G INTRODUCTION. 



will 1)C Feen to heumg to the whole region under consideration, 

 namely, the BO-called " North Shore," including the four counties, 

 Kent. Northumberland, Gloucester, and Restigouche. (a) It 

 is maritime, (b) It constitutes a large part of the western coast 

 of that great inland sea, the Gulf of St. Lawrence. (c) The in- 

 sular, peninsular, and boreal character of the surroundings of 

 this sea must stamp the fauna and flora of the region with an 

 immense variety, (d) The winters are almost arctic; the sum- 

 mers, warm temperate, a feature so striking as to cause Jacques 

 C'j.rtier to njime the great western arm of this eea the Baie des 

 Chaleurs. Ce) The bays and coastal waters generally are shal- 

 low and sheltered, frequently brackish, and reach a high tem- 

 perature in summer, (f) Great rivers like the Kestigoucheand 

 Miramichi sweep from the distant highlands of the interior, and 

 carry into their lower valleys much of the fauna and flora in- 

 digenous to their sources, (g) Immense stretches of "primeval 

 ft)rest " cover the interior, which is also studded with lakes, 

 " barrens," and isolated mountains of considerable elevation, 

 (h) It was within the aiea of greatest erosion during the ice age, 

 and of subsidence and elevation in postglacial times, (i) Its ex- 

 posed rocks belong principally to the Devonian and Carboni- 

 ferous periods. 



Here then is an array of conditions and characters sufficiently 

 varied and potent to stamp with a surprising diversity the veg- 

 itable and animal life of the region, and i)resent the student of 

 nature, present or past, with phenomena worthy of the exercise 

 of his best powers. Nor have its attractions been entirely un- 

 heeded, nor its inspiring influence unfelt. Men eminent in sci- 

 ence, such as Professor Gill, have here pursued their biological 

 investigations; and the pioneer ichthyologist of the province, 

 Moses H. Perley, enriched his knowledge of fish-lore in this pro- 

 lific home of the finny tribe. Here Professor Fowler of Queen's 

 College, Kingston, an eminent authority on Botany, grew up and 

 laid the foundation of future success in that branch of science, 

 while Pvobert Chalmers, F. G. S. A., of the geological staff of Can- 

 ada, and one of its best authorities on surface geology, acquired, 

 on the slopes ofiiis native hills in Restigouche, the elements and 

 much of the advanced knowledge of that science of which he is 

 such an able exponent. Later, too, the fascinating nature of the 



