^ PL ;^ ^ f ii ■<- .^■«- Section C— JJradford, 1900. Canadian Pleistocene Flora and Fauna. — lioporl of titc Committee, runxi;>ti)icene Flora and Fauna. VAC.K T. On the Ph^'istorcne near Toronto. By Trofessor A. P. CoLEMAN . . . 1 11. On the Plehtoeeiw Flora of the Don Valley. By Professor D. P. Penh allow 7 't ' During the past year the Committee has suffered a .severe loss through the death of its di.stinguished chairman, Sir J. W. Dawson, but th(^ work has heen continued by three of its members. Dr. Ami has taken charge of the Ottawa valley deposits. Professor Penhallow has examined the fossil riora from both Ottawa and Toronto, and the J>e(?f^t)»]i Pt^essor A. P. Colema Since the preparation of the last report two^>H^ lo^^ffTTties near Toronto have proved of interest, one near a bend of the B^n a little east of the well reported on last year, the other a series of sand deposits in the western part of the city. The outcrop at the bend of the Don just north-west of Toronto was discovered years ago by Dr. G. J. Hinde, who had described so excellently the section at Scarborough Heights, and who has been good enough to hand over his material to the Secretary. Until last year, however, it was not certainly proved to be interglacial. The section at the bend of the Don is of special interest, since it occupies an interglacial valley about 700 feet wide, having steep walls of Hudson River (Cambro-silurian) shale, rising 8 or 10 feet on the eastern side and IG feet on the western. The section is as follows : — 4. Coarse irravcl with boulders and no shells, 4 to 8 feet . . 37 to 40 3. Brown clay with sandy layers containing unios, Jv:c., 4 or 5 feet 33 or 34 2. Blue clay with sandy layers containing shells and wood, 6 feet 20 1. Coarse shingle with clay and peaty layers, 4 feet . . .23 River Don, above level of Lake Ontario ... .19 The lowest layer goes below the level of the Don, so that the bottom of the section is not exposed. Th(5 third layer corresponds exactly in materials and fossils with the unio beds referred to in last year's report, which are in place 100 yards to tlie west, and there overlie a thin sheet of boulder clay resting on a cliff of shale 16 feet in height. Beds 1 and 2 contain trees of a warm climate, as determined by Profe.ssor Penhallow, and twelve species of freshwater shells, according to determinations kindly made by Dr. Dall of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, two of the shells, Unin {(JuadrnJa) pyramidafa and Anodonta (jrandia, being new to the Toronto formation. The most important feature of this section is the evidence afTorded that c 1 2 |^^(^ REPORT — 1900. a period oi frosion, during which the floor of Hudson River shale was cut down more than 16 feet, preceded the deposit of the lowest warm climate beds. Tuis, with the downward extensioa of the interglacial beds, as described in previous reports, for at least 15 feet, lengthens the time necessary for the interglacial episode considerably. The new deposits in the western part of the city are exposed partly in cuttings for sewers, but chietiy in t^vo large sandpits, now worked energetically because of the increase of buildins: operations in Toronto. These exposures lie from three to four miles west of the Don and are either interglacial or preglacial, since more or less boulder clay overlies them, though wave-action on the old Iroquois shore, 160 feet above the present Lake Ontario, has removed part of the overlying till. Sections a^. the sandpits near Christie and Shaw Streets shov/ 30 to 40 feet of sand and gravel tumultuously cross-bedded, as if formed in a rapidly flowing river or near the shore of a large lake. The upper part of the stratified sand is often contorted and broken into irregular misses immediately under the till. The more gravelly layers contain a few shells, chieQ.y Campeloynadecisa, Valvata sincera, species of Pleurocera and Sphaerium, and occasionally fragments of unios. A few mammalian remains have occurred also, fragments of a tusk of mammoth or mastodon, and an atlas vertebra of an animal not smaller than an ox, having been found within the past year. The latter bone could not be determined by comparison with the skeletons at hand in the Biological Museum of Toronto University, and so was sent by Mr. Archibald Pride of the Biological Museum, to whom it had been referred, to his brother in Djblin. Thn-reitwis considered to belong probably to Bison americanns. Toronto is the most easterly locality in Canada where remains of this inhabitant of the prairies have been found. As these stratified sands ditFer greatly from any of the interglacial beds of the Don or Scarborough, though