POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



715 



common in our "lake States." Neverthe- 

 less, the currents of the lakes have been 

 the means of distributing seeds on the jut- 

 ting headlands of the northern coast, where 

 a few southern forms have been found. 

 On the other hand, the cooling effect of such 

 large bodies of water encourages the growth 

 of northern species, and thus around the 

 coasts of Lake Superior the flora includes a 

 few semi-Arctic plants, though inland these 

 all disappear, and the vegetation is of a 

 more northern temperate t^-pe. Only a few 

 trees have the faculty of making themselves 

 at home over as wide an extent as some 

 herbaceous plants ; and these are those usu- 

 ally which have light or winged seeds. One 

 reason for the different development of this 

 faculty in trees and herbs is probably that 

 the seeds of trees are of greater size and 

 weight, and less easily carried away from 

 their parent. A break in the westward ex- 

 tension of a considerable number of the for- 

 est-trees occurs beyond Lake Superior and 

 Red River. This is ascribed to the greater 

 dryness of the climate west of that lake, 

 the effect of which is also seen in the alleged 

 superior quality of the wood of the aspen 

 and spruce trees. Too much moisture in 

 the atmosphere has also its results in deter- 

 mining the range of trees. The same causes 

 which prevent the range westward beyond 

 Red River of many of the Eastern trees, also 

 prevail in restricting the eastward range of 

 the British Columbia trees beyond the influ- 

 ence of the Rocky Mountains. 



Local Climates of Exposure. — Professor 

 W. Mattieu Williams, in the " Gentleman's 

 Magazine," quotes with approval Dr. Frank- 

 land's recommendation of elevated snow- 

 covered districts as winter sanitariums, and 

 adds some observations of his own. Perti- 

 nently to the subject of reflection from wa- 

 ters. Professor Williams notices the position 

 of Torbay, so celebrated for its mild win- 

 ter chmatc, as on the one part of the Dev- 

 onshire coast that has the most direct ex- 

 posure to the east. " It hugs the east winds 

 that blow directly into it from the open sea, 

 and has no protection whatever from them. 

 Paignton is the most directly exposed and 

 the warmest part of the bay ; the next is 

 Torquay, or rather the Paignton side of 

 Torquay." The mildness of the Torquay 



climate is also promoted by favorable in- 

 clination to reflection of the early morning 

 sun-heat of the slopes, and by the tempering 

 to which the cast winds are subjected be- 

 fore reaching the land. At Broadstairs "is 

 a little sandy bay backed by cliffs and fac- 

 ing directly east. I have several times on 

 a sunny day in winter-time walked along the 

 sands from the Granville side of Ramsgate 

 to Broadstairs, and have been much inter- 

 ested in observing the sudden change of cli- 

 mate experienced on turning the projecting 

 cliff forming the south horn of the bay. La- 

 dies sit on the sands there with needlework 

 and novels in the month of December." The 

 sea-reflection is in many cases powerfully 

 supplemented by cliff- reflection. "When 

 the aspect is due south, as at Hastings, it 

 overrides it altogether. The peculiar cli- 

 mate of Hastings is, I think, entirely due to 

 this, for here we have the anomaly of sea- 

 cliffs that have been deserted by the sea, 

 which has left sufScient fore - shore for 

 houses to be built between it and the cliffs. 

 In the winter these cliffs warm these houses 

 by reflecting the southward mid-day sun ; 

 in the summer they roast them. Not only 

 do cliffs reflect some of the sun's rays dur- 

 ing the day, but they absorb the remainder 

 and give it out after the sun has set. . . . 

 Other local climatic influences may be noted ; 

 among them the effect of a stretch of dry 

 sand above high- water mark and at the foot 

 of cliffs." 



The Qnaternary Moose of New Jerseyt — 



Professor W. B. Scott has described, before 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadel- 

 phia, a very large extinct moose or elk, the 

 almost complete fossil skeleton of which, 

 now in the Museum of Princeton College, 

 was discovered in a shell-marl deposit under 

 a bog at Mount Hermon, New Jersey. With 

 the exception of five caudal vertebrae, every 

 important bone of the skeleton that is miss- 

 ing is represented by its fellow of the oppo- 

 site side, so that it has been hardly possible 

 to go astray in making the necessary resto- 

 rations. The skeleton is of an adult but 

 not old individual, and appears to belong 

 to the same species with one described by 

 Wistar, and called by Harlan Cervus Ameri- 

 canUrS, which, together with some metacar- 

 pals described by Leidy, is preserved in the 



