to natural history, Mr Andrew Murray, who has enriched our Proceedings by his Zoological papers, and particularly his contributions on the Coleoptera of Calabar, and the Malapterurus beninensis. To Dr Cleland we owe some valuable anatomical papers, especially on the structure of Malapterurus; and we also owe our thanks to Dr M'Bain, and Mr Peach, and to Dr John Alex. Smith, our indefatigable Secretary, for their excellent papers.

We have to lament the want of the contributions to Geology which used to come to us from the pens of Fleming and Miller, and we have not been able during last session to induce other geologists, such as Mr Chambers, to favour us with papers.

We may hope that this session will be characterized by greater vigour in all departments.

For myself I must plead guilty to having done little for the Society, chiefly because my botanical efforts are made in connection with the kindred Botanical Society.

I would desire to urge upon all the members the importance of bringing before the Society communications, however short, on the departments of Natural and Physical Science to which they are attached. There are few indeed who cannot contribute something. It is impossible for a careful observer, when he examines natural phenomena, not to detect some point of interest which has been overlooked. Brief notices are always useful, and no one should be deterred from coming forward by an idea that what he has to state is not of much importance. Let the young naturalist begin at once to record his observations, let him get into the habit of noting facts as they occur, and he will find the benefit of this mode of procedure in his after career.

We have before us a noble and inexhaustible subject of study. None is better fitted for mental training, and none exercises a more beneficial effect on the observing powers.

At the present day natural history is assuming a higher position in our courses of study, and as a Society we are called upon to aid in promoting such a system of education as shall render our Edinburgh school famous in the annals of science. The phenomena presented by the material world around us

are well worthy of our earnest study, whether we regard them as means of exercising our mental powers, or as leading us to higher views of Him who has created all things, and for whose pleasure they are and were created.

The followers of science have sometimes been blamed for attempting to subvert religion by their speculations. There can be no doubt that in former times, and even at the present day, some have started theories which have a tendency to shake the faith of weak naturalists. But these are oppositions of science falsely so called,—vague theories not founded on facts. There is no fear of true science in its bearings. on religion. It is only want of science which produces any jarrings. The more we investigate the wonders of creation, the more we shall see the harmony which subsists between the Word and the works of God.

I. Contributions to the Natural History of the Hudson's Bay Company's Territories. Part II.-Mammalia (continued.) By ANDREW MURRAY, F.R.S.E., President of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh. REIN-DEER (Rangifer Caribou).-In my last communication on this subject, I drew attention to the antlers of the American rein-deer, their peculiar form, their mode of growth, and the habits of the animal,-as bearing on the question of its identity with the Lapland rein-deer, and made some suggestions and speculations, with the hope that they might lead some of my correspondents to inquire more particularly into these points, and give us reliable information upon them, which might enable us to come to a correct conclusion on the subject. I am happy to say, that these observations have had the desired effect, and that, with an additional supply of horns and heads, I have this year received divers remarks on the points I indicated for inquiry. One intelligent correspondent, Mr J. Mackenzie of Moose Factory (from whose communications I have received much satisfaction), goes at some length into the subject, and his information, as to the time of the year when the horns are cast at the different periods of the animal's life, clears up the discrepancies which have been noticed in the statements of different authors on this subject. It will be seen that the casting

takes place at different times in the young and older animals. I cannot do better than bring his views before the reader in his own words, particularly as he comes to a different opinion from that which I felt disposed to adopt on one or two of the points which I speculated upon. Mr Mackenzie says—“ I have consulted one of our most intelligent natives, a man of about sixty years of age, who has been a deer hunter from his youth, and the result of our " conference" I will presently give you. I send by the ship a deer's head and antlers, which were received about last Christmas, and said to have been killed early in December; it bears some resemblance to the North American species, a representation of which is given in your pamphlet, although the brow antler, however, forms a small angle with the head, and does not come down parallel with it, as in the heads sent you by Mr Hargrave; it has also a second projecting prong, bent near the head, without any terminal points or fingers, but these it would have had, had the animal lived a year or two more; indeed the horns do not cease growing till the seventh year. I do not believe that the brow antler is intended for the purpose of clearing away the snow, but is intended rather as a means of defence against the animal's numerous enemies. The wolf, wolverine, and lynx, destroy them, I am informed, in great numbers; but the animal, on its guard, appears to me to have a good means of defence in his brow antler. Generally, however, he is taken at a disadvantage; when lying down, and off his guard, the lynx (of the cat tribe) moves stealthily along, and with a bound springs upon his back, and fastening his claws in his neck and throat, worries him to death. The wolf and wolverine are not numerous (the latter, indeed, is rarely found) in this part of the country, but of the three the latter is the most savage, and with him the deer has little chance of escape when attacked. Indian opinion here is, that for clearing away the snow, the animal uses his fore-legs alone; and whether it is hard or soft, they are well adapted for the purpose. My own opinion is, that our rein-deer is the same as the Lapland rein-deer. The following information, collected as I have already mentioned, may tend to throw some light on the subject. The rutting season is in September; the females carry

