70 BULLETIN' OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



The author has thus been led to the view that a large body of 

 water such as the Bay of Fundy is broken up into smaller areas of 

 oscillations, each having its own characteristic period as determined 

 by its dimensions. In a part of the bay where there is a comparatively 

 free, unobstructed sweep from side to side, as between the general 

 contour of the New Brunswick coast at St. John and that of the 

 opposite Nova Scotia coast, the period of oscillation would be that of 

 the whole bay, or perhaps half that dimension, since such a large body 

 of water might have itself a tendency to divide up into two halves* 

 each oscillating in half the period that the whole would take if set 

 into free swingings to and fro. 



The author hopes on future occasions to explore other parts of 

 the bay in the same way, with a view to confirming or refuting this 

 hypothesis. 



It should be noted that the point here considered is merely the 

 cause of the periods characteristic of these motions. How the motions 

 themselves originate, what causes the initial disturbance, is a different 

 question. The difference is similar to the difference between the 

 enquiry, What disturbs a wash-bowl, and, the other enquiry, what 

 determines the rate at which the water " wish-washes " when disturbed ' 

 It can, however, hardly be doubted, I think, that the first disturbance 

 in the bay comes from the action of wind in a storm, since an exam- 

 ination of many cases of " secondary undulation " at St. John and at 

 Quaco seems to show that they are only prominent when the sea has 

 been disturbed by a gale. Thus there need be none of the mystery as 

 to the origin of " secondary undulations " which some writers delight 

 in attributing to them. 



Report on the Botany of the Summer Camp. 



By (J. U. Hay. 



During the ten days that the Society was at work at Quaco and 

 vicinity, several botanical excursions were made about the village, and 

 one to Salmon River. There was much interest manifested in these 

 excursions and in the lectures given in the evenings, one by Dr. W. F. 

 Ganong, and the other by Mr. G. U. Hay. Many smaller gatherings 

 were also held for the study and analysis of plants, in which many of 

 the young people of Quaco took part. The examination of the beach 

 in front of the village revealed an absence of plant and animal forms 

 that mighl he expected to occur here. The two common forms of 