underlying apparently the same sheet of till, it seemed possible that they ^vere preglacial. To settle this point it was decided to sink a well to bed rock from the bottom of the Christie Street sandpit, using the grant of 10/. to the Committee for this purpose. As the sand below the bottom of the pits is heavily charged with water, it was necessary to drill the well and sink a pipe as the work progressed. After thirty-eight feet of rather uniform sand had been penetrated, a layer of cemented gravel or conglomerate put an end to the work with the appliances employed. Another well was sunk half a mile to the south, near a stream which had cut through forty feet of till. Here the drill reached the underlying Hudson River shale, giving a complete section of the drift, as follows : ft. in. ft. in. Till, blue clay wifh a few scratched stones . . 40 i>9 Fine and coai SB gray frand H 59 Clay without stones '^ ^ 45 Gravel (loosely cemented) 2 6 ?? ^ Clay without stones 2 9 83 3 Sand and gravel 13 G 30 6 Hudson River Shale 17 Level of Lake Ontario 0 As no boulder clay was found beneath the sand, the question remained undecided whether the beds are interglacial or preglacial ; but the^ open- ing of a sewer on Dupont Street, half a mile north-east of the sandpits, has CANADIAN TLEISTOCENK FLoHA AND FA IN A. » since provided cvidonco favoiirini,' llic intorf^lacial age of the sands. At tlie sewer stratitied sand, evidently a continuation of the deposits just UK'ntioned, contains chiyey sheets witli thin bands of peaty material con- taining leniains of beetles, mosses, seeds, plates of iniea, it'c, precisely like the peat from the cold climate series of Scarborough and tlio l)on valley. Since these peaty layers are probably eijuivalent in age to the ])eaty clays east of the city, %ve may suppose that the sandy dejiosits of the westtrn part of Toronto are also interglacial, in the upper part evi- dently belonging to the cold climate series, but perhaps representing the NViiini climate deposits at lower levels. It is clear that the conditions in AVestern Toronto must have been ditl'erent from those to the east, since heie a gieat thickness of stratified sand replaces stratified clay. This may be explained by supposing that an interglacial Ilumber river brought from the west sand and gravel into the great lake then occu- pying the Ontario Valley to mingle with the clayey delta materials of the interglacial Laurentian river flowing from (leorgian Bay to Scarl>orough. Just beneath a thin sheet of till in the Dupont Street sewer the uj'per end of the ulna of a mammoth or mastod( n was found, the bone having been polished and sciatched by giacial action, suggesting that it lay on the surface when the ice advanced for the last time. Some pieces of wood occurred near by, but lower down in the section. AVe may now sum up the results obtained by the Comniitt«'e and former investigators of the Toronto foimation, so as to show the series of events recorded, the thickness of the deposits, and the fossils obtained from them. In most places the Toronto formation is fcund to overlie a bed of cha- racteristic boulder clay containing rocks brought from long distances to the north or north east, and covering the eroded surface of the Cambro- silurian rocks of the region. This boulder clay probably belongs to the lowan till sheet of the I'nited States. After the retreat of the ice there was an interval of erosion shown near Shaw Street, and in the interglacial river valley at the bend of the Don ; folhjwed by the deposit of clay, sand, and gravel containing trees and unios of a warmer climate than the jiresent, the greatest thickness amounting to thirty -three feet in the I)on valley, and to thirty-five feet below Lake Ontarn> at Scarborough. These beds have nowhere been found at a higher level than fifty feet above Lake Ontario, and the upi)er sands and gravels were probably laid down in sh.allow water, since tliey are browned and sometimes cementeil with oxide of iron. Conformably upon the warm climate beds are a s*»ries of be«ls containing trees and other fossils, especially Ix-etles, suggesting a icoler elimat(« than the ])resent ; not Arctic, however, but cold temperate. I'hese are best shown at Soirborough Heights, where stratified peaty clays starting a few fcrt below the level of Lake Ontario have a thiikness of ninety-five feet, followed by fifty-five feet of stratitied sand. It is pro- bable that part at least of the seventy feet of sand found in the western part of Toronto is of the same age. The interglacial lake at this stage must have stood at least L'»U fe«'t higher than I^-ike C)nfario. A long jH'riiwl of erosion fallowed