their young till the latter end of May or beginning of June, or till the last snow is disappearing. The horns begin to grow in about a month; at the end of the year they fall off, being about 8 inches long, and not branched; at the end of the second year they are about 13 feet long, curved, and with terminal points, and are cast off in spring; the third year the front and brow antlers commence to grow, but are not large at the end of the year, and are cast off again in spring; the fourth year they are larger, but not full-grown, and are cast off in spring; the fifth year they are still growing, and are cast off in March; after the fifth year they are cast off in November. The Indian also states, that the antlers have a variety of shapes, and that it is rare to find two exactly alike. With regard to the training or domestication of the rein-deer I can say nothing from my own experience, nor from that of any Indian at this place; but I may mention, that I have recently seen a gentleman who passed many years near the head waters of the River Synauria (a river which falls into the St Lawrence, near the Town of Three Rivers, in Lower Canada), and that he had seen a young rein-deer among the Indians as tame as a lamb; it entered the lodge, and followed its master like a dog; but it was at last killed by the dogs."

Mr Mackenzie's observations will be of use in correcting misconceptions on one or two of the points alluded to by me. It would appear that the American species uses its feet in clearing away the snow from its food, as much as the Lapland species does; and the cup-shaped structure of its feet, as shown in the specimens now sent home, is admirably adapted for this. That it does not use the projecting shovellike brow antlers for the same purpose I am less willing to admit; the apparent adaptation of their form to this purpose induces me to defer forming a definite opinion upon it until further information be obtained; the rather that, however intelligent and truthful the Indian referred to by Mr Mackenzie may be, his statement is merely negative, and is inconsistent with the observations of such authors (few in number though they be) as notice the point.

As to the identity of the Lapland species with the North

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American, we cannot expect to arrive at any correct result, until we have the means of making a more complete comparative examination than has yet been done of the two species alongside of each other. Notwithstanding the greater distance of its locality, we possess both better materials and more accurate information on scientific points regarding the species from North America than that from Lapland. It is to the latter that our inquiries should now be directed, and more accurate information sought for on such points as the periods of growth and shedding of the horns, referred to in my previous communication, and in Mr Mackenzie's letter. His statements on this point have been confirmed to me by Mr Hargrave, who also informs me, that the head with distorted horns, sent last year, which was figured in the first part of this paper, was that of a young animal, not more than two years old. He mentions, that a slight bend is common in the first year; that this becomes of the distorted form above referred to in the second year, but afterwards disappears. I was misled, by the teeth being much worn, into the supposition that it was an old animal. These worn teeth must be the milk teeth; and we thus have incidental information as to the period the animal carries them.

Information on such points becomes of importance, because the North American and Lapland species are so closely allied to each other, that we cannot expect to find distinctions of a prominent nature, and must be content with the accumulation of those of a more subordinate character. I may notice, that I find the view which I adopted-viz., that the species are distinct has also been entertained by Professor Spencer Baird of America, who, in his recent " General Report upon the Zoology of the several Pacific Railroad Routes, Part I.Mammal," includes two species of rein-deer as inhabiting the northern shores of North America (the Rangifer caribou and R. Grænlandicus), and both distinct from the Lapland deer; at the same time admitting that their distinctness is questionable.

MOOSE DEER (Cervus Alces, Lin.).—Mr Hargrave has had the kindness to send me a magnificent head and horns of this fine elk, which is another animal as to whose identity with its