Auckland Institute. j 457 
When the ground is cleared there is generally only a few inches of the 
top soil, and then from two to four feet of whitish blue clay, something like 
pipe-clay. This clay as it nears the shingle gives way toa gritty brownish 
coloured soil. At an average depth of four feet the shingle is reached, and 
is firmly held together by a rust-coloured cement. This shingle holds water 
to a depth of as much as six or eight feet. Below that a drift is reached 
which drains the water. A trench was cut about two feet wide into the 
shingle, completely separating a block of land except in floods, when the 
trench was filled and the land under water. About two years after the land 
was cleared the roots were grubbed up, and numbers of these fish were found 
in the soft clay. Some were very lively and others torpid, some showing a 
bright skin and some a foul slimy coat. The shape of the fish could some- 
times be seen in the mud from which it had been dislodged. They are found 
in great numbers in making new roads through swampy land, but seem to 
disappear from the land on its being drained and cultivated. 
Mr. Lodder remarked that he had collected a similar fish under stones on 
the banks of a fresh-water stream, near the anchorage sie su for coal vessels, 
at the Bay of Islands. 
Mr. Gillies stated that fish apparently similar, and whic manifested the 
same dislike to fresh-water, had been obtained by Mr. G. B. Owen at a depth 
of several feet when sinking a well at Newmarket. He also drew attention 
to the interesting account of the mud-fish given by Dr. Hector in his Notes 
on the Edible Fishes of New Zealand. 
- 4. “On a Remarkable Instance of Refraction of the Hakarimata and 
Taupiri Ranges,” by Major W. G. Mair. 
(ABSTRACT. ) 
On lst June of the present year a remarkable instance of mirage or 
refraction was witnessed by a number of persons in Alexandra, A portion 
of the Hakarimata and Taupiri ranges, about ten miles in length, distant from 
thirty miles on the left to thirty-six miles on the right hand, and bearing from 
north-west to north, appeared to be lifted fully 1,000 feet into the air. At 
one moment it looked like a dark wall with a straight upper edge, and then it 
would suddenly be cleft open and present numerous gaps and peaks with 
castellated summits. The openings would increase gradually and then close 
again, after which flashes of light would appear in the face of the wall, and 
H 2 
