am endeavouring to improve the place as much as possible, and will, when it is complete, have a very nice house, with a real library containing above 1000 volumes. I have this winter written a longish treatise on the fur animals of this district, all of which, as far as the bears, I have redescribed; and in doing so I have examined an immense number of skins. The most interesting fact is the existence of a species of marten on the N.W. Arctic coast, resembling more nearly the M. zibellina of Asia than the M. americana. The affinity of the blue and white fox has also been fully examined into. It is perfectly certain that the colour is not dependent on the age of the animal, but I incline to the opinion that they are varieties of the same species. In all about 800 zoological specimens have been sent out by the officers of this district, of which about 600 were contributed by myself. I have, I think, identified all the species correctly—at least as correctly as I could by the aid of books alone.

"In the list there is a Bernicla Barnstonii, which I fancy is new. It is fully as large as a Canada goose, has sixteen feathers in the tail, two large white spots over the eyes, and the whole forehead is sprinkled with smaller spottings. A white point runs into the lower mandible, which is wholly black in all the other species. The colour of the body is darker than in the Canada goose, and the belly is of a bright buff colour. The Plectrophanes picti were very numerous this spring, and I secured about thirty. The Pl. nivalis and Pl. lapponicus were also common, and Pl. Macownii rarer.

“An American naturalist is here at present, sent by the Smithsonian Institution."

Sir John Richardson has also received a letter from Mr Spencer Baird, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, from which the following is an extract:

"We have been making great efforts to complete our North American collections from the Arctic Regions, by sending our taxidermist to James' Bay, one collector to Regalette, and Mr Kennicott to the Mackenzie River. The latter gentleman spent last winter at Fort Simpson, and the past spring on Great Slave Lake at Fort Resolution. He expected to go to the Yukon in the summer, and is probably there now. As one of the most industrious collectors of our country, I have no doubt that he will thoroughly explore his present field. From him and our

other northern collectors and correspondents, we have already received many interesting specimens, though the best are still on the way. We have already had Neotoma cinerea from Fort Churchill, with other rare mammals. Considerable numbers of the large dusky grouse, with entirely black square tail (Tetrao Richardsonii) have reached us from the northern part of the Rocky Mountains, also Tetrao Franklinii, Tetrao leucurus, &c. Your Larus brachyrhynchus is a well-recognised species, and is the same with Larus Suckleyi, ascertained by comparison of one of your original specimens with types of the latter."

Salmonida of Frazer River, British Columbia.-The Indians seem to understand the migrations of the salmon. They are deeply interested in the matter, for their only food is fish, and they stink of it like cormorants in a state of decomposition. They will tell you, in so many moons "haiyoo pich," abundance of fish; or in so many moons, "hayto pich," no fish. There are certainly two kinds of salmon which resort to Frazer's River, some say three. I do not know whether they resort to the river at the same time or at different seasons. Some assert that the two kinds visit the river alternately, one kind one year and the other the next. One is called the humpbacked salmon-it is short, thick, with a pig back and full shoulders; the other is the common salmon, the same as our own. My opinion is, that both kinds ascend the river every year, but every alternate year the hunchbacked or the common salmon is in greater abundance. Their flesh is similar-an epicure could not tell which was which by the flavour. Thirty-pound salmon are very common. They ascend the river in millions, and swarm into all the tributaries of the Frazer, even 500 miles into the interior, in shoals so thickly that it would be difficult to tread on the ground in wading a shallow. Where they are scouring, they actually crush each other out of the water. As John Mahony would say, a blind man could gaff them for a month without missing a stroke. The idea amongst the Indians is, that once they go up the river they never again return; that the farther they move from the sea the more out of season they become, till they spawn, and then they sicken and die. I cannot learn that the spent fish were ever found in the lower part of the river after descending, and it is well known that after the spawning season the spent salmon are to be found dead in shoals on the banks, and in every pool and eddy, so as to taint the air. Both bait and fly have been tried, but I never yet heard of one being taken by either. Both river and sea trout are plentiful in the Frazer and its tributaries. It is curious that at all seasons of the year salmon in any quantity, good and in full season, may be taken in the Gulf of Georgia; so that it would appear that every salmon does not enter the fresh water and breed every year. I have not seen any gravelling."-Charters Brew, Esq., Westminster, British Columbia. Remarks on Frazer River Fisheries.-In March, a species of fish called the sucker is most numerous; they are good eating, average 2 lb. weight each, but are bony. In April, large salmon are first seen to come up the river, averaging perhaps 25 lb. each. In May the smelt abounds, and is larger than the fish of the same name at home, averaging say 5 to 1 lb. June and part of July very large trout are numerous. From August to October there is a run of a smaller description of salmon, averaging 8 to 10 lb.; after this, for six weeks or two months, a description

66

This is not a pretty fish,

of salmon called the "hooked-bill" is taken. and has a tendency to a red colour. Sturgeon to be had all the year. The Hudson's Bay Company purchase large quantities of salmon for exportation to the Sandwich Islands, for which they pay two cents per lb. I have heard as much as 3000 barrels of 200 lb. each mentioned as the quantity in a season, and that they could have far more if they wished. It is expected that a large business will be done in the exportation of salmon. Persons are beginning to understand the value (which is great) of the fisheries of British Columbia. It is a most extraordinary, but I believe undoubted fact, that every second year the salmon coming up the Frazer River are deformed by a sort of large hump, or, as I have heard one who earned a livelihood by fishing call it, a "horn back." I have seen very many so deformed. It is also asserted by experienced men, that there is a greater rush than usual of salmon up the rivers on every fourth year. This is expected to take place next season. season two men, one of whom is now employed on the North American Boundary Commission, took two tons of salmon in one night, and of that quantity 104 fish were taken at one drift.-Geo. Stewart Mooney, Royal Engineers.

