430 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Dec. 



latter, as well as to other catalogues in the hands of the editor 

 of this journal, I have been permitted to have access, and from 

 them have derived much aid in arriving at the results given 

 hereafter.* 



Endeavours have already been made to bring the flora of 

 Ontario and Quebec into one connected view. The work of 

 the Abbe Provancher, in the French language, which was 

 published some years since, is upon an ample scale, and contains 

 descriptions of the plants referred to in it, whilst the more recent 

 brochure of the late Prof. Hubbert is simply an arranged cata- 

 logue, which was intended as the precursor of his contemplated 

 Hand-book of the Canadian Flora. Prof. Hubbert's list, in 

 addition to the results of his own collections, as well as of those 

 of his correspondents, probably contains all previously published 

 information bearing on the subject. 



The views of authors, of course, vary considerably with regard 

 to orders, genera and species ; however, for the purposes of 

 comparison with the flora of the United States, those of Prof. 

 Gray, as expressed in the recent edition of his Manual of 

 Botany, are here adopted. Further, it should be premised that 

 only flowering and filicoid plants are referred to in this paper, 

 our knowledge of the lower cryptogams being as yet too limited ; 

 and it should be added that when speaking of the Northern 

 States and the United States or Union, no more extended 

 geographical limits are intended than are kept in view in the 

 Manual on the one hand and Mr. Mann's catalogue on the 

 other. 



The prominent features in the distribution of the plants of 

 Quebec and Ontario have been indicated in another place. With 

 regard to the nature of the flora of the United States, it may be, 

 in a general way, said that in the eastern and central portions of 

 the Northern States the vegetation embraces a mountain 

 and a woodland flora, which, excluding the more southern 



* In addition to the catalogues cited in the foot note to p. 406, vol. i. 

 (new series) of this journal, I have had access to those of Dr. Thomas, of 

 the Kiviere-du-Loup flora, and Dr. J. Bell, of the Maintoulin Island 

 flora ; to the notes of Prof. Hincks on Toronto plants (through Prof. 

 Hubbert), and to the elaborate lists of Dr. McLaggan and Mr. John 

 Macoun, the former of whom collected in different sections of the pro- 

 vinces, but chiefly in the western peninsula, and the latter in the vicinity 

 of Belleville. 



