+ Canadian Record of Science. 
Forest GRovp. 
The species of this group are, with few exceptions, shrubs 
and herbaceous plants. That in the far west so many of 
these plants avoid the open prairies, is an illustration of 
what might be termed a companionship which nature has 
arranged between many of the smaller forms of plant life 
and their towering congeners, the trees, and which brings 
to light the dependence of the former and the protecting 
influence of the latter. Amidst the great bluffs of trees 
which margin the prairie, the general temperature is modi- 
fied, the play of the sun’s rays on the ground is less con- 
tinuous, the ground itself is more moist, and the high, 
drying winds of the prairies are greatly diminished in force. 
Whilst such smaller representatives of plant life find within 
the line of forests or bluffs such congenial conditions, they 
afford, as they die, some return to the trees by joining with 
the trunks and leaves of the trees in enriching the soil by 
their decay. 
The group is illustrated by the following :-— 
Nuphar luteum, Smith. Viburnum nudum, L. 
Corydalis aurea, Willd. Erigeron bellidifolium, Muhl. 
Claytonia Virginica, L. Diplopappus umbellatus, Hook. 
Acer spicatum, Lam. Gay lussacia resinosa, T. & G. 
Rhamnus alnifolius, L’Her. Vaccinium macrocarpon, Ait. 
Potentilla tridentata, Sol. Epigea repens, L. 
Ribes prostratum, L’ Her. Polygonum cilinode, Mx. 
Cicuta bulbifera, L. Populus tremuloides, Mx. 
Diervilla trifida, Moench. Abies balsamea, Marsh. 
Lonicera ciliata, Muhl. Larix Americana, Mx. 
Maritime GRowp. 
As I, several years ago, endeavoured to explain, the species 
of this group, which are pres :ntly found along the shores 
of the Great Lakes, and of saline ground farther westward, 
are evidently the remnants of a larger maritime flora which 
margined the coast in glacial or post-glacial times when 
the sea made great inroads over Eastern Canada. Their 
existence in their present positions far inland, may be an 
argument for the saltness of the great interior seas of these 
