THE HESTI(;OUCHE — WITH NOTES ON ITS FLORA. 35 



List of Plants New and Rare — (Conthinrd. ) 



*Aster longifolius, Lam., var *C. flava, L., var viridula, Bailey. 



villicaulis, Gray. *Plileum alpinum, L. 



*Hieracium pr?ealtuni, Vill. *Equisetum littorale, Kuhlewein. 

 Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi, Pella^a fj^racilis, Hook. 



Spieng. Asplenium viride, Hudson. 



Pyrola minor, L. Phegopteris calcarea, 'Fee. 



P. rotundifolia, L., var Woodsia hyperborea, R. Br. 



asarifolia. W. glabella, R. Br. 



* Those marked * are new. 



Dr. Matthew said that Mi-. Hay's paper was the most im- 

 portant contribution to the l)otany of the province since Dr. 

 Bailey's paper, descriptive of his trip up the Tobique and down 

 the Nepisiguit in LS67. The area of country extending from 

 the St. John River to the Restigouche and down the valley of 

 that river, is a plateau country underlaid by Silurian slates, and 

 through this the valley of the Restigouche has been cut. Owing 

 to the considerable amount of lime in those slates they produce 

 a fertile soil, for having been formed under the sea, they are rich 

 in animal remains. The fac-t that they are thus calcareous, and 

 that they are full of cleavage planes and cracks, highly inclined, 

 helps to give them a natural drainage, and thus improve the 

 capabilities of the country for farming pui'poses. The remnant 

 of this plateau cut and carved by the Restigouche in past ages, 

 now stands out along its lower courses as slate hills and ridges ; 

 but towards its mouth outbursts of igneous rock have further 

 liroken up the plateau and produced hills and ridges which are 

 represented on the map of the Dominion Geological Survey hy a 

 bright red color. The absence of Heath plants, to which the 

 writer of the above essay refers, is a good feature in the tloia, 

 as it indicates the absence of a barren, rocky and water-soaked 

 countiy, such as these plants delight in. And notwithstanding 

 the shortness of the season and the proximity of this plateau to 

 a hill country on each side, it should contain considerable areas 

 of good farming land, available for settlement. 



Ml. S. W. Kain said that a number of the plants referred 

 to in the paper were of a subarctic type — Aspidii(r}i /ra(/rans 

 especially. This taken in connection with the fact that the 

 estuary of the Restigouche, and Bay Chaleur were frozen over 

 early in the fall and only opened in May, would s*eem to show that 

 further botanical exploration in this part of the province might 

 result in the discovery of more plants of a northern character 

 than are now recorded. 



