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 Selkirkit, 
Cerastium boreale, Ledum latifolium, 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 Welumbium luteum and Linvbium Spongia. Asimima 
triloba flourishes in several places in Orleans and Niagara Counties, 
and it is not unlikely that Cerc’s Canadensis was formerly native 
there. 7 
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. ‘Ihe stratum varies in thickness 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 
