Mr. A. C. Sterry mentioned the abundance of Bugula 

 avicularia in Goubiot Cave, Sark, where the Bird's-head 

 Polyzoa are also found. 



Dr. Bossey mentioned that he had found forty species of 

 Diatoms in a very Uttle mud and sea-sand which Mr. Sterry 

 brought from Jersey. 



Evening Meeting. — January 16th, 1885. 



Mr. Menzies exhibited some fi'esh-water Mussel-shells that 

 appeared to have been ijibbled by Rats. 



Mr. H. M. Wallis exhibited the skin of a male Black Eed- 

 start, killed by him at Falmouth at Christmas. It had some 

 small beetles in its crop. In its habits it resembles the Robin. 

 Black Redstarts mostly visit our southern coasts in winter, 

 being common in Germany, Switzerland, &c., all the year 

 round. 



Mr. Henry T. Mennell, F.L.S., of Croydon, described " The 

 Physical Features and Flora of the Great North-West." 



In the eastern part of Canada the rocks are mostly Lauren- 

 tian, covered over large areas by Boulder-Clay, and Drift ; 

 and the general aspect of the country is uninviting. The 

 mountains are the oldest on the American Continent, and 

 are consequently not very high, their tops having been 

 rounded off in the course of ages. 



The botanical features of Eastern Canada, which consists 

 chiefly of forest and swamp, and of land which has been cleared 

 for agriculture, are not very interesting. The forest consists of 

 small trees crowded together, but the number of species and 

 families of trees is much greater than in Great Britain. In a 

 short ramble forty or fifty species of trees may be counted, in- 

 cluding Maples, Pines, Walnuts, Hickories, &c., both northern 

 and southern types being mixed. The mixing of types may be 

 traced to the action of the glacial period in driving northern 

 species southward ; being followed, on the melting of the 

 glaciers, by an advance northward of the southern species. 

 In Europe the advance northward of the southern types has 

 been blocked by the Mediterranean. 



