406 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [DeC. 



in the same parallels with Maine, Yermont, New Hampshire, and 

 nearly the whole of New York and Massachusetts on the east, and 

 with Michigan on the west. Our north-eastern border, moreover, 

 adjoins Labrador, and extends far into the Hudson's Bay Terri- 

 tory-. We therefore meet in the western part of the province 

 many plants having decidedly a southern character, and some of a 

 peculiarly western type ; while on Anticosti and the neighboring 

 shores are found alpine species till recently unobserved south of 

 the Labrador coast. 



While the remarkable natural extension of our boundaries has 

 the effect of including within our limits many interesting plants, 

 other causes have also exerted their influence. Apart from the 

 characters of soils, as their looseness and temperature, there is one 

 cause — the chain of great lakes — which must exert a very con- 

 siderable influence upon the vegetation of Canada. These bodies of 

 water, on account of their great extent and depth, have an equaliz- 

 ing effect upon the temperature of the air near their shores, the 

 water not being subject to those sudden extremes of heat and cold 

 which we observe in the atmosphere. The great amount of evapo- 

 ration, constantly taking place over the broad surface of each 

 lake, also tends to make the neighboring air more moist than 

 in inland localities. A similar effect being produced upon the 

 sea-coast, instances of alpine and sub-alpine plants occurring far 

 down on the coast-line are not rare. 



In* taking a general view of the distribution of the various 

 species of plants which occur in Canada, — excluding mosses,lichens, 

 and lower forms, — I think that the following types will be readily 

 recognized : 



I. Canadian Type. — Species generally distributed through 



the whole or greater part of the province. 



II. Erie Type. — Species chiefly restricted to the district bor- 



dering Lake Erie. 



Note. — In addition to published catalogues of plants, I have to acknow- 

 ledge having received much valuable information from lists made at the 

 following places : — Newfoundland, J. Richardson of Geol . Survey, coll. in 

 herb. Bot. Soc. Can. ; Gaspe, J. Bell, B.A. ; Quebec, J. Richardson, coll. 

 in herb. Bot. Soc. Can.; L'Orignal, J. Bell, B.A. ; Carleton Place, J. 

 BelljB. A. ; Ramsay, Rev. J. K. McMorine, M.A. ; Brockville, R. Jardine, 

 B.A. ; Belleville, J. Macoun. My own collections have been chiefly made 

 at Montreal, among the Thousand Islands, at Kingston, Stone Mills, 

 Cobourg, Collingwood, Niagara Falls, London, and Port Stanley .-A. T.D. 



