W. A. HASWELL. LI, 
were merely preliminary trials; and, though the results 
were meagre, they afford no grounds for the conclusion 
that an artesian fauna does not exist. On the contrary, 
the capture of the larva of an aquatic insect affords positive 
evidence that animal life does exist in the artesian water; 
and the scantiness of the results of this particular experi- 
ment may have been due to some special local conditions, 
or to some defect in the manner in which the work was 
carried out. 
THE CHEMICAL NATURE or THE SOILS or NEW 
SOUTH WALES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO 
IRRIGATION. 
By i. 5B. GUraRiz£, F.1.C., ¥.C.S8. 
[ Read before the Engineering Section of the Royal Society of N. S. Wales, 
First Session July 20, 1903.] 
THERE is one aspect of the problem of water-conservation 
and irrigation which has not received the attention to which 
it is entitled, namely, the question of the nature and con- 
stitution of the soils which it is proposed to irrigate, and 
of the water which is to be used for the purpose. When 
speaking of the constitution of the soil I do not refer to its 
chemical composition alone. This though an important 
factor is by no means the only one which has to be taken 
into consideration. 
The texture of the soil, its mechanical condition, the 
proportions of clay, sand and humus, its power of absorbing 
and of retaining water and salts, its power of resisting 
undue evaporation from the surface, and too rapid loss of 
water by percolation into the subsoil, its capillary and 
