PEOCEEDINGS. d 



rare. The different warblers and other insectivorous migratory birds had also been 

 scarce. 



Professor Lawson had also noticed the absence of grasslioppers last summer, about 

 his residence at Sackville, and stated that during the previous summer, ( 1 865, j they 

 were so numerous in one of his wheat fields that he had to put in a flock of turkeys to 

 destroy the pests, which they did effectually. 



Mr. W. C. Silver considered that some other cause than that of severe cold, must 

 have affected the insects, for in New Brunswick and Canada, where the cold was much 

 greater than ours every year, the insects named were always abundant. 



The Secretary, believed that severe cold might affect some insects more than 

 others, and although many insects of various kinds had been killed during the last 

 winter, some had evidently escaped, for his crop of beans, as well as those of others 

 in the city, had been entirely destroyed by a species of small caterpillar. 



The President in answer to Mr. Silver's query stated tfcat he observed it was 

 only in severe winters when little snow fell, that the great mortality amongst insects 

 occurred. It was not so much the severe frost, as the absence of snow to cover the 

 earth to a depth sufficient to protect from its influence the larvas of certain species, that 

 caused their destruction. In Canada and New Brunswick much more snow fell, and 

 remained a longer time than in Nova Scotia, and therefore the insects, although the 

 cold was much greater in the former Provinces, would have greater protection. 



The Rev'd. John Ambrosje, Rector of St. Margaret's Bay, read a paper entitled, 

 "Some Observations on the Fishing Grounds and Fish of St. Margaret's Bay. (See 

 Transactions.) 



Several Members took part in the discussion which ensued, especial reference being 

 made to the change of colour in fish, which colours were stated generally to harmonize 

 with those of surrounding objects. They were considered by some to emanate from the 

 nervous system. Allusion was also made to a kind of natural photography which 

 took place at times when fish rested perfectly still, and the rays of the sun reflected 

 some contiguous object upon their sides. 



Capt. L'Estrange, R. A., had observed that large animals, even such as the 

 Cariboo (Tarandus hastalis, Lin.) partook at times of the colour of the rocks and 

 ground they frequent ; while at the Mauritius he had frequently noticed that the 

 tropical fishes partook of the gaudy colours of the animal and vegetable habitants of 

 the coral reefs. 



Mr. W. C. Silver had noticed that Brook Trout, when dying, would take the colour 

 of the object on which they rested. 



Mr. P. S. Hamilton, (Chief Commissioner of Mines.) read a paper " On supposed 

 submerged Forests in Cumberland Basin." 



Mr. Campbell mentioned some interesting facts in connection with the locality 

 reviewed by Mr. Hamilton, more especially referable to the glacial period. 



Vice-President Gilpin stated that an extensive land slip took place several years 

 ago, near Annapolis, which presented a similar appearance to those mentioned by Mr. 

 Hamilton. 



The Secretary considered that changes were evidently taking place on our 

 Atlantic coast, for the Eastern Passage had of late years rapidly tilled up with sand. 

 So had Cole Harbour, but whether the land was being submerged, or the sea forcing 

 fresh matter to the land, it was hard to say. Oysters, judging from the quantity 

 of shells found in the Kjoekhenmoedding on the shore, had been abundant in Cole 

 Harbour in remote times, but for the last eighty years or more, not one had been known 



