70 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb. 



Dr. Cheadle, in the course of some supplementary remarks, said 

 that throughout British Columbia, except a few isolated portions, 

 no farming-land was to be found. Though it was possible by 

 irrigation to produce certain crops in a few years, yet they must 

 soon cease, for there was nothing but sand, the only vegetable 

 mould being supplied by the decay of grass. In most parts the 

 land was so light that it was impossible to irrigate it. But this 

 country, so rich in minerals, was only separated by the Rocky 

 Mountains from the rich and productive country on the other side, 

 showing the necessity for opening-up a communication between 

 them. 



Lord Milton, in the course of a few observations, expressed his 

 great obligations to Dr. Cheadle, and said that the Bed Biver 

 Settlement was the best colony England had for farming purposes, 

 but nowhere was farming less understood. One man there, after 

 sowing eleven crops of wheat in succession on the same land, 

 began to inquire the reason why his crops had failed. This showed 

 at once the richness of the soil, and the ignorance of many who 

 cultivated it. 



The President said, so convinced was he of the value of the 

 paper that had been read, that he should claim on the part of the 

 Boyal Geographical Society, that it should be placed upon the 

 permanent records of the Association. 



BEVIEWS. 



Proceedings of the Portland (Maine) Society of 

 Natural History. — We have received with pleasure the first 

 number of the Journal and of the Proceedings of the Portland 

 Society of Natural History. 



The Journal is occupied by one of the most elaborate papers we 

 ever remember to have seen on such a subject, on the terrestial Pul- 

 monifera of the State. Too much praise can hardly be given to 

 the patient manner in which the microscopic details of the species 

 have been worked out. Careful drawings are given of the buccal 

 plates and lingual ribbons of nearly all the molluscs described, and 

 of other interesting peculiarities whether in the animal or in its shell. 

 The nomenclature of all the species is utterly changed, and Mr. 

 Morse divides the twenty-six Helices of the State into four sub- 



