15 



C. B. Robinson presented " Remarks on the Flora of Northern 

 Cape Breton." To tlie north of the Bras d'Or Lakes, the island 

 of Cape Breton consists of hills 800 to 1,500 feet in height, bor- 

 dered by lowland of no great width along much of both coasts 

 and in the numerous river valleys. The interior of the island is 

 a plateau with large areas covered by barrens and sphagnum 

 bogs. In passing eastward from New Brunswick to Nova Scotia, 

 the flora becomes distinctly poorer, many species dropping out 

 and few new ones appearing. Cape Breton with a smaller area 

 than the rest of the province and forming its northeastern limit 

 shows a further decrease, although a comparatively large number 

 of forms are known from the island that do not occur on the 

 mainland, while others grow more luxuriantly there, even at the 

 extreme north. Among the former may be mentioned Samolus 

 floribnudiis H. B. K. Pcraviiuin Menziesii (Lindl.) Morong, Par- 

 nassia parviflora DC, and Galium kamtschaticinn SioW&r ; among 

 the latter, Cypripcdiinii regince Walt., Calthapalustris L., Anonone 

 canadensis 'L., Bhpharig-lottis B/cphoriglotiis (WWd.) Rydb., Vag- 

 nera stellata (L.) Morong, and Riibiis Chauuenionis L. The 

 dwarf mistletoe Razoinnofskya piisilla (Peck) Kuntze, apparently 

 of wide distribution in northern Nova Scotia, extends at least fifty 

 miles up the west coast of the island. 



The ferns are also noteworthy. All the common and a ma- 

 jority of the rarer species of the mainland grow at least as well m 

 Cape Breton, together with two additional species Dryoptcris 

 Filix-mas (L.) Schott and Polysticluiui Lonchitis (L.) Roth, the 

 former widely distributed, but the latter known only from two 

 widely separated localities. Discussion by Drs. Britton, Mac- 

 Dougal and Barnhart followed. 



The third paper by Le Roy Abrams was entitled " Notes on 

 the Flora of Southern California." After speaking briefly of the 

 topography and general climatic conditions of southern California 

 Mr. Abrams called attention to the extreme variation in the flora 

 and exhibited a series of specimens illustrating the coastal and 

 mountain floras. Among these specimens were three of his re- 

 cently described new species : ChcirantJuts suffrutesccns, Heuclura 

 chgaus and Godctia Dudleyana. 



