312 Silurian Fossils. 



by promoting a rapid and vigorous growth of the plant, may 

 render it less liable to suffer from the attacks of the insect. It has 

 been stated that this fly, like the wheat midge, does more injury 

 on the edges of the fields than in the middle. 



" At the Joint Worm Convention, held at Warrenton, Virginia, 

 in 1854, the following was recommended : prepare well the land 

 intended for wheat, and sow it in the beginning of autumn, with 

 the earliest and most thrifty and hardy varieties, and do nothing 

 to retj.rd the ripening of the crop, by grazing or otherwise. Use 

 guano or some other fertilizer liberally, particularly when seedinfy 

 corn-land or stubble. Burn other harbors of vegetable growth, 

 contiguous to the crop. Sow the wheat in as large bodies, and 

 in compact forms as practicable ; and, if possible, neighbors 

 should arrange amongst themselves to sow adjoining fields the 

 same year. Feed all the wheat, or other straw, which may be 

 infected, in racks or pens, or on confined spots ; and in April set 

 fire to all refuse fragments about the racks ; and on or before the 

 first of May carefully burn all the straw which has not been fed. 

 The refuse of wheat, such as screenings, &c., should also be des- 

 troyed, as the pupa case is hard, and not easily softened by 

 dampness or wet." 



ARTICLE XL VI. — Description of Fossils occurring in the 



Silurian Rocks of Canada.. 



A gentleman walking upon the sea shore saw crawling on the 

 hard sandy beach, a creature of extraordinary form, which had 

 been left dry by the receding tide, and which was groping about 

 as if seeking to find the waters again, its natural element. Its 

 form was somewhat like that of a huge spider, with a number of 

 flexible legs that bent beneath its globular body as if unable to 

 sustain the weight. As our friend became greatly interested in its 

 figure and movements, he seized it, fanc3nng he had captured a 

 prize, but soon found that he had " caught a Tartar." The strange 

 beast suddenly wound its legs around his arms and held him fast 

 with prodigious force, as if bound with so many strong cords. So 

 powerful was the grasp of these organs, and so tenaciously did 

 they retain their hold, that before they could be removed it was 

 necessary to cut them away with a knife. 



This sea monster was a Cuttlefish, belonging to the class 

 Cephalopoda, " animals, says a modern Naturalist, distinguished 

 by most strange and paradoxical characters, and exhibiting forms 

 so uncouth thai the young Zoologist, who for the first time 

 encounters one of these creatures, may well be startled at the 

 anomolous appearance presented by beings so remote in their 

 external construction from everything with which he has been 

 f amiliar. 



