No. 376.] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 297 
A. P. Coleman, of Toronto. The results reached were of such inter- 
est and scientific importance that the British Association at its last 
meeting at Toronto appointed a special committee, consisting of Sir 
J. W. Dawson, chairman, Prof. A. P. Coleman, secretary, Prof. 
D. P. Penhallow, Dr. H. M. Ami, and Mr. G. W. Lamplugh, “to 
further investigate the fauna and flora of the Pleistocene beds in 
Canada,” and for this purpose made a grant of £20. 
For several months past the work of this committee has been - 
actively prosecuted under the immediate direction of Professor Cole- 
man. The results so far reached afford a valuable extension of 
our previous knowledge respecting the vegetation of that period, and 
confirm former conclusions as to climatic conditions. 
In his last summary of the Pleistocene flora’ Professor Penhallow 
discusses the character of the vegetation observed in deposits of five 
principal localities, — Moose River, Montreal, Green’s Creek and Bes- 
serer’s Wharf near Ottawa, Scarboro Heights near Toronto, and the 
Don Valley in the immediate neighborhood of Toronto, from which 
places sixty-three species of plants have been obtained. All of the 
plants are found to be identical with existing species. The results 
of the investigations now in progress will show important additions 
to this list. 
Considered in relation to climate, the deposits of the Don Valley 
represent a vegetation of a more southern type than that now existing 
there, such as at present flourishes in the Middle States. In all the 
other deposits the vegetation represents similar climatic conditions, 
and is comparable with that which now flourishesin the same or slightly 
more northern situations. A comparison of the Scarboro and Don 
beds by Professor Coleman leads to the conclusion that the former 
were laid down first; hence the inference that in the vicinity of 
Toronto the vegetation and the climate were at first comparable 
with what may be found at the present time from the southern 
shores of Labrador through the region of the Gulf of St. Lawrence 
and the Province of Quebec; that at a subsequent period the cli- 
mate became warmer, with the introduction of more southern types 
of plants, such as the osage orange, and that, finally, another change 
brought about a partial return to the original conditions, with the 
development of the climate and flora as at present known. 
One of the most interesting features of the material derived from 
these beds is the very perfect state of preservation in which much of 
1 Contributions to the Pleistocene Flora of Canada. Trans. R. Soc. Can, 
Ser. 2, 1897. II. iv. 59. 
