking 

 the lake and listened to short talks by some of the leaders on the 

 specimens collected during the afternoon. Professor Macoun 

 spoke on the plants and pointed out many interesting facts about 

 the trees growing close by as to their mode of growth, branching, 

 etc. Mr. Andrew Halkett showed a number of Zoological speci- 



