70 The Ottawa Naturalist. 



give us additional information on this important topic. In a few 

 pleasing words Dr. Fletcher pointed out several interesting 

 relations between plant and insect life, illustrating his points 

 with specimens obtained. On the way home along the Aylmer 

 Road opposite the Protestant cemetery, the geologists were 

 treated to a graphic illustration of the effects of the glacial period- 

 The collections of fossils made during the afternoon proved very 

 Interesting, in the neighbourhood of thirty species having been 

 obtained by Messrs. W. J. Wilson, A. M. Campbell, Hugh 

 Anderson and Dr. Ami. 



ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



At the meeting of the Royal Geographical Society held in 

 London on the 27th day of April, 1896, the President announced 

 that the Back Grant had been awarded to Mr. J. B. Tyrrell, of 

 this city, and one of the old members of this club, in recognition 

 of the geographical work done by him in the Barren Lands west 

 of Hudson's Bay. The grant, usually given in the form of an 

 instrument or piece of plate, was founded in 1878 by Sir George 

 Back, who in his will bequeathed a sum of money to the Society 

 " the annual interest of which is to be applied to the rewarding 

 of meritorious explorers." 



The award, which will be accompanied by a diploma, comes 

 with peculiar appropriateness to Mr. Tyrrell, as Sir George Back 

 himself was one of those who did most to explore the Barren 

 Lands of Canada, for in 1819 and again in 1825 he accompanied 

 Sir John Franklin through Canada to the shores of the Arctic 

 Ocean, and in 1834 he descended the Thlewi-cho or Back river 

 to its mouth opposite King William's Land, passing within 

 seventy miles of the river discovered by Mr. Tyrrell in 1893. 

 Among those who have been similarly honoured by the Geo- 

 graphical Society are, L'Abbe Petitot, for work in the Mackenzie 

 Basin ; D. L. Brainard, of the Greely Expedition ; and F. C. 

 Selous, the African explorer. 



The President announced at the same meeting that the 

 Gill Memorial was granted to Mr. A. P. Low, of the Geological 

 Survey of Canada, for his researches in the Labrador Peninsula. 



