THE 



CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



SECOND SERIES. 



i^*- 



MICHAUX AND HIS JOURNEY IN CANADA. 



By the Abbe Ovide Brunet, Professor of Botany at the Laval University 



Quebec* 



It is well known to botanists, that tlie Flora Boreali- Americana 

 of Michaux often fails to indicate the precise localities of the plants 

 there first described, and that, in consequence, many of these plants 

 are either still unknown to collectors, or excessively rare. In 

 the hope of being able to determine the localities of those plants 

 which this author has noticed as occurring in Canada, I attempted 

 several years since to trace the steps in his journey to the Sague- 

 nay, and to Hudson's Bay. At that time however, the only 

 materials at my disposal were the Flora, and some scattered notes 

 in the works of his son. I had not then seen his Herbarium, 

 which is rich in notes of localities ; and the manuscript journal of 

 his journey, in the library of the American Philosophical Society 

 in Philadelphia, was unknown to me. Since that time however 

 I have been able to consult the original collections of Michaux, 

 which are in part at the Jardin des Plantes of Paris, and in part 

 in the museum of Mr. Benjamin Delessert of that city. The 

 American Philosophical Society has moreover permitted me to 

 copy the manuscript journal, for which favor I take this occasion 

 of expressing my thanks. 



* Translator's Note. — This interesting paper was printed a few months 

 since, in French, by Mr. Brunet, for private distribution only. I have 

 accordingly translated it for publication in the Canadian Naturalist, sup- 

 pressing some unessential portions, with the approbation of the author • 

 who has added to it a map of the region from Lake St. John to 

 Hudson's Bay. A MS. map by the Jesuit Laure, who was a mis- 

 sionary in Canada during the early part of the last century, is the chief 

 authority for the region beyond Lake St. John, though other old French 

 maps were consulted. The map of Laure is in the library of the Cana- 

 dian Parliament. — T. S. H. 

 Vol. L w No. 5. 



