594 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, 
metals. In no instance had the author obtained in picked samples of 
Galena more than 9oz. of Silver or $oz. of Gold to the ton. Zine, 
Antimony, Arsenic, Mercury, Platinum, Manganese, Nickel, Iron, 
Carbon, Lime and Silica existed in greater or less abundance in the 
district, but neither Tin nor Bismuth had as yet been discovered. 
(3) “Observations on New Zealand Birds,” by Mr. A. Reischek. 
In the discussion which followed the reading of this paper, the action 
of the Government in introducing such noxious animals as stoats 
and weasels as an antidote to the rabbit pest was very severely 
commented on. 
MORITOURGS- Tir” SALOTAL., 
——_ + —_—____—_- 
After a career of four years—a period long enough to prove or 
disprove its usefulness—Tur New ZEALAND JOURNAL OF SCIENCE is to 
be discontinued. In closing the connection which has pleasantly 
existed during that time between the editor and the readers of the 
Journal, it may not be unprofitable to see how far it has justified its 
raison @étre. We think it will be acknowledged that the objects 
and intentions with which it was established, and a statement of 
which will be found in the introduction to the first number, have 
been on the whole fulfilled. One of these objects was to enable 
workers here and elsewhere to know what was being done in the 
various centres of intellectual activity in the colony, and also that they 
might have the results of their papers and labours made public before 
waiting for the publication of the annual volume of Institute 
Transactions. It was suggested that “anyone reading an original 
contribution for publication (in due course) in the ‘Transactions of 
the New Zealand Institute’ will also secure priority of publication 
for names, descriptions, &c , by sending an abstract to our columns.” 
In this direction the Journal has fully served its purpose, and we 
Inow from the columns of the “Zoologischer Anzeiger,” the “ Zoolo- 
gical Record,” the “Annals and Magazine of Nat. Hist.,” as well as 
from numerous private sources, that the names and brief contents of 
scientific papers read in this and the neighbouring colonies were 
thus widely known, months before the papers themselves were 
published. That many authors of papers particularly in the North 
Island did not avail themselves of this publicity was no fault of the 
editor’s. The reproduction of articles touching on this Colony in 
English and Foreign Science publications has been carried out 
whenever possible. Occasionally such articles are tolerably numerous, 
but of late there has been a remarkable dearth of them. As a 
medium of communication we think there can be no doubt as to the 
value of such a publication as this. 
The Journal necessarily appeals to a very limited class of readers, 
and it may be said that this class is not sufficiently numerous in this 
colony as yet to support such an undertaking. As we shall see 
