264 Geology and Botany of Northern Pacific Railroad. 



and leaves are very prickly, arid it is a common but probably un- 

 grounded belief that its spines are highly poisonous. A large 

 shrubby Spirwa {S. Douylasii) grows six to ten feet in height, 

 with numerous large open panicles of inconspicuous flowers. 

 Several species of Ceunothus abound, the most common being 

 C. velutinus, which forms dense thickets. Lonicera involu- 

 crata, conspicuous from its black belladonna-Mke fruit, surround- 

 ed by large persistent purple involucres, is found along the 

 streams, with one of the most showy of all the Oregon shrubs, 

 Cornus Nuttallii, Audubon, the western representative of our 

 dogwood. Usually it is smaller, but occasionally becomes a tree 

 50 feet in height. The flower-like calyces are large, white, and 

 less crumpled than those of the eastern tree. 



More interesting than these to botanists, as well as to the gen- 

 eral public, are the fruit-bearing shrubs, the "Salal," (Gaultheria 

 shallon,) the Oregon grape (Berberis aquifolium and B.pinnata). 

 and the "salmon-berry," (Rubus spectabilis). Of these, the 

 first covers the ground over great areas with its creeping or de- 

 cumbent stem, its broad, oval, shining leaves, and its pendent, 

 black and edible fruit. The two species of Berberis, so well 

 known under their old name, Mahonia, are low shrubs, with 

 pinnate, spiny leaves, yellow, clustered flowers and blue bloom- 

 covered acid berries. They are not unfrequently cultivated as 

 ornamental plants in the eastern States. The salmon-berry takes 

 its name from the color of the fruit, which resembles that of the 

 flesh of the salmon. It is a tall, strong-growing raspberry, with 

 conspicuous purple flowers and large ovoid fruit, much esteemed 

 by the Indians, but rather insipid. Rubus Nutkanus, the white 

 variety of our flowering raspberry, is everywhere common, with 

 the precise habit of its eastern representative. 



Surface Geology of the Puget's Sound Basin. 



The name Puget's Sound is, in popular use, made to cover all 

 the peculiar group of inlets and tideways which lie immediately 

 east of Vancouver's Island, — Puget's Sound proper, Admiralty 

 Inlet, Hood's Canal, etc. These occupy the northern extension 

 of the great Columbian valley, which, like its counterpart in 

 California, lies between the Coast ranges and the Cordilleras. 

 Further north still, this depression is deflected toward the north- 



