136 The Ottawa Naturalist. [September 



obtained by Mr. Halkett in the Detroit River, near Sardwich,Ont., 

 as well as a curiously marked young specimen which shows many 

 interesting features. In the drag seines used when these speci- 

 mens were obtained, quite a fine series of Teleosteans was also 

 obtained, including a small Channel Ca.t-^'^ih {Ictalurus puticiatus), 

 Moon-eye {Hiodon tergisus), Dor^ [Stisostcdion vitreuni)^ Yellow 

 Perch [Perca jiavescens)^ Pike {Esox lucius), Cisco {Coregonus 

 artedi). White-fish [Corpgoiius clupeiforjnis), Rock Bass [Amhlopliies 

 rupestris), and others. Two fine Blanding's Tortoises {Emys 

 meleagris) from Belleville, and a Snapping Turtle {Chelydra ser- 

 pentina), from Combermere, which measured 2 feet 3 inches in 

 length, were obtained and exhibited by Mr. Halkett at the opening 

 Conversazione of the Club. After being placed in the tanks at the 

 Fisheries' Museum, Ottawa, the Turtle deposited a number of dull 

 white spherical eggs resembling in many respects the eggs of a 

 bird. They were almost perfectly globular, and the limy shell was 

 of a yellowish white colour. Some were prepared for exhibition in 

 the cases of the Museum. The turtle on examination was found 

 to be infested externally with leeches {Hirudo) ; some of these on 

 being placed in a vessel of fresh water, lived for many weeks, and 

 a few were preserved in formaldehyde. 



Recently Prof. Prince secured an interesting specimen of the 

 Rat-fish orChimaera [Cht?ncera colliei) from the Straits of Georgia, 

 B. C, a full account of which species and of the peculiar q^^ 

 produced by the fish, appeared in the Ottawa Naturalist some 

 time ago. On the same occasion a quantity of Pacific Herring 

 was obtained for the purpose of investigating a remarkable case 

 of mortality in these fish near Nanaimo at the end of January. It 

 is stated that the waters of the Straits off Nanaimo were covered 

 for an extent of hundreds of acres with dead herring, lying 2 or 3 

 feet thick at the surface of the sea. Various theories have been 

 advanced for this strange phenomsnon, and no doubt a minute 

 anatomical examination may afford light upon this problem. 



It is appropriat^e in this place to refer to the appearance of 

 a fasciculus of 62 pages, forming the first Biological Report from 

 the Marine Scientific Station, founded by the Dominion Govern- 

 ment upon the Atlantic coast. It embraces a series of seven 

 papers all of scientific or practical interest ; but, as a review is to 



