REPORT OF COUNCIL. 
159 
Society raise sufficient money in three years to pay off the 
mortgage on its property, has been removed to the rear of the 
Natural History Society’s building. It will be a valuable addi- 
tion to the collections in this department. 
Geological field work in New Brunswick has been carried on 
chiefly by two members of the staff of the Geological „ Survey 
Department. Dr. R. W. Ells has continued his investigations 
of the bituminous shales of Albert and Westmorland Counties 
with a view of their realization for the extraction of oil, ammonia 
and other products. He has found them unusually rich in 
bitumen, and predicts a prosperous future in the exploitation of 
these natural resources. Mr. W. J. Wilson has been employed 
during the summer in collecting the plant remains of St. John 
and King’s Counties with a view of determining more exactly 
the geological age of the formation that contains these shells. 
The palaeontologist, Mr. L. M. Lambe, has been studying the 
fossil fishes of the Albert shales with the same object in view, 
and concludes that the fishes indicate a Lower Carboniferous age. 
The usual mining industries have been carried on in the province 
during the past year in coal, lime, plaster, etc. The antimony 
mines in York County have been re-opened, and some preparation 
made to work the iron deposits of Gloucester County. The 
province is thus in a fair way to make a better showing in 
mineral production than for some time past. 
Botany (G. U. Hay, Chairman.) 
1908: Several new stations for rare flowering plants have 
been found : Cypripedium hirsutum, near Drury’s Cove and 
Ketepec ; Cypripedium pubescens and Botrychium lunaria, Rock- 
wood Park; and Anthriscus sylvestris (the English chervil) 
found near St. John. Three species of fungi new to the pro- 
vince were found at Ingleside : Polyporus sulphureus, Collybia 
velutipes, Inocybe rimosus, making a total of 318 species found 
up to this date in New Brunswick. Owing to the dryness of the 
season, especially in September and October — the months in 
