156 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April, 



in otliGrs submarine volcanoes disturb the sea-bottom. Nay, more, 

 these submarine operations have taught us that animals cannot 

 only live, but flourish, preserving even their colors, at the enor- 

 mous depth of one mile and a half. We thus see how the efforts 

 of the nautical surveyors and the engineers to spread the electric 

 telegraph are not merely destined to be useful to mankind, but 

 also to elicit great and important truths in Natural History, the 

 development of which is specially connected with the pursuits of 

 the geographer and the ethnologist." 



The address concluded by a reference to the appointment of so 

 skilful and philosophical a naturalist as Mr. John Lubbock to the 

 chair of President of the Ethnological Society, and to the appoint- 

 ment of Mr. F. Galton as Secretary, under whose auspices an 

 increased activity was being already shewn. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



The EarthqUx\ke of April, 1864. 



In the Canadian Naturalist, Vol. v., p. 379, will be found a list 

 of all the earthquakes observed in Canada up to that of October, 

 1860. Since that time, with the exception of a few slight and 

 local shocks, chiefly in the vicinity of Murray Bay and the 

 Saguenay, which appear to be points of special intensity for the 

 seismic agency of this country, there have been no earthquakes 

 felt until Wednesday, April 20th, 1864, when a shock of no 

 great intensity was felt throughout a great part of Lower Canada. 

 Like other Canadian earthquakes it was felt almost simultaneously 

 over a wide extent of country, indicating perhaps that its source 

 was deep-seated, and the vibrations propagated almost vertically 

 to the surface. At Quebec the shock was felt between 1.10 and 

 1.15 p.m. ;* and atL'Islet, Danville, Montreal, and other places, in 

 so far as can be ascertained, the hour was nearly the same, except 

 in the case of Father Point, where a shock is said to have been 

 felt at 11 o'clock. Unless there is some mistake in the statement 

 this must have been a shock not felt elsewhere. In so far as 

 reported, the shock seems to have been most violent at Quebec, 

 where, as well as at several other places, two distinct vibrations 



* Or according to other statements at 1.20 p. m. 



