﻿424 ProceedAngs. 



2. " Sketch of the History of Astronomical Science, third paper, ' Newton 

 and his Times', " by R. Lee. The author gave a description of that philoso- 

 pher's principal inventions, and illustrated his remarks by means of diagrams. 

 3. The Chairman gave an interesting account of a visit to an ice manufac- 

 tory in Auckland, with a description of the apparatus employed, and the mode 

 of usiner it. 



Fourth Meeting. Zrd May, 1871. 

 The Bishop of Nelson, Yice-President, in the chair. 



The receipt of new books was reported by the Honorary Secretary. 



The Chairman presented to the Association some fossil plants from the 

 coal-bearing strata at Pakawau, and a leg-bone of a Moa from the Fairfield 

 Downs, Awatere ; a femur of a Moa, from the Slate River Cave near Colling- 

 wood, was also presented by Mr. Austin. 



1. " On the Varieties of the Mulberry Tree as Food for the Silkworm," 

 (Part I.), by T. C. Batchelor. 



(abstract.) 



It is a conceded point, that the food which agrees best with the Silkworm 

 is the leaf either of the red or of the white mulberry tree. Tlie quality, how- 

 ever, of the silk does not altogether depend on the food, biit also on the degree 

 of temperature in which the Silkworm has been reai'ed. As there are mul- 

 berry trees of different qualities it might be imagined that these differences 

 influence the state of the Silkworm. There are five different substances in 

 the mulberry leaf: 1st, the solid or fibrous substance; 2nd, the colouring 

 matter ; 3rd, water ; 4th, the saccharine matter ; 5th, the resinous. The 

 fibrous substance, the colouring matter, and the water, excepting that which 

 in pai't composes the body of the Silkworm, cannot be said to be nutritive to 

 it. The saccharine matter is that which nourishes the insect, that enlarges it, 

 and forms its animal substance. The resinous is that which, separating itself 

 gradually from the leaf, and attracted by the animal organisation, accvimulates, 

 clears itself, and insensibly fills the two reservoirs, or silk-vessels, which form 

 the productive economy of the Silkworm. According to the different propor- 

 tions of the elements which compose the leaf, it follows that cases may occur 

 in which a greater weight of leaf may afford less that is useful to the Silk- 

 worm, either for its noiii-ishment, or with resjDCct to the quantity of silk it 

 may yield. Thus the leaf of the black mulberry, though hard and tough, 

 which is given to silkworms in some of the warm climates of Europe, produces 

 abundant silk, the thread of which is strong, but coarse. The leaves of tlie 



