Canadian Argol. 251 



o 



countries of Europe. The sample before us however, is 

 the produce of Canada. 



In the year 1886, while investigating- a process for the 

 separation of tartrate of lime from commercial cream of 

 tartar, the writer desired to obtain argol direct from the fer- 

 mentation vat. With this end in view he wrote to the 

 Ontario Grape Growing and Wine Manufacturing Company 

 of St. Catharines, Ont., asking if they could supply 

 a quantity. They replied they had none, as they re- 

 moved all incrustation and sediment from their vats each 

 season and threw it away as refuse. Here the matter 

 dropped at the time. 



In June, 1890, the same company wrote informing the 

 writer they had taken a hint from his letter of 1886, had 

 allowed the argol to accumulate, and now had about one 

 ton, represented by a sample sent with the letter. On 

 examination this sample was found to be a good one, 

 containing 79.75 per cent of bitartrate of potash. Later 

 on it was found that whilst a large portion of the quantity 

 mentioned was of this high grade the value of the whole 

 had been lowered considerably by an ignorant workman 

 mixing with it a quantity of muddy sediment which contain- 

 ed only a small portion of tartar. 



A fair sample of the whole was submitted to an Americau 

 retiner of cream of tartar, and he purchased the lot at a 

 price which was satisfactory to the producers. This 

 sample is of interest, not because of any peculiarity of com- 

 position, but because it represents, so far as can be learned, 

 the first parcel of Canadian argol that has found its way 

 into commerce. 



Aids to the Study of Canadian Coleoptera. 



By J. F. Hausbn, Montreal. 

 (Plate II.) 

 A New Yariety op Elaphrus pallipes, Horn (Fig. I.) 



In looking over some unnamed material in the collection 

 of the Natural History Society of Montreal, my attention 



