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T10 THE Otrawa NATURALIST. ~ [August 
BOTANICAL NOTES. 
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THE Fruit oF EpIG#A REPENS.— Where it grows, there are 
few flowers so well known as the deliciously fragrant Mayflower 
or Trailiug Arbutus ; but in collections there are few specimens 
which are so uncommon as the fruit of this charming plant. Dur- 
ing a recent visit to Youghall, New Brunswick, I had leisure to 
examine some patches of Apfzg@a which were growing in an open 
wood of Red and White Spruces. That this plant, which is so 
enormously abundant over tracts of many miles in extent, must 
mature vast quantities of seed is shown by its very abundance ; 
for there is perhaps no plant which is so difficult to transplant. 
Notwithstanding this, I could find only one patch upon which the 
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interesting seed capsules occurred at Youghall. These were in 
clusters of three to six, in shape 'turbinate or depressed- 
globose, roundly five-lobed, glandular bristly, with the pistil in 
most cases attached and each one surrounded by the pale per- 
sistent membranaceous sepals. When ripe, the leathery valves 
separate at {their tips in the centre of the capsule, and gradually 
curl backwards between the sepals, leaving exposed a central 
fleshy disk consisting of the five placentz on the surface of which 
are the small dark brown, oval, tuberculate seeds so close together 
as almost to hide the disk. 
Rare OTTAwA PLants.—On the tst of July I visited the sand 
hill on the Rideau River above Hog’s Back. In driving along the 
road after the sand was reached, several plants of Scrophularia 
nodosa, \.., var. Marilandica. Gr., were found. Close by was a 
large bed of the beautiful whit2 Convolvulus (C. spzthameus, L ) 
and, farther on, a large patch of Physalzs viscosa, L. At the top 
of the sand hill above the river were several large patches of 
Monarda fistulosa, L. This sand deposit itself is of great interest. 
It is a steep bank running down too or more feet to the river and 
consisting of clean white sand. Dr. Whiteaves tells me that it is 
the ‘‘Saxicava sand,’ a shallow water marine deposit which im- 
mediately overlies the ‘‘ Leda clay,” which is a deep water marine 
sediment. Perfect specimens of Sax7cava rugosa, Macoma Balthica 
(formerly called Zellina granlandica), Mytilus edulis and valves 
of a barnacle, probably Lalanus crenatus were found. 
J. FLETCHER. 
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