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receipts £9,718. When the present company, about 36 years 
since, took on the mine it had only been worked to the 100- 
fathom level. The Button lode he said had already produced a 
clear profit of £24,000. He referred in a. graphic manner to the 
immense perils miners underwent in the colirse of their operations 
underground, and pointed out that the Boscawen diagonal shaft was 
at an angle of 30 degrees, as steep as the roof of a house. When 
a breakage occurred there some years since no wire rope was in 
use, but a steel rope was afterwards introduced, and no mishap 
had occurred since. He was glad to learn that the Government 
was likely to undertake the inspection of metalliferous mines. He 
knew many ends that were being worked in this county where 
the miners were inhaling poison at every breath they drew, and 
where a candle would not burn within twenty feet of the spot 
where the men were working. He thought that there ought to 
be a limit to this kind of work. He had inspected a mine in the 
western district lately, where two young men, tempted by a very 
high price, were working in an end full of deadly gases, and the 
men were occasionally absolutely gasping for breath. He hoped 
the time was not far distant when every mine a hundred fathoms 
deep would be compelled to have a man-engine, which would 
conduce much towards the health of the miners. At Botallack 
the miners were spared the labour of ladders by the use of a skip. 
Mr. T. Cornisu, of Penzance, next read a Paper on the fishes 
of West Cornwall. Yarrell described 226 species of British fishes; 
Couch raised the number to 296. Of these upwards of 50 are 
fresh water ; 20 others are littoral, and found everywhere on the 
coast. Of the remaining 218 species more than 150 have been 
found in the Mount’s Bay district. Of these Mr. Cornish has 
with his own hands taken 101, from the mackerel midge to the 
basking shark, and has observed other 30. Several of the rarer 
kinds were described by Mr. Cornish, examples of some were 
shewn, and a fine specimen of the Lump Sucker fish was presented 
by him to the Institution. 
The Rev. W. Iaco, of Bodmin, one of the most zealous of 
Cornish antiquaries, gave a most interesting resumé of the anti- 
quities visited during the excursion, illustrating his remarks by a 
number of excellent drawings. One of the most valuable points 
was a corrected reading of the men scryfa.* In the course of his 
observations, Mr. Iago stated that all the Inscribed Stones in 
Cornwall, figured by Dr. Borlase, were still in existence, and 
* For detailed description of this and other Inscribed Stones, see 
Rey. W. lago’s illustrated account in R. I. Journal, No. xiii. 
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