Flora and Fauna 



left some record of the botanical observations, which he made issr 

 during his visit at Niagara, in the year 1 750. But, the author 

 has failed to find any mention of its publication, either in the 

 Swedish tongue or in an English translation. If his journal still 

 exists, its publication, at the present day, could not but be wel- 

 comed as an important contribution to the literature of American 

 botany. It seems not unlikely that the species of Hypericum and 

 Lobelia, which bear his name, were discovered by him near 

 Table Rock. It is to be doubted whether either the elder or the 

 younger Michaux visited the neighborhood of the great cataract, 

 and it is certain that the enterprising spirit of Pursh brought him 

 no nearer than the site of the present city of Elmira. Nuttall, 

 who botanized near the Falls sometime previous to the year 1818, 

 mentions but one plant, Utricularia cornuta, as found by him in 

 their vicinity. Torre}'' doubtless visited the region — possibly 

 was familiar with it — yet, in his Flora of the State of New 

 York, published in the year 1 843, of the 1 ,5 11 species of plants, 

 which he described, only fifteen are attributed to Niagara, and 

 none of these, upon his own authority. In the Flora of North 

 America, of Torrey and Gray, published in 1838-1842, 

 Niagara is mentioned as a station only five times. 



The labors of later botanists have been far more useful in the 

 preparation of the list. The MS. journals of the Hon. George 

 W. Clinton, while engaged in his arduous labors upon the botany 

 of Buffalo and its vicinity, have proved of the greatest value; 

 and the " Flore Canadienne " of Abbe Provancher and the 

 *' Catalogue of Canadian Plants " of Professor Macoun, the 

 learned and indefatigable botanist of the Canadian Geological 

 Survey, and the " Canadian Filicineae," the joint work of Pro- 

 fessor Macoun and Dr. Burgess, of London, Ontario, have been 

 of important service. 



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