74 The Ottawa Naturalist. [Aug. -Sept. 



plained how the limestone, found along the lake shore, formed 

 in deep water, and the sandstone, further back on higher land. 

 in shallow water with the shale intermediate. An exceptionally 

 fine specimen of sandstone, made of tiny round pebbles cemented 

 together by pressure, was found, and an interesting piece of 

 fossil rock composed almost entirely of snails. 



The birds, insects and snails were looked after by Mr. A. 

 Halkett of the Fisheries Museum and Mr. Winterberg of the 

 Geological Survey. Among the birds Mr. Halkett noted the 

 oriole, kingbird, bobolink and song sparrow. The yellow swallow- 

 tail butterfly was seen and a number of small insects and larvae 

 collected, including the destructive cutworm. 



E. D. E. 



Stittsville. The excursion to Stittsville on June 14th 

 was the last arranged for by the council for the summer season. 

 and the afternoon's outing was much enjoyed by the goodlv 

 number of excursionists. The locality proved to be a rich field 

 for the collector and observer. 



Various species of plants were collected under the leadership 

 of the botanists, observations were made of rock formations, 

 and a winding stream visited by some of the members proved to 

 be a regular natural aquarium for the general zoologist. 



Mr. L. H. Newman, president of the club, named most of 

 the plants which had been collected during the outing. Among 

 these he showed the tall meadow-rue, bunch-berry, mouse-ear 

 chickweed, silvery cinquefoil, small-flowered crowfoot, star- 

 flower, lady's slipper, clintonia, dwarf raspberry, mitre-wort, 

 twin-flower, cleavers, anemone, and a number of different sedges. 

 He referred to the abundance of silvery cinquefoil and mouse- 

 ear chickweed on the knolls and ridges, where the soil was lighter 

 and inclined to be sandy. This was a good illustration of plant 

 adaptation. 



Referring to specimens of Viola sclkirkii collected during 

 the afternoon, Dr. Malte gave a brief account of the seed forma- 

 tion in the stemless violets. It was pointed out that, as a rule, 

 the showy spring flowers are not able to produce seed, this 

 function being taken over by so-called cleistogamous flowers, 

 i.e. insignificant bird-like flowers which arc self-fertilized auto- 

 matically without being opened. These cleistogamous flowers 

 behave very differently in different species, and offer very good 

 characters for their identification. Only occasionally the spring 

 flowers are fertilized, either by pollen from the same species or 

 from other ones. In the latter ease the result will be the pro- 

 duction of h characterized by a large per cent, of tin- 



