the ground, or seek shelter under stones, whence they emerge as soon as the spring is sufficiently, advanced, and attack the crops almost immediately they are above ground. When the larva is full fed it changes to a brown pupa at a small depth in the soil, without spinning any cocoon, but forming a smooth cavity in the ground; in a few weeks this produces the perfect insect, similar to those species of which I now exhibit specimens. It is certainly not very encouraging to the farmer to reflect how many plants they will attack, and here is a formidable list of those to which one or other of the species have been found more or less destructive: Cucumbers.-30 sometimes found round one vine. Wheat. Often very much injured, Indian Corn. The whole crop sometimes disappears. Mangold Wurzel.-Much infested. Turnips. Occasionally by English species. Grasses of various kinds.-Meadows sometimes stripped of all vegetation. Cotton. In the south, larvæ of the same habits and appearance are very destructive to the young plants. The only reliable method of destroying the larvæ is to dig them up one by one from the roots of the plants, and this can be done easily enough in the rows of Indian Corn, which is the crop they appear to injure most, at least in this neighbourhood. The labour would be well bestowed, as every larvæ destroyed may be considered as equivalent to at least half-a-dozen plants of corn saved. It is said that by making deep holes in the fields, they will fall in during their nightly wanderings, and being unable to get up the perpendicular sides of the pits, owing to the crumbling earth breaking away under their weight, they are thus easily captured and may be killed at leisure. It is probable that a deep trench kept free from weeds, and in good repair, dug all round the fields, would preserve the crops from attack, but care must be taken before night to remove anything, such as a bridge, boards, &c., by which they might cross. B I will now bring my observations to a conclusion; I fear I have trespassed too largely on the patience of the meeting, but trust it will consider the importance of the subject as some excuse for my prolixity, and the numerous extracts which I have male from the various works I have consulted. NOTE. I am indebted to James Logan, Esq,, for the dates of sowing of his various crops. ARTICLE XXI.-GLEANINGS in the Natural History of the Hudson's Bay Territories, by the Arctic Voyagers. * The two books of which we give abstracts of the titles below, are the most interesting of all those that have been brought forth as the fruits of that great scientific undertaking, the discovery of the North West Passage. The first contains a narrative of Sir John Richardson's journey by land to the Arctic Sea, in 1848, and his return by the same route in 1849. Sir John left Liverpool on the 25th March, 1848, landed at New York on the 10th April, and arrived at Montreal five days after. At Lachine he was supplied by Sir George Simpson with experienced voyageurs who were engaged as canoe-men for the long journey. On the 29th April he reached Sault St Marie, at the outlet of Lake Superior, on the 12th May, Fort William, on the 18th the summit of the water shed which separates Lake Superior from Lake Winipeg, on the 5th of June, Cumberland House, one of the Company's Stations, situated on the Sascatchewan, and on the 15th of September, Fort Confidence. This station is about three miles from Dease River on Great Bear Lake, in latitude 66°, 54', north, and longitude 118°, 49', west. It is within 100 miles of the shores of the Arctic Sea, and 2530 miles, from Montreal by the route travelled. Here the party remained during the winter of 1848-49, and returned to England in the following summer. * 1. Journal of a Boat voyage through Rupert's Land and the Arctic Sea, in search of the Discovery Ships under the command of Sir John Franklin, with an Appendix on the Physical Geography of North America. BY SIR JOHN RICHARDSON, LONDON, LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN AND LONGMANS, 1851. 2. MCCLURE'S Discovery of the North West Passage, Edited by CAPT. OSBORNE, LONGMan, Brown, Green, and Longmans, London, 1857. Capt. McClure's expedition, it is scarcely necessary to state, was by sea, by Cape Horn through the Pacific Ocean and thence into the Arctic Ocean from the west. He left Plymouth in the "Investigator" on the 20th January, 1850, and was frozen in during the autumn of 1851, on the north coast of Bank's Land, a large island in the Arctic Sea, about half the distance between the two extremes of the passage sought to be explored. Here they remained until April, 1853, when they were discovered by the crew of the Resolute" under Capt. Kellett, who had entered the passage from the Atlantic side in search of Sir John Franklin. By Captain McClure and his brave party the most famous problem in the physical geography of the globe has been solved, and though the results can never be made of any great commercial importance, yet, as all new truths contribute to the intellectual advancement and happiness of our race, the labour has not been lost. To such of our readers as feel inclined to explore the frozen regions of the north by their own comfortable firesides, we cheerfully recommend the works from which the following extracts are taken. They are illustrated by some exceedingly good plates of the Indian tribes and of Arctic scenery, and are full of new and entertaining facts. The natural history observations are particularly interesting, and it is from these that we shall make a few selections. 