Auckland Institute. ibl 



When the ground is cleared there is generally only a few inches of the 

 top soil, and then froai two to four feet of whitish blue clay, something like 

 pipe-clay. This clay as it nears the shingle gives way to a 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 ground for coal vessels, 

 at the Bay of Islands. 



Mr. Gillies stated that fish apparently similar, and which 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. Pie 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 Bemarkable Instance of Refraction of the Hakaiimata and 

 Taupiri Ranges," by Major W. G. Mair. 



(abstract.) 



On 1st 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 



