GENERAL NOTES. I 75 



others which require them in any number. It was at Richmond that 

 I heard of them first having been seen two years ago, and at that 

 time it was very much doubted if it was a fact, but it is now a 

 certainty. They are to be seen now on flowers, and in numbers on 

 the Scotch thistle heads, which are yet fresh, and also on the hakea 

 hedges, which flower at this season of the year. Tf the introduction 

 of this bee means, as they say it does, the inoculation of the clover 

 seeds, they are indeed valuable. What an immense saving it would 

 be could we grow our own clovers. I should say, roughly speaking, 

 that not less than £6,000 to £8,000 has been spent in this Thames 

 Valley alone on clover seeds during the past season or two. And 

 clover grows so well here, too, that large yields might be looked for." 



T. W. Kirk, F.L.S — We regret very much to hear that in their 

 zeal for retrenching the Civil Service, Ministers have cut down the 

 staff of the Colonial Museum, dispensing with Mr. Kirk's services. 

 The circumstances connected with his retirement almost justify the 

 use of the term "brutal," which is used by one correspondent in 

 reference to this retrenchment. Mr. Kirk has been for many years 

 connected with the Colonial Museum, has taken an active part in the 

 establishment and carrying on of the Wellington Field Naturalists' 

 Club, and has from time to time published papers on various bio- 

 logical subjects. We shall be glad to hear that he has been able to 

 obtain occupation whereby his scientific acquirements will not be lost 

 to this colony. 



MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



OTAGO INSTITUTE. 



Dunedin, June 9th, 1891.— Professor F. B. de M. Gibbons, M.A., 

 President, in the chair. 



New Members. — Messrs. T. G. Brickell and D. Wilkinson. 



Papers. — (1) "On a disease which has attacked the American 

 Brook Trout (Salmo fontinalis) in the Acclimatisation Society's ponds," 

 by Professor J. H. Scott, M.D. Dr. Scott stated that he found a 

 structure which corresponded closely with what in mammals was called 

 cancer. It was a fatal and malignant spreading tumour in the throat 

 of the fish, and it seemed to be confined to the American brook trout, 

 though Mr. Deans, the Acclimatisation Society's curator, informed him 

 that a similar disease had attacked the Rhine trout in the ponds at 

 Masterton, Wairarapa. Dr. Hocken inquired whether Dr. Scott con- 

 sidered the disease was the same as affected the trout in Lake Wakatipu 

 some years ago — a disease which compelled the trout to come to the 

 surface of the water and which was not confined to a spot under the 

 lower jaw but extended forward and enveloped both jaws in a large 

 mass. Professor Parker said that if he was not mistaken, the disease 



