hills of the Rocky Mounta-ns ; collecting plants, birds, mam- 

 mals and reptiles. The plants he has already elucidated, and 

 I have reason to believe this able observer has much-needed 

 works upon our birds, mammals and reptiles well under way. 

 He has aready given partial lists in his valuable work on 

 "Manitoba and the Great 'Surtliioest.^^ 



It will now be better to take each branch in turn and at- 

 tempt to sketch briefly its present status. 



METEOROLOGY. 



This is a most important subject to an agricultural 

 country. I am unable to 'iay when the systematic observation 

 of the weather began in Manitoba, but it was probably about 

 1871. Prior to this some valuable observations had been 

 made and recorded by the late Hon. Donald Gunn. These 

 were published by the Smithsonian Institute. Reports on the 

 Climatology also appear in die records of the Dawson and 

 Back expeditions. The work is now done under the direction 

 of the Dominion Meteorological Service, a branch of the De- 

 partment of Marine and Fisheries. Observations are taken 

 at 67 stations in Manitoba and the Northwest, extending as 

 far North as Herschel Island, in the Arctic Ocean. These 

 stations vary much in the amount of work done, and are 

 classified accordingly, as follows : — 



1. Chief Stations — all ordinary observations are taken 

 every four hours. St. John's College, Winnipeg, until lately, 

 belonged to this class. 



2. Telegraph Stations — with observations thrice daily — 

 the first and last being telegraphed at once to Toronto. There 

 are six such stations in the Northwest Territories and one in 

 Manitoba. 



3. Ordinary Stations of the 1st Class — where records are 

 made of barometrical pressure, temperature, direction and 

 velocity of the wind, sunshine, precipitation, etc. 



4. 2nd Class Stations, where barometer and sunshine re- 

 cords are not kept; otherwise same as 1st Class. 



5. 3rd Class Stations, where records are kept of the fall 

 of rain and snow, and the general state of the weather. 



