160 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 
Lake Huron. Evidently the new kind was a primula and a 
later verification made it the Primula Mistassinica, or dwarf 
Canadian primrose. 
The number of plants growing on the exposed cliff was 
almost incredible. Some comprehension may be gained when 
confession is made that, remembering a good friend who was 
making extensive collections for herbarium purposes, four hun- 
dred and four entire plants were gathered without in any way 
showing that a vandal hand had even attempted to thin the 
ranks. So close together were the plants that practically a mat 
was formed by the rosettes. The leaves overlapping in all 
directions, as each root was on average not over two inches 
from a neighbor, there must have been on that favored area of 
rock surface not less than forty thousand plants, and these at 
the time above named were at the climax of their bloom, the 
color effect being therefore a most natural result. 
A further exploration of the valley disclosed two other cliffs 
where a scattering growth of the plants was found, but in 
neither place was there any approach to the prodigality of 
plants, luxuriance of growth or profusion of flowers found 
on the first discovered area. Presumably there are other local- 
ities along this branch where the species may exist, but the 
fact remains, that though repeatedly visited since that year, 
and at all seasons, no other such find has ever been made and at 
this one cliff only have the plants ever been found in later years 
in any abundance. It is true, this lack of similar abundance 
and bloom may be due in large part to the great difficulty of 
determining from year to year the date of the maximum dis- 
play. The flowers are very ephemeral and the whole cycle of 
the plant from beginning growth to scattered seed is barely 
six weeks. The varying seasons bring on the climax at differ- 
ent dates, the time alone when the color display is marked, and 
one would actually be compelled to camp on the grounds yearly 
for ten or more days to discover the same glory that was a 
purely accidental find of 1905. 
Growing, as the plants do, on cliffs that are essentially 
vertical, there can be no question but that most of the seeds 
produced are lost through the agency of gravity by be- 
ing precipitated into the underflowing stream. Only a mere 
pittance would lodge in the zone of favorable conditions. The 
