240 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June 



It is an error to suppose that because a lead diminishes in 

 average, so as to be worked at a loss, that it will necessarily con- 

 tinue poor. All experience in gold mining tends to prove that 

 all leads or veins are more or less intermittent in yield. If we 

 may be guided by Montague, the nearest district to Waverley, 

 and a synclinal fold of the same auriferous belt, the rich aurife- 

 rous zones follow one another within a few hundred feet. It has 

 already been stated that many of the leads in California have a 

 bedded structure, and they are profitably worked at a depth of 

 800 feet with intermittent degrees of richness. At the same time 

 proper machinery for hoisting and drainage must be adopted in 

 order to arrive at this result, which, it need scarcely be observed, 

 cannot be obtained if shareholders insist on a division of all profits, 

 without leaving any reserve for contingencies, and subsequently 

 refuse to raise additional funds when the period for their applica- 

 tion arrives. 



It is to be feared that this system is too commonly pursued in 

 Nova Scotia, and there is reason for supposing that other districts 

 will soon be in the same condition as Waverley. But there is no 

 present cause for apprehension, that with systematic mining, con- 

 ducted on proper business principles, the leads will be less profita- 

 bly worked in the future, or that there is any danger whatever of 

 the yield of gold diminishing under the judicious management of 

 mining properties. On the other hand, the remarkable uniformi- 

 ty and continuity of the leads, their great number in a small ver- 

 tical space, their bedded structure, which implies indefinite pro- 

 longation, and the high percentage of gold they contain, are con- 

 vincing proofs that when capital, skill, and forethought are com- 

 bined, a very large proportion of both West and East Waverley 

 will yet be profitably mined for many years to come. 



BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY. 



SiiEPHERDiA Canadensis. — Most microscopists are aware 

 of the extreme beauty of the scales of Eloeagnus when viewed 

 under a low power, and with polarized light. It may not 

 however be so generally known that precisely the same kind of 

 scale are to be found on the leaves of the Shepherdia Ccinade7isis, 

 the only Canadian example of the Elceagnus or Oleaster family. 