the draining of this lake, during win. li river valleys a mile or more in width were cut through the delta deposits at Scarborough to the depth of more than 1 50 feet comparable to those cut by the Don and Humljer smce the (Jlacial period. Finally a fresh advance of the ice, probably belonging to the Wisconsin REPORT — 1000. stage of xVmerican geologists, covered the Toronto formation with a com- plex series of layers of boulder clay and stratified sand and clay reaching a thickness of 200 feet at Scarborough Heights. Accounts of the fossils of the Toronto formation have been given in previous reports of this Committee and in various articles in geological journals, but in this final report it is thought wise to give a more complete list of the species collected, including a large number that have not yet been published. As the trees will be taken up in Professor Penhallow's report, the present list is confined to the interglacial fauna. The forms occurring in the lower, warm climate beds will be given wards those of the cool climate. lirst, and after- Fauna of Warm Climate Beds, Don Valley. Vertthrata ; possibly mammoth or mastodon and bison, and an undeter- mined fish, several undetermined beetles and cyprids. Arth^opoda MoUusca : Unio undulatus „ rectus • still livino; in Lake Ontario. still livin< ,, luteolus „ gibbosus „ phaseolus ,, pustulosus ,, trigonus „ occidens ,, solidus ,, clavus ,, pyramidata Anodonta grandis, not reported from Canada in Lake Erie, but not reported from Lake Ontario. not known in the St. Lawrence system of waters, but living further south. Sphaerium rhomboideum „ striatinum ,, sulcatum „ solidulum ,, similis (?) Pisidium Adamsi ,, compressum ,, novaboracense (?) Pleurocera subulare ,, elevatum ,, Lewisi (?) Goniobasis depygis „ Haldemani Limnaea decidiosa elodes Planorbis parvus ,, bicarinatus Amnicola limosa ,, porata ,, sagana Physa heterostropha ,, ancillaria Succinea avara Bythinella obtusa Somatogyrus isogonus Valvata sincera „ tricarinata Campeloma decisa Bifidaria armata (land snail) In all there are thirty-eight undoubted species of molluscs, and three more probably, included in the fauna. Of these eight or ten have not been reported from Lake Ontario, but occur further south. CANADIAN PLEISTOCENE FLORA AND FAUNA. Fauna <•/ Cool Climate, cfiiijlij fnnn Scarhnvowjh. Caribou, and perhaps inammotli or inastodoii and bison. Vertti^irata Arthropoda (ahnust wholly beetles) Carahi'hie (9 {:jen., 31 sp.), Elaphrus irregulari^s Lorict-ra glae-ialis ,, lutosa ,, exila Nebria abstracta Bembidium ulaciatuni ,, 1 1 ay ward i ,, vestigium ,, vanuni ,, praeteritum ,, expletuni „ damnosum Patrobus gelatus „ decessus frigid us Pterosticlius abrogalus „ destitutus „ fractus ,, destructus gelidus „ depletus Badister antecursor Platynus casus „ Hindei Halli ,, dissipatus „ desuetus ,, Harttii „ delapidatus „ externiinatus „ interglacialis ,, interitus ,, longaevus Harpalus conditus Dytiacidae (3 gen. Coelanibus derelictus ,, cribrarius „ infernalis ,, di.sjectus Hydroporu.s inaniinatus ,, inundatus ,, sectus Agabus perditus Gyriiiidivi (1 sp Gyrinus confinis LeC. 8 sp.). Ilijdrophilidae (1 .sp.). Cynibiodyta exstincta Sfnpltijlinidnp, (11 gen , ID sp.). Gynuiu.sa absens Quediu.s deperditus Philoiithus claudus Cryptobiuni detec-tuin ,, cinctuui Latlirobiuni interglaciale ,, anti(juatu!u ,, del)ilitatuui ,, exesum ,, inhibituui ,, frustum Oxyporus stiriacus Bledius glaciatus Geodrumicus stiricidii Acidota crenata, Fal)r. {var. nigra) Arpedium stillicidii Ulophrum celatum „ arcanum „ dejectum Chrysomdidae (1 gen., '1 sp.). Donacia stiria „ pompatica C nrculionldae (4 gen., G sp.). Erycus consumptus Anthonomus e versus „ fossilis „ lapsus Orchestes avus Centriuus disjunctus Scolylidae (1 sp.). Phloeosinu.s squalidens Moll n sea : Sphaerium rhomboideum ,, fabale Limnaea sp. Plan(>rl)is sp. Valvata tricarinata c 1-2 6 REPORT — 1900. If the sand deposits of Western Toronto are to be included with the cool climate beds, there must be added : Campeloma decisa Pleurocera, two species Goniobasis, one species Amnicola limosa Valvata sincera Unio, one species These fossils may, however, belong to the lower warm climate series. The molluscs do not give decisive information as to the climate ; but the trees, and to a considerable extent the insects, point to a climate somewhat cooler than at present. Dr. Samuel H. Scudder has determined these beetles, seventy-two in number, all of them in his opinion extinct except two. Twenty-five of them were obtained from material sent by Dr. Hinde, the rest from specimens collected at Scarborough and Toronto by A. P. Coleman. A complete account of the new