6 



lent to that of places upon the sea-coast, situated from three 

 hundred and fifty to five hundred miles further northward : — as far, 

 in fact, as Vancouver's Island or the mouth of the St. Lawrence. 

 And here, upon these elevations, are found many plants well recog- 

 nized as of a northern character : — Among them Viola Selkirkii, 

 Coast in in boreal e, Ledum la fi folium, Saxifraga azoides, Petasites pal- 

 mata, Primula Mistassinica and Pinguicula vulgaris. 



In obedience to the same law, the lower level of the Ontario Dis- 

 trict is accompanied by a higher mean temperature than that of the 

 Erie District. To this result, however, the great depth of Lake 

 Ontario, and its direction, east and west, largely contribute. Within 

 its limits the springs are somewhat earlier and the winters more 

 moderate. Fruits ripen which near Buffalo are precarious. Along 

 the southern shore of the lake, but in places somewhat beyond 

 the limits of the Catalogue, two plants appear, of such southern 

 character as Nelumbium liiteum and JJuobium Spongia. Asimima 

 triloba flourishes in several places in Orleans and Niagara Counties, 

 and it is not unlikely that Cercis Canadensis was formerly native 

 there. 



It may be stated, as a general proposition, that whatever of vari- 

 ety there is in the Flora of Buffalo and its vicinity has resulted only 

 in a small degree, if at all, from geological situation. In fact, the 

 subjacent rocks have contributed to the soil but little, either by abra- 

 sion or decomposition. The diversified materials, of which it is com- 

 posed (excepting, of course, vegetable mould and the ancient and 

 modern deposits of the lake and river) are recognized as having 

 been brought from the north during the glacial period. To the south 

 and southeast, however, the shaly rocks of the Hamilton Group 

 have yielded, in some places, an argillaceous quota to the soil. 



A few localities within our limits deserve especial notice. 



A little north of Salamanca, in Cattaraugus County, occupying the 

 summit of one of the highest hills, at the altitude of 2250 feet above 

 the sea, are the remains of a conglomerate rock, of carboniferous 

 age. The stratum varies in tliickness from ten to thirty feet. By the 

 slow processes of time, or, possibly, the operations of a more active 

 agent, the rock has been broken up into rectangular masses, varying 

 greatly in size : these, separating from each other, have left passages 

 between, in which the imagination may easily discover the streets 



