8 Things to be observed in Canada. 



The curious facts respecting the geographical distribution of the ■ 

 Ranunculaceae, so pleasantly stated by Mr. George Barnston, in an 

 article in the last volume of the Canadian Naturalist, show how 

 much can be done iu this field. But it is not merely in relation 

 to botany that, this inquiry is of interest. Edward Forbes has 

 shewn that great questions in geology are illustrated by it ; and 

 nowhere better than on the American Continent can it be studied 

 in this aspect. Let us inquire respecting any plant, what are its 

 precise geographical limits ? To what extent do these depend on 

 climate, elevation, exposure, soil. What inferences may be de- 

 duced as to the centre from which it originally spread, and what 

 as to the changes in the extent of the land and the relative levels 

 of land and sea that have occurred since its creation ? Here are 

 fertile subjects of inquiry, leading to the grandest conclusions in 

 reference to the history of life upon our planet. 



But I must turn for a moment from this great subject to the 

 humbler members of the vegetable kingdom, no less curious than 

 the higher, and less known. One of our number, the Rev. Mr. 

 Kemp, has directed his attention to the fresh-water Algae, and 

 has contributed a valuable paper as the first result of his inquiries. 

 Mr. Poe, another of our members, is an enthusiastic student of the 

 Fungi, and other more minute and simple forms of plant life. A 

 summary of what is known of these objects, as occurring in Can- 

 ada, will be given to us by Mr. Poe in the present winter ; and I 

 have no doubt will excite some interest in these singular and 

 anomalous structures, so curious in their habits and often so inju- 

 rious to our property. 



The Mosses, Lichens, Lycopodiacese, Ferns, and other allied 

 families, offer many rewards to any diligent student ; and the 

 excellent arrangement and descriptions in Professor Gray's new 

 edition of his Manual, give facilities heretofore within the reach of 

 few. There may be Canadian botanists engaged in this study,. 

 but I hare no evidence that this is the case. Our mountain and 

 the neighbouring hills afford peculiar facilities for it ; and I sus- 

 pect that curious facts as to the distribution of these plants might 

 be obtained, from their study on these isolated trappean eminences, 

 in a limestone and alluvial country. 



The naturalists and professional men of Montreal have devoted 

 much attention to the microscope ; and our city possesses many 

 good instruments, daily increasing in number, and affording 

 a most delightful and instructive means of scientific observation in- 

 all departments of Natural History. Among our members, Mr. 



