1869.] MATTHEW — ON PLANTS IN ACADIA. 165 



that region, or found only sparingly in its warmer western and 

 southern parts. 



Judging from what is known of the flora of (jur country, as 

 compared with that of the Upper Provinces, we may look upon 

 the narrow girdle of sub-Arctic vegetation, which borders our 

 shores, as paralleled by that which extends up the ISt. Lawrence 

 River as far as the Island of Orleans, and reappears on the north 

 shore of Lake Superior, The Boreal type, which is supposed to 

 cover much of the northern part of Acadia, reappears on the St. 

 Lawrence at and above Quebec, and is also met with around the 

 shores of Lake Huron, and in the northern peninsula of Michigan. 

 The group of plants which has been referred to as a Continental 

 type, characterizes the country around Lake Ontario. Hence, 

 we may look upon the central parts of Acadia as represented in 

 climate and productions by that part of Ontario which lies around 

 the eastern and northern shore of the lake of that name, and 

 extends thence to Lake Huron. 



There is an assemblage of plants in the S. W. part of Ontario, 

 which Mr. Drummoud designates as the Erie type, and which 

 is said to characterize the region around that most southerly of 

 the great Lakes. Of this type we have, so far as known, no 

 representatives in Acadia. We may assume, therefore, that there 

 is no portion of Continental Acadia, possessing a summer as 

 warm and dry as prevails in the more southerly part of Canada, 

 around Lake Erie. But while a comparison of the climate of 

 Acadia with that of the Upper Provinces may thus be instituted, 

 through the indigenous plants which grow in different parts of 

 the Dominion, it is to be borne in mind that such a comparison 

 relates only to the temperature and other climatic conditions of 

 the summer. In the winter the climate of the maritime 

 Provinces is very much milder ; so that, while the valley of the 

 St. Lawrence may be filled with snows to the depth of six feet 

 or more, the southern shores of Nova Scotia may be but sparsely 

 covered, or entirely bare. 



Finally, from the known climatic conditions of Insular Acadia, 

 the character of the vegetation, in its difi"orent parts, may be 

 roughly predicated. Thus, the fog-wrapt shores along the 

 Atlantic coast are known to support a vegetation similar to that 

 of the southern shores of New Brunswick and Eastern Maine. 

 Further, the Boreal type probably extends along the northern 

 shore of Nova Scotia into the Island of Cape Breton, and may 



