o 



78 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. X. 



in a paper on the Lauren tian Graphite in the Journal of the 

 Geological Society of London (1870). 



It would thus appear that in so far as Canada is concerned, 

 our certain knowledge of Land Vegetation begins with the Upper 

 Silurian, and that its earliest forms were Acrogens allied to Ly- 

 copods and prototypal gymnosperms, forerunners of the conifers. 

 In the Lower Devonian little advance is made. In the Middle 

 Devonian this meagre flora had been replaced by one rivalling 

 that of the Carboniferous, and including Pines, Tree-ferns, and 

 arboreal forms of Lycopods and of Equisetaceous plants, as well 

 as numerous herbaceous plants. At the close of the Erian the 

 flora again became meagre, and continued so in the Lower Car- 

 boniferous. It again became rich and varied in the Middle Car- 

 boniferous, to decay in the succeeding Permian. 



In the Mesozoic a new flora appears ; and in Western Canada 

 we have, in the Middle Cretaceous, forests of Angiospermous 

 Exogens comparable with those of modern times and including 

 many modern genera. In Eastern Canada we have no known 

 representative of the floras which intervened between the Per- 

 mian and Pleistocene. 



THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 

 ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



The thirty-first meeting of this Association was held at Mont- 

 real under the presidency of Principal J. W. Dawson, of McGill 

 CoUeo-e, from Au2;ust 23rd to 30th inclusive. The meeting was 

 called to order at 10 a.m. on the 23rd, by the retiring president. 

 Prof Geo. J. Brush, who called upon the president elect to 

 occupy the chair. 



Addresses of welcome were delivered by the Mayor of the city 

 on behalf of the citizens, and by Dr. Sterry Hunt, Chairman or 

 the Local Committee. The President replied to these addresses. 

 The work of oro-anising the Sections of the Association was then 

 proceeded with, and at one o'clock the Association sat down to a 

 -sumptous lunch, tendered by the Local Committee. 



On the evening of the opening day the the address of the retir- 

 ing president was delivered to a large audience in the Queen's 

 Hall, the subject being the " Progress of American Mineralogy." 

 Following this address came a reception of the members of the 

 Association by the Local Committee in the Assembly Rooms of 

 .the same building. 