species, with figures, will be published shortly by the Canadian Geological Survey. The new species confirm Dr. Scudder in the opinion expressed when the first set of specimens was described, * that on the whole the fauna has a boreal aspect, though by no means so decidedly boreal as one would anticipate under the circumstances.' The Committee warmly apprecia-tes the kindness and patience of Dr. Scudder in working up this fragmentary and difficult material. In all at least seventy-eight species of animals are known from the cool climate beds, seventy of them extinct, and the total number may reach eighty-seven ; while in the lower warm climate beds at least fifty species are known to exist. Only four of the seventy-eight species recognised in the upper beds occur also in the lower beds ; so that 124 species of animals, chiefly insects and molluscs, but including also the caribou, bison, and mammoth or mastodon, have been found in the Toronto interglacial formation. If we include the flora, with its numerous fore.^ trees, it will be seen that there are ample materials for reconstructing the life of the time and for determining the climate. That the Toronto formation is interglacial has been proved beyond doubt, and that it represents an interglacial period lasting thousands of years is scarcely doubtful. Two points are of special importance in this connection. In the first place, there was a considerable interval of erosion after the earlier withdrawal of the ice before the warm climate beds began to be deposited, and there was a long time of active erosion after the cool climate beds had been formed before the ice advanced for the second time. These times of erosion, with the long intervening time when the valley of Lake Ontario was filled with fresh water to a depth of 50 to 150 feet greater than at present, demand not only a great lapse of time but also important warpings and changes of level in the St. Lawrence valley. In the next place it is striking that none of the scores of species of plants and animals found is characteristic of an Arctic or even sub- Arctic climate. All of them might live in Ontario to-day except a few which require a warmer climate, i.e. they all belong to climates ranging from warm temperate to cold temperate, meaning by the latter the climate of the north shore of Lake Superior or of the lower St. Lawrence. The deposits seem to have been formed, not during the earlier retreat of the ice, nor during its second advance, but during a temperate era, when in all probability eastern Canada was as devoid of permanent icefields as it is to-day. Our investigations go far to prove that between the two CANADIAN PLEiaTOCENE FLORA AND FAUNA. 7 advances of the ice there was a long temperate interval during which even the heart of Labrador, 700 miles to the north-east, must have been free from glaciers. II. The Pleistocene Flora of the Don Valley. By Prof. D. P. Peniiallow. Special studies relative to the pleistocene flora of Canada have now been carried on since 1889, the tirst report on the subject having been made by Dawson and Peidiallow in 18'J0.' Other contributions have been made from time to time, but upon the occasion of the meeting of the British Association at Toronto in 1807 a special impetus was given to this work l)y the appointment of a Committee, to whom a grant was made for the purposes of investigation, particularly in the neighbourhood of Toronto. Under these favourable conditions much material has been l^rought together, chieHy from the imnifdiate vicinity of Toronto, and its determination has thrown much important light upon the climatic con- ditions of the various geological phases through which that region evidently passed in interglacial times. During the past decade or more, other important material has been gathered from various localities — often most widely separated — throughout the Dominion. As the work of the Committee is now practically completed, it is considered wise, in this final report, to bring together all the information from these various sources and endeavour to ascertain its bearing upon questions of current interest and importance. Plants from eighteen special localities have been studied, ranging from Manitoba to Cape Breton, and particular attention has been directed to those from at least twelve of these locations, chiefly from the vicinity of Toronto. Eighty- three species in all have been studied, the largest number from iV one locality (Taylor's Brickyard) lacing twenty-seven. In several instances only one or two species have been obtained from a locality, in which cases they afford no definite conclusions respecting the climatic- conditions of the locality ; but in other cases the character of the vegeta- tion is such as to leave no room for doubt as to the climatic conditions involved. In the Valley of the Don, numerous collections from the same localities have resulted in a constant diminution in the number of dis- coveries, until latterly the total absence of anything new has brought the conviction that the flora of the region has been exhausted, and an in- spectie localities are Cape Breton, Rolling River (^Manitoba), 8olsgirth and Leda ' Bull GeoL Soc. Anicr. I. (1890), pp. 31 1-3:54. 