TIIE SOUTHERN SHOKES OE LAKE STJPEEIOE. 345 



ation, that the glimpses which even a very partial examination of its 

 shores affords of some of the pi enomena peculiar to them, may not 

 be unacceptable to the members of the Institute. With its wide 

 extent of waters, covering an area of thirty-two thousand square miles, 

 a lengthened period of sojourn in the regions with which it is sur- 

 rounded, and many facilities for their exploration, would be required, 

 in order to satisfy the curiosity of scientific enquirers iu relation to 

 their varied attractions. But even a brief visit discloses much that 

 is highly interesting, and that serves at once to illustrate, and to con- 

 trast with what comes under the observer's notice elsewhere. Hav- 

 ing employed both pen and pencil in noting several of the most 

 striking features which catch the eye from their novelty, a description 

 of some of them may not be unacceptable in the absence of more 

 valuable contributions, even though trenching on the legitimate 

 grounds of the geologist, with the mere notes of an amateur observer. 



The settlers on the shores of the great fresh-water lakes of this 

 continent are cognizant of various remarkable formations, differing 

 from the phenomena with which the dwellers on the sea-coast are 

 familiar. Of one class of such, the peninsula, or " Island" of Toronto 

 Bay, is a striking, though by no means singular example. Similar 

 natural barriers — hooks or spits, as they are termed, according to the 

 curved or straight outline of their extremities — are still in course of 

 formation on Lake Erie, as well as at other points on the shores of 

 Ontario, by the waves and currents, under the action of the winds 

 in certain prevailing directions, wasting away salient points of the 

 coast, and depositing the detached debris on a less exposed bottom. 

 Peninsular barriers of this class are to be met with also on the higher 

 lakes, and constitute indeed a striking feature among the littoral 

 features of Lake Superior. Certain peculiarities, however, distinguish 

 the formations of this class in Lake Superior, from those belonging 

 to the lower lakes ; and it would seem as if a special character were 

 traceable in such on each of the lakes. Owing to its uniform shallow- 

 ness, the waters of Lake Erie appear to differ to a certain degree 

 from those of Lake Ontario — which otherwise it most nearly resem- 

 bles, — in their mode of action and the consequent results; while both 

 present a striking contrast in these respects to Lakes Huron and 

 Michigan, with their main coast lines running nearly due north and 

 south, and thereby subjected to very varied actions from the same 

 winds and currents. This diversity of aspect becomes still more 

 apparent, when the same forces are found in operation, but the mate- 

 rials opposed to this united action are no longer the loose drift 



A* 