1. The peregrine falcon Sir John Richardson, while descending the Mackenzie River, noticed the nest of a peregrine falcon on a cliff of sandstone rock. This bird is not rare throughout that region where it preys on the passenger pigeons and smaller birds. "Mr. McPherson, says Sir John, related to me one of its feats, which he witnessed some years previously as he was ascending the river. A white owl (Strya nyctea,) in flying over a cliff, seized and carried off an unfledged peregrine in its claws, and, crossing to the opposite beach, lighted to devour it. The parent bird followed, screaming loudly, and stooping with extreme rapidity, killed the owl by a single blow, after which it flew quickly back to its nest. On coming to the spot, Mr. McPherson picked up the owl, but though he examined it narrowly he could not detect in what part the death blow had been received; nor could he from the distance perceive whether the peregrine struck it with wing or claws.”—Richardson, Vol. 1, page 206. 2. A Hare Indian devoured by a Bear.-By Mr. Bell, I was informed of the melancholy death of an Indian in the vicinity of Fort Good Hope. This poor man, having set several spares for bears, went to visit them alone. The event showed that he had found a large bear, caught by the head and leg, and endeavoured to kill it with arrows, several of which he shot into the neck of the animal. He seems to have been afraid to approach near enough to give full effect to his weapons, and the enraged bear, having broken the snare, flew upon him and tore him in pieces. The man's son, a youth of about sixteen years of age, becoming alarmed by the lengthened absence of his father, took his gun, and went in quest of him, following his track. On approaching the scene of the tragedy, the bear hastened to attack him also, but was shot by the lad as he was rushing at him. The boy found his father torn limb from limb, and mostly eaten, except the head, which remained entire. The bear, whose carcass was seen by Mr. Bell, was a brown one, and of great size. Fragments of the snare remained about his neck and leg. These brown bears are very powerful; and the same gentleman who told the above story informed me that on the Porenpine River, to the west of the Peel, he saw the foot-marks of a large one which having seized a moose deer in the river, had dragged it about a quarter of a mile along the sandy banks, and afterwards devoured it all, but part of the hind quarters. The bones were crushed and broken by the animal's teeth, and, from their size and hardness, Mr. Bell judged the moose to have been upwards of a year old, when it would weigh as much as an ox of the same age. The species of these northern brown bears is as yet undetermined. They greatly resemble the Ursus arctos of the old continent, if they are not actually the same; and are stronger and more carnivorous than the black bears (Ursus americanus), which also frequent the Mackenzie. The grisly bears (Ursus ferox) reach the same latitudes, but do not generally descend from the mountains.-Richardson, Vol. 1, page 217. 3. The Musk Ox, Ovibos moschatus.-The evening proving fine, Mr. Rae and Albert went out to hunt, and both had the pleasure of seeing the musk-ox, for the first time in their lives. The uming-mak is known by name and reputation to all the Eskimo tribes; but as it does not exist in Greenland, or Labrador, nor in the chain of islands extending north from that peninsula along the west side of Davis Straits, Albert, who was a native of East Main, now for the first time approached its haunts. Mr. Rae, with the feelings of an ardent sportsman, had longed to en counter so redoubtable an animal; and the following is an account of the meeting :— On perceiving a herd of cows, under the presidency of an old bull, grazing quietly at the distance of a few miles from our bivouack, he and Albert crept towards them from to leeward; but the plain containing neither rock nor tree behind which they could shelter themselves, they were perceived by the bull before they could get within gun-shot. The shaggy patriarch advanced before the cows, which threw themselves into a circular group, and, lowering his shot-proof forehead so as to cover his body, came slowly forwards, stamping and pawing the ground with his fore-feet, bellowing, and showing an evident disposition for fight, while he tainted the atmosphere with the strong musky odour of his body. Neither of the sportsmen were inclined to irritate their bold and formidable opponent by firing, as long as he offered no vital part to their aim; but, having screwed the bayonets to their fowling pieces, they advanced warily, relying on each other for support. The cows, in the meantime, beat a retreat, and the bull soon afterwards turned; on which Mr. Rae fired, and hit him in the hind quarters. He instantly faced about, roared, struck the ground forcibly with his fore-feet, and seemed to be hesitating whether to charge or not. Our sportsmen drew themselves up for the expected shock, and were by no means sorry when he again wheeled round, and was, in a few seconds, seen climbing a steep and snow clad mountain side, in the rear of his musky kine. These animals inhabit the hilly, barren grounds, between the Welcome and the Copper Mountains, from the sixty-third or sixty fourth parallels to the Arctic Sea, and northwards to Parry's Islands, or as far as European research has yet extended. They travel from place to place in search of pasture, but do not penetrate deep into the wooded districts, and are able to procure food in winter on the steep sides of hills which are laid bare by the winds, and up which they climb with an agility which their massive aspect would lead one ignorant of their habits to suppose them to be totally incapable of. In size they are nearly equal to the smallest Highland or Orkney kyloes; but they are more compactly made, and the shaggy hair of their flanks almost touches the ground. In structure they differ from the domestic ox, in the shortness and strength of the bones of the neck, and length of the dorsal processes which support the ponderous head. The swelling bases of the horns spread over the foreheads of both sexes, but are |