Last

Remarks on the Salmon Fisheries at Vancouver's Island.-The rivers possess shallows and pools alternately. The bottoms are sandy, and afford splendid spawning-beds. The climate, I should say, is much the same in temperature as that of the same latitudes in France and Great Britain; a great deal of rain on the plains and snow on the mountains during the winter months. Salmon abound in the rivers, and are captured in great numbers, both in the estuary and fresh waters. Those caught near the heads of the waters are principally speared by Indians, for whom they make the staple article of diet, while large numbers have been killed by white men with drift-nets nearer the mouths. Puget Sound swarms with fish. The drift is, I believe, preferred to the bagnet. There is no protection for the salmon by law. There is no particular ownership. The State exercises no control. All of the salmon and trout species abound. Sturgeon are numerous and large in Frazer River, reaching 13 feet in length. Halibut are plentiful in Puget Sound. On the coast, and particularly for some distance up the Frazer River, the smelt is to be caught in enormous quantities. This, however, is only for a short season. They are so numerous at this particular time that two Indians can fill a canoe in a couple of hours, using a pole flattened at one end, and having teeth driven in its edges. This is swept through the shoal, the teeth catch in the fish, which are then adroitly turned into the canoe.-G. S. Mooney, Royal Engineers.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Manufacture of Iron by the Natives of Africa.-At one of the meetings of the Boston Society of Natural History, last March, Dr Hayes submitted a letter from the interior of Liberia, Africa, in which the writer says that there is no occurrence there of native iron, as stated by him in vols. v. p. 250, and vi. p. 279 of the Proceedings.

The piece there described was smelted by the tribe among whom the writer resided, who keep the art to themselves, as they find the manufacture of iron very profitable, the product of their furnaces being held in high esteem by the neighbouring tribes, as a tougher and more flexible

iron than they can obtain from foreign countries. The furnaces consist of stacks of about six by five feet, and about seven feet high, with a flue in the centre about two feet long by nine or ten inches wide; the flue, passing to the bottom of the stack, is filled with layers of coal and ore, upon which they force a strong current of air by rude contrivances; nothing is allowed to escape but the dross, and a heavier brittle substance which they remelt in small furnaces; the iron is left to cool in the furnace, which gives it the appearance of ore, with large particles of dross adhering to it, much blistered in places, with very rough protuberances over much of its surface. Many of these furnaces, with their banks of dross, may be seen in the interior of the country. The colour of the ore, mostly of mountain character, is between cherry and brownish red, like red ironstone. He had seen pieces of fifty or sixty pounds, the result of one blast. They cut the mass, when heated, with their rude axes as they do wood, showing the good quality of the article. The ore is plentiful in most parts of the country, and of varying quality. The masses of iron are in many places sold as they come from the furnace; but in the interior it is forged into pieces resembling a "pudding-stick," which are used as a medium of exchange in commercial transactions in the markets and in private barter. Africa has doubtless all the iron required for her extensive wants, and dense forests for the manufacture of the coal to work it. Dr Hayes wished, therefore, to correct the error in the statement that native iron exists in Africa, to which he had been led by its texture and chemical composition, which were unlike those of manufactured iron in containing quartz crystals and magnetic oxide of iron, with no traces of carbon or its compounds.-Mining Magazine.

Acton Copper Mine.-This interesting locality of copper is now attracting great attention, and is yielding large quantities of ore. It is about two hours' ride from Montreal by the Grand Trunk Railroad, and about half a mile from the Acton Station.

The ore occurs in a bed of limestone, and in strata of shale bordering it. These strata and the included ores trend nearly north-east and southwest, and dip at an angle of forty-five degrees to sixty degrees to the north-west.

Attention was called to this locality about ten years ago by Sir Wil. liam Logan, the provincial geologist, but no explorations were made until last year, when the soil and drift were removed. The indications of copper were much greater than before, and an abundance of copper ore was found. An open cut was commenced, and up to this time about eighty thousand dollars worth of twenty per cent. ore has been taken out. Forty thousand dollars worth of this has been sold, and, according to the lessee, about the same quantity of ore remains on the surface, not yet dressed for market. At present the average shipments of ore are two hundred and fifty barrels of the twenty per cent., or about fifty tons, worth eighty-five dollars a ton.

The ore is chiefly the variegated copper pyrites, or purple copper, and occurs in seams or irregular patches ramifying through the limestone, or disseminated in fine grains or strings through the mass, or in a cherty rock which penetrates the limestone. At the main opening the ore is found distributed in this manner through the rock over a breadth of from fifty to a hundred feet, and it is also found in the shales on one or both sides, in the condition of the yellow sulphuret. The mine is worked under a lease, and looks like a great stone quarry. It can be worked in this way for a long time; but two or more shafts have been commenced, one in the shales and one in the limestone. Labour is abundant and cheap. Good miners can be had at forty dollars a month, and ordinary labourers for eighty cents. a day. The ore is packed in flour barrels,