HAMILTON SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION 103 



ative, and if so, it is another of the many illustrations of the 

 curious observation of Asa Gray, the author of the Manual 

 of Botany, when he said, that plants have in general 

 a greater tendency to migrate from east to west, than from 

 west to east. 



This flora, according to Bentham and others, was grad- 

 ually driven back again, and it is only as we travel from 

 Kurope to the East that we gradually find its traces getting 

 stronger. It has been pointed out, for instance, that in pass- 

 ing from the Mediterranean to the Levant, the Caucusus and 

 Persia, that living representatives of the Miocene genera are 

 met with. I will only name two, viz., Planianus and Juglatis. 

 Along the Himalays and through China we trace many other 

 genera now growing in the woods around the City of Hamil- 

 ton, such as Aralia-quinquefolia (Ginseng) Trillium Erectum 

 (wake-robin), and many others. Japan forms part of the 

 same botanical region asEastern Asia. In fact, from the great 

 latitudinal extent of Japan and its very varied conformation, 

 more of this North American flora has been preserved there 

 than anywhere else in Asia. 



I will just name one other interesting fact which has 

 but recently come to light. I refer to the occurrence of the 

 Tulip Tree in Central China which, though a member of the 

 European fossil flora to which I have already referred, has 

 been hitherto regarded as exclusively characteristic of America 

 Until quite recently many specimens were growing in this 

 neighborhood. 



It has been remarked by Bentham, who devoted a long 

 life to this study, " that while some genera like Astraguliis 

 have multiplied largely in both continents, others, like Eupa- 

 torium, Aster, Phlox and others very numerously repre- 

 sented in America, have transmitted or produced a smaller 

 number in Eastern Asia, gradually diminishing westward 

 till they disappear altogether, or attain Western Europe in 

 single species but little altered from American ones." 



This great northern Flora has been subject also to change 

 by the influence of variations of climate. The nature of these 



