LAWSON — MONOGRAPH OF ERICACE^. 77 



Floriila Discoana. V. Oxycoccus extends across the continent, but 

 is not very common. V. Myrtillus is confined to the Pacific region. 

 Chiogenes hispidula the Capillaire or Maiden Hair of Nova Scotia, 

 produces its white wax like berries so abundantly that they are 

 made into an elegant preserve, especially in Cape Breton. Arctos- 

 taphyllos alpina is a Newfoundland and common northern species, 

 not well known in Southern Canada, but stretching along the whole 

 arctic coast. In the specimens sent by Mr. McTavish the fruit is 

 black, but Sir John Kichardson describes a red-fruited sort also. 

 A. Uva-urisi is common throughout the Dominion, apparently in- 

 creasing to the north and west, whence Dr. Schultz, M. P. P. for 

 Lisgar, sends it as the Kinikinik of the Crees, who, as well as 

 European fur traders, mix its dried leaves with their tobacco. Epi- 

 gsea repens is the emblematical ' * Mayflower" of Nova Scotia ; ' ' we 

 bloom amid the snows." It extends through the United States, 

 but only along the Atlantic seaboard, and is not uncommon along 

 the shores of the St. Lawrence Gulf, and although extremely rare 

 in Ontario, extends to the Saskatchewan. Its flowers exhibit 

 dimorphism, in reference to which several points were suggested 

 for investigation, and Mr. Jones, F. L. S., expressed the belief 

 that fertilization was effected by the large humble bee of Nova 

 Scotia. Gaultheria procumbens is a common Canadian plant, 

 yielding the fragrant oil of winter green, w^hich has of late years 

 been much used by perfumers. This oil consists of an acid ether, 

 methyl salicylic acid, which, when distilled with caustic potash, 

 yields methyl alcohol and salicylic acid. 



In Gaultheria procumbens a remarkable structure was described ; 

 there projects from each tooth of the leaf a long terete brown glan- 

 dular process, arising from a larger base. A similar structure is 

 seen in the G. Shallon of the Pacific Coast, but there is in addition 

 scattered over the lower surface of the leaves of that species brown 

 dots, which are the rudimentary bases of similar but undeveloped 

 processes. In the East Indian G. ovalifolia of Wallich (1523), 

 Hooker's Icones, 246, these gaultherian processes, as they may be 

 called, are fully developed, not only on the margins, but over the 

 whole lower surface of the large leaves, each gland arising from a 

 large flattened disk-like base. These peculiarities do not seem to 



