JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS, 6E 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 
Read before the Hamilton Sctentific Association Oct. 3rd, 1899. 
BY WM YATES, ESQ. 
An autumnal outing to South Norfolk county in company with 
Mr. James Goldie, senior, of Guelph, about a week ago, gave rise 
to several incidents of seeming interest. {the main incentive to the 
trip was the procuring, if possible, of some specimens of that rather 
showy, wilding litospermum hertum, which, at the height of the 
floral season in mid-June profusely embellishes many of the sand 
knolls that frequently dot the landscape as one passes along the 
concession roads or crossing roads, in the township of Charlotteville 
and in other localities of that botanically interesting district. A 
search over several of those ‘‘ braes” at the time hinted of at the 
beginning of this paper, discloses the fact that the plants in question 
had matured their seed and that the rather rough akenes had allen 
to the ground ; yet abundance of the bristle adorned leaves remained 
(unwithered), to make the plants easy for identification, and a dozen 
or more well rooted specimens were dug up by Mr. Goldie, to be 
reset among the floral curiosities of his extensive garden. 
A similar removal (and in the same locality) was our next pro- 
ceeding with ten or twelve specimens of the hoary wild pea, ¢ephrosia 
virginiana. This, when in flower, is a pretty wilding and has entire- 
ly overrun many exhausted sandy fields. ‘The roots of the tephrosia 
are interlacing and deeply penetrate the subsoil, this trait being a 
great vexation to the ploughman. The tephrosia is spreading 
extensively in those districts congenial to its growth and its, vetch or 
pulse-like, seeds are carried by rodents like the chipmunk and red 
squirrel and by mice, and get extensive distribution by these and the 
similar agencies of birds. 
It was noticed during the course of our woodland perambula- 
tions that much of the forest garniture of the vzo/a pedata had been 
denuded by the severe drought of the season, as well as perhaps by 
