
42 7 Rhodora [Marcu 2 
. . . ° . 3 “ r 
nate that no explanation is given of the exact identity of the tree 
intended. 
Hutchinson has drawn his statements of ranges chiefly from a few 


explorers mentioned have been even more accurate than has generally 
other records, they cannot be safely copied without careful sii 
and, although Bell’s personal observations seem to be accurate, hi 
generalizations and deductions from others are woefully inaccurate. 
Thus, Bell’s statement that the American Elm occurs in Newfound- 
land goes back to old records of superficial and self-confident English 
travellers who wrote with a disregard of precise taxonomy which 
could commend their publications only to that group of American 
“phytogeographers” who abhor both taxonomic accuracy and the 
painstaking and unending study necessary for its achievement. The es 
Elm has been included in various journals of travel in Newfoundland 
through a system of “back-door” determinations but in this case, 43 
in most others, the identification of the species merely by looking up _ 
the local name in the index of a manual has led to confusion. ‘The ne 
situation is as follows: in Newfoundland Yellow Birch, Betula lutea, 8 
known as Wircu Hazex while in England the latter name has been 
used for Ulmus montana. Therefore, what more natural than for Sir 
Richard Bonnycastle, writing of Newfoundland trees from a “first- 
hand unfamiliarity” with them, to refer to “ ulmus montana, the wyeh 
hazel, or elm, which . . . grows all over the island”? Bonnyeastle: 
record was forthwith seized upon as proof that Ulmus omenon 
grows in Newfoundland, although others, relying merely on indices 
American manuals, have treated it as Hamamelis virginiana. Neither 
Ulmus nor Hamamelis is known in Newfoundland! mee 
By too closely following the now almost ancient paper of Bell” 
and quite disregarding the scores of very accurate and deta” 
accounts by later Canadian explorers, Hutchinson has slipped in 
some errors which a few hours of intelligent search of literature WO 
have prevented. Thus he states (p. 476) that “the i | 
the limits of Pinus Banksiana may be explained by the fact ne 
although temperature conditions have so changed that this species 
has migrated to 56° N. lat. in the highlands of northern Quebee, 1 2% 
ea 
an 






1 Robert Bell, Geol, Surv, Can, Rep. for 1879-80, 44-660 (1851). 
