THE 



CANADIAN RECORD 



OF SCIENCE. 



VOL. IV. APEIL, 1890. NO. 2. 



Some Temperatures in the Great Lakes and 

 St. Lawrence. 



By A. .T. Drxjmmond. 



The equalizing influence exerted by great and deep bodies 

 of water upon the climate of the surrounding land is well 

 known. Apart from this general result, the temperature of 

 the water has also a direct effect. On the banks of the 

 Lower St. Lawrence these two effects are well illustrated. 

 Where the cold Labrador current, trending inward from the 

 Straits of Belle Isle, skirts the north shore of the estuary, 

 the little semi-arctic plants are more numerous than on the 

 south shore, where the same current returning outwards 

 carries with it the milder waters which have descended 

 from the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence. Lake Superior, 

 around whose jutting headlands dwell semi-arctic and 

 northern plants, and west of whose coasts many of the 

 familiar forest trees of Ontario and Quebec do not range, 

 affords another illustration. 



The vast area and depth of the St. Lawrence Great Lakes, 

 the different latitudes in which they lie, and their relations 

 to each other, taken in connection with the extremes of 

 heat and cold of the Canadian seasons, combine to give an 

 interest to the temperature of the waters of these inland 

 1 



