1899] Soirees. 267 



Discussion. — Prof. Macoun pointed out that it was imperative to 

 give as nearly as possible the natural conditions of tnvironmeut to the 

 plants on trial which the botanist found in nature. He also remarked 

 that Anemone patens, exhibited by Mr. W. T. Macoun was found by 

 himself(Prof. Macoun) in bloom on the 17th of April on the Peace 

 River in N. lat. 56°. He had also collected the same plant in bloom 

 as late as 28th October in the same district, which, added Prof. Macoun, 

 is destined to be one of the most fertile and greatest wheat-producing 

 regions of the Canadian NorthWest, Messrs. R. B. Whyte, Dr. 

 Fletcher, Dr. Ami, Mr. Harrington, and several others took part in the 

 discussion giving results of experiments with native species. 



2 "On the burrowing habits of Cambarus— the Cray- 

 fish," by H. M. Ami, was the next paper on the programme. While 

 digging for the lemains of a mastodon in Norfolk County, Ontario, Dr. 

 Ami had observed several holes traversing the peat, shell-marl and 

 other Pleistocene deposits to a depth of some thirty inches. 



At the bottom of some of the holes were fuund living examples of 

 the Cray-fish, which on closer examination proved to belong to the genus 

 Cambarus, and a form which in all probability is new to science. The 

 holes were evidently excavated deep enough by the Cray-fish to reach a 

 water supply in order to maintain their existence, upon which the life of 

 Cray-fish necessarily depends. Two live specimens were captured and 

 one reached Ottawa alive in the fall of 1897. They were both 

 healthy specimens and the abdofninal legs of one of these, (upon which 

 naturalists who follow Hagen, the highest authority on the Astacidse, 

 base their determination and identification of the species), which in some 

 respects resembling those of Cambarus Bartonii, are nevertheless much 

 stouter and shorter with the secondary booklet more prominent and 

 inclined at a different angle than in C. Barfonh. 



More extended notes and results of observations on this form will 

 be given later in The Naturalist. 



3. " Some Ottawa Fresh-water Polyzoa," by Mr. Walter S. 

 Odell, was the title of the third paper of the evening. He described in 

 general terms the group called Polyzoa, and mentioned the various 

 forms found at Ottawa, giving descriptions by means of which they may 

 be detected nnd recognized. Microscopic preparations of the state- 

 blasts oi Fredricella, Pedinatella, and other genera of Ottawa Polyzoa, col- 

 lected by Mr, Odell in the Rideau Canal, the Ottawa and Gatineau 

 rivers, were then examined under a microscope. 



The " Report of the Ornithological Branch for 1898-9" was 



then presented by Mr. W. T. Macoun on behalf of the Leaders in 

 Ornithology, himself, Mr. A. G. Kingston and Miss Harmer. This 

 Report as well as the preceding paper by Mr. Odell, The Naturalist 

 hopes to be able to publish at no distant date. H. M. Ami. 



