138 THE ICE AGE IN CANADA. 



marine animals, at Pictou, on Northumberland strait, as 

 long ago as 1840, and is thus referred to in a later 

 address.* 



If we draw a straight line from the northern end of 

 Cape Breton, through the Magdalen islands, to the mouth 

 of the bay des Chaleurs, we have to the southward an 

 extensive semi-circular bay, 200 miles in diameter, which 

 we may call the great Acadian hay, and on the north the 

 larger and deeper triangular area of the gulf of St. 

 Lawrence. This Acadian bay is a sort of gigantic warm- 

 water aquarium, sheltered, except in a few isolated banks, 

 which have been pointed out by Mr. Whiteaves, from the 

 cold waters of the gulf, and which the bather feels quite 

 warm in comparison with the frigid and often not very 

 limpid liquid with wliich we are fain to be content in the 

 lower St. Lawrence. It also affords to the more delicate 

 marine animals a more congenial habitat than they can 

 find in the bay of Fundy, or even on the coast of Maine, 

 unless in a few sheltered spots, some of which have been 

 explored by Prof. Verrill. It is true that in winter the 

 whole Acadian bay is encumbered with floating ice, partly 

 produced on its own shores and partly drifted from the 

 north ; but, in summer, the action of the sun upon its 

 surface, the warm air flowing over it from the neighbour- 

 ing land, and the ocean water brought in by the strait of 

 Canseau, rapidly raise its temperature, and it retains this 

 elevated temperature till late in autumn. Hence the 

 character of its fauna, which is indicated by the fact 

 that many species of molluscs, whose headquarters are 

 south of cape Cod, flourish and abound in its waters. 

 Among these are the common oyster, which is especially 



* See Address, by the author, to Nat. Hist. Society of Montreal, 

 1874. 