8 REPORT 1900. River (Manitoba), and Moose and Missinaibi Rivers. Tlie remaining thirteen localities are so situated as to bear a more or less definite relation to one another, and all lie within the limits of the Pleistocene Sea which extended up the valley of the St. Lawrence, and occupied the area of the present Great Lakes. It should be kept in mind in this connection, how- ever, tliat salt water forms are to be met with only as far west as Green's Creek, near Ottawa, while fresh water types prevail in all the more western localities, which thus correspond in a general way with the de- posits of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Manitoba, and other western regions. Distributio7i of Pleistocene Plants. Abies balsamea Acer pleistocenicum „ saccharinum . „ spicatum Algae sp. . Alnus sp. Asimina triloba Betulalutea . - . Brasenia peltata Bromus ciliatus Carex aquatilis ,, magellanica . ,, reticulata Gary a alba Cocconeis sp. . Chamaecvparis sphaeroi dea Crataegus punctata Cyperaceae sp. Distichium capillaceum Drosera rotundifolia Elodea canadensis . Eacyonema prostratum Equisetum limosum „ scirpoides „ sylvaticum sp. . Eriocaulon sp. Fontinalis sp. . Fucus digitatus Fraxinus quadrangulata „ sambucifolia „ americana. Festuca ovina . Gaylussacia resinosa Gramineae sp.. Hypnum commutatum „ fluitans recur vans . > ce So .s s Don Valley o , ^ al-3 00 ' I s CANADIAN PLEISTOCENE ELORA AND FAUNA. DUtrihution of Plelstoc cue PlinU — continued. . . 1 a. Don Valley .s .1 tn o .2 u of •= 11 n 1 4> 1 1 ~ 1 2 1 t S i :- 1} i S i a o , = I en 1 1 1 X t 1 1 Hypnum revolvens . „ sp. . Juniperus viri^iaiana 4> * * Larix americaiia 4> * * 4> * # churchbiidgensis . * Licmophora sp. * Lycopodium sp. ♦ Madura aurantiaca . * ♦ 4> 4> Menyautlies trifoliata * Navicula lata . * Oryzopsis asperifolia * Oxycoccus palustris * Piceaalba # ♦ * * * 4> * * * „ nigra 4t M sp Pinus strobus . If Platanus occidentalis * * Populus balsamifera . * * * ♦ „ grandidentata . ^ ♦ - * * - 4> Potamogeton pectinatus . - - * „ perfoliatus . _ . _ - . * „ pusillus _ _ . ♦ 4> „ rutilans - - • * „ natans ^ - - — * Potentilla anserina . * * Prunussp. * Quercus obtusiloba . * alba(?) . * ,, rubra ♦ ♦ „ tinctoria . * * „ oblongifolia * „ macrocarpa ))> ♦ acuminata If Robinia pseudacacia * * Salix sp * * * Taxus canadensis . * * * 4> \ Thuya occidentalis . Hi * 1 Tilia americana * ♦ Typha lati folia * Ulmus americana . * i|> * „ racemosa ♦ Vaccinium uliginosum . * Vallisneria spiralis . 4> * * Zostera marina *■ Totals 1 1 7 2 1 6 1 17 14 27 3 1 5 14 '1 14 7 The most easterly of the localities in the related deposits is ^Montreal. The majority of the specimens recovered at this point represent drift material brought down hy tributary rivers, but the great abundance of Zoalera marina and the occurrence of Algae show that some of the plants at least were deposited in place. The matrix is a blue clay. Seven species in nil hnvo been recovered from this locality, and they are all 10 REPOKT— 1900. identical with species now common in the same district — except, of course, Zostera — thus indicating similar climatic conditions. At Green's Creek, near Ottawa, and at Besserer's Wharf, a few miles below on the Ottawa River, numerous plant remains are found enclosed in clay nodules, but their very fragmentary character often renders their determination most unsatisfactory. These two localities, although sepa- rately treated, are in reality one and the same, since the deposit at each place is of the same nature, and was undoubtedly laid down at the same time, and they ha\'e proved to be among the richest in plant remains of all the localities studied — no less than twenty-eight species having been recovered from the clay nodules. An analysis of this flora shows 35*71 per cent, of the plants to be wholly aquatic, and therefore deposited in place. 