70 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb. 



of the land plants preserved in deposits of this age. Unfortunately 

 these are few in number, and often not well preserved. In 

 Canada, though fragments of the woody parts of plants occasion- 

 ally occur in the marine clays and sands, there is only one locality 

 which has afforded any considerable quantity of remains of their 

 more perishable parts. This is the well-known deposit of Leda 

 clay at Green's Creek on the Ottawa, celebrated for the perfection 

 in which the skeletons of the capelin and other fishes are preserved 

 in the calcareous nodules imbedded in the clay. In similar 

 nodules, contained apparently in a layer somewhat lower than that 

 holding the ichthyolites, remains of land plants are somewhat 

 abundant, and, from their association with shells of Leda truncate, 

 seem to have been washed down from the land into deep water. 

 The circumstances would seem to have been not dissimilar from 

 those at present existing in the north-east arm of Gaspe Basin, 

 where I have dredged from mud now being deposited in deep 

 water, living specimens of Leda Umatula mixed with remains of 

 land plants. 



In my examinations of these plants, I have been permitted to 

 avail myself of a considerable collection in the museum of the 

 geological survey of Canada, and also of the private collections of 

 Mr. Billings, of Prof. Bell of Queen's College, and of Sheriff 

 Dickson of Kingston. An imperfect list of these plants was pub- 

 lished in my paper on the Post-pliocene of Canada in this 

 Journal, and which was reproduced in ' Geology of Canada,' 1863. 

 Since that time I have obtained some additional material, and 

 have carefully re-examined all the specimens with the aid of col- 

 lections of recent northern plants. I have also explored the 

 locality in which the greater number of these remains were found. 

 The principal points to which my attention has been directed are, — 



(1) The correct determination of the species of plants found ; 



(2) The climate which they would indicate ; and, (3) The 

 portion of the Post-pliocene period to which they belong, with its 

 probable geographical conditions. 



I. Species of plants found. 



Under this head I shall give in detail only those species which 

 I am able, from the fragments found, to determine with tolerable 

 certainty. 



1. Drosera rotundifolia Linn. In a calcareous nodule from 

 Green's Creek, the leaf only preserved. This plant is common in 



