﻿376 Proceedings. 



Mr. Hood thouglit that ten years was too short a time to j^ulge of the 

 effect. The climate of Egypt, Canada, and Scotland had been altered by the 

 clearing of forests, and he considered that trees sho\ild be extensively planted. 



Mr. Blackett i-emarked that there was no doubt that the clearing of the 

 forests in the province of Nelson had made the floods there much more serious 

 than formerly. 



The President said that of late years the destruction of forest had been so 

 great in France that the Government had been spending large sums of money 

 in replanting. Floods in the Hutt River had much increased since clearings 

 had been made, and they would probably still further increase unless steps 

 were taken to preserve the forests. The same thing had also occurred in the 

 province of Canterbury. 



Mr. J. A. Wilson remarked that Dr. "Wojeikof 's paper applied more to 

 trees preventing the melting and blowing away of snow, and the case was, 

 therefore, not quite similar to that of New Zealand. He thought that it would 

 be very desirable to obtain observations of the snowfall on the globe as distin- 

 guished from the rainfall. 



3. " Critical Notes on some of the Birds of New Zealand,"'" by Captain 

 F. W. Hutton, F.CS. In this paper the author gave reasons for the altera- 

 tions made in the nomenclature, etc., in the " Catalogue of New Zealand 

 Birds," now in th.e press. 



4. " On Expeiiments made to determine the Yalue of Different Coals for 

 Steam Purposes," by J. R. George. (See Transactions, p. 151.) 



Mr. Marchant remarked that the coal imported from England was of very 

 variable quality, and much of it vei-y inferior, so that the tests were hardly fair. 



5. "Notes on the Anatomy of the Kanae {Mugil ^]).),'" by F. J. Knox, 

 L.R.C.S.E. (See Transactions, p. 189.) The author described a si)ecimen 

 from Porirua with five spines in its first dorsal fin. He also claimed to be the 

 first to point oiit that the Mullets live entirely on the Diatotnacece. 



Captain Hutton thought that as the Mullet with five spines agreed in all 

 other respects with the common Mullet of the north, the possession of a fifth 

 spine must be looked on as a monstrosity, and not as proving a new species. 



Eighth Meeting. 28^A October, 1871. 



W. T. L. Travers, F.L.S., President, in the chair. 



New members. — James Brogden, W. S. Reid. 



The Hon. W. B. D. Mantel], F.G.S., was chosen Electing Member of the 



See "Cat. Birds KZ.," Hutton, Colonial Museum, Wellington, KZ., 1871, p. 71. 