35-71 per cent, are land plants, drifted in by tributary rivers, and 28*57 per cent, represent semi-aquatics and marsh plants from adjacent land areas. The vegetation, as a whole, is identical with that now found in the same region, from which we may infer sitnilar climatic conditions. At Scarborough Heights, near Toronto, the flora is rather remarkable for the complete absence of aquatic types, showing the drift character of the entire deposit. Fourteen species in all have been found there, and of these six are trees, while the remaining eight embrace mosses, equiseti, and herbaceous or half- shrubby plants. The vegetation as a whole is of a decidedly more boreal type than that now flourishing in the same region, and, if anything, somewhat more northern than that which is to be found in the deposits at Green's Creek and Montreal. This points to a climate equivalent to that of northern Quebec and Labrador, as we know it to-day, and somewhat colder than the climate at Green's Creek and Montreal during Pleistocene time. In the Don Yalley no less than eight separate localities have been examined. Some of them, as at Simpson's, proved practically barren of results so far as plant remains were concerned, owing to the uncontrollable influx of water. Others again, as at Taylor's Brickyard and the Don River, proved to be exceptionally rich in material, and afforded some of the most valuable results obtained. Within this area no less that thirty- eight species have been recovered, and they point conclusively to the existence of climatic conditions differing mr.terially from those which now prevail, and of a character more nearly allied to that of the middle United States of to-day. The Erie Clays at Hamilton, Ontario, have aff'orded only one example of plant life, and this does not materially aid us in any conclusions relative to climatic conditions, since it is a type having a somewhat wide range within the warmer zone, represented by the more southern types of the Pleistocene flora. Only one species appears to have disappeared in Pleistocene time. Acer pleistocenicmn, which was abundant in the region of the Don, bears no well-defined resemblance to existing species. With this one exception, it is a noteworthy fact that all the plants of the Pleistocene flora were such as are now represented in the same localities, or, in the case of the Don Valley, by plants which find the northern limits of their distribution at or near that region, and the somewhat unequal distribution thus indicated at once suggests definite climatic changes during Pleistocene time, as represented by the northern and southern migration of particular types of plants. This has already been referred to in previous reports and publi- cations, but it may be repeated at this time that the definite and abundant occurrence of Madura aii.raniiaca, Juniperus virginiana, Qnercus ohtusi- CANADIAN PLEISTOCENE FLORA AND FAUNA. 11 It)la, Qufrcvs ohJongifolia, Asimina triloba, Climnnecyparis sphaeroidea, .■mil Frn.rinus qnnilraii'/nlald points witliout question to the prevalence of a ujuch warmer climate than now prevails, while, on the other hand, the ftjually abundant occurrence of boreal types at Scarborough points to tlie existence of a colder climate at the time tliese deposits were laid down. It is therefore clear that in the region of Toronto during Pleisto- cene time thei'e were at le;ist two distinct periods, characterisrd, on the one hand, by a climate equivalent to that of the nuddle United States at the present »Iay, and, on the other hand, a climate equivalent to that of northern Quebec and Labrador. According to stratigraphical evidence obtained by Professor Coleman, these changes followed the recession of the ice sheet in the order given, from which we are to conclude that the climate of the Don Valley is now intermediate b:>tween that of the first and second pe?-iods, approaching the former. On the other hand, again, tlie flora of Green's Creek and Besserer's, as also that of ^Montreal, is practically identical with that now existing in the same localities. It thus represents a climate colder than that of the Don period, but somewhat warmer than tliat of the Scarborough period, but present evidence does not enable us to ascertain if these deposits were laid down before or after the Scarborough deposits. The following sum- mary will probably assist in conveying a clearer idea of the distinctive differences in the vegetation of these three periods. Abies balsaraea Acer pleistocenicum . Acer saocharinuiu Acer spicatum Algae sp Alnus sp. . Asimina triloba . Betula lutea Brasena peltata . Bromus cillatus . Carex aqiiatilis . ,, niacjellanica reticulata Cara alha .... Cliamaecyparis sphaeroidea Crataegus punc ata . Cyperaceae sp. . Drosera rotundifolia . Klodea canadensis Encyonema pro.';tratum Equisctum liraosum . „ scirpoides . „ sp. . „ sylvaticum Eriocaulon sp. . Fontinalis sp. . o r3 o 'S - c3 ii ®