60 The Ottawa Naturalist. [June 



do the nature of the most luxurious quarters they must have 

 been forced to leave, we cannot blame the young ones for going 

 so reluctantly from it. Again when we note with what determi- 

 nation the parent weasels persisted in placing their young ones 

 in safety we can here at least find in this ever alert lover of 

 blood so much dreaded by other wild and innocent creatures, 

 at least one characteristic worthy of our admiration. 



S. E. Percival. 



EXCURSIONS. 



The second excursion of the season was held on the after- 

 noon of Saturday, 23rd April at Britannia. The day was 

 beautiful, and there was|a fairly good attendance of members 

 and their friends. Mr. W. T. Macoun and Mr. Groh were the 

 leaders of the Botanical Branch, Mr. Wilson of the Geological 

 Branch and Mr. Halkett of the Zoological Branch. The ob- 

 servations and addresses at the closcj^of the outing were of a 

 general nature. Mr. H. T. Gussow was called on to speak___and 

 made some remarks chiefly on fungi, and Mr. Wilson showed 

 some conglomerates. Toads were seen in their spawning beds, 

 and some of their eggs shown. Among the pools were observed 

 forms such as Physa and LimncBa stagnalis of pulmonate moUusks ; 

 phyllopods ; water arachnids ; and larva of caddis-flies, the tubes 

 of these being made of bits of twigs instead of grains of quartz 

 as were some of those of a species found in the creek at Rockclift'e 

 at the excursion on the previous Saturday. 



Those who attended the excursion expressed themselves as 

 having enjoyed the outing thoroughly. 



A. H. 



On Saturday afternoon, April 30th, the excursion was held 

 to Billings' Bridge and the district south of the Rideau River. 

 Here a very pretty stream winds between high banks, the east 

 side of the ravine being heavily wooded. for some distance. The 

 afternoon, although not ver}' promising at first, turned out very 

 fine, and although the attendance was not large all seemed to 

 agree that the excursion was a most enjoyable one. 



After having explored the district on all sides the various 

 parties assembled at a beautiful spot on the bank of the stream. 

 The president, Mr. Halkett, showed some Crayfish (Cainbarus) 

 which he found in the stream and its adjacent pools. At a 

 previous excursion to Britannia he had shown a phyllopod with 

 eggs attached to the abdominal somites and had referred to the 

 way the lobster and the crayfish carry their eggs attached to 



