To give some idea of the industry and activity of these learned servants of the State, I will briefly outline the work accomplished by one naturalist in one season. Having put his “Catalogue of Canadian Birds” through the press, Mr. John Macoun made ready to depart for Vancouver Island, his preparations including the compilation of a list of all the plants that had been reported to occur there. Before starting he also superintended one assistant in arranging botanical sheets for the herbarium, and another assistant in re-labelling a quantity of mammal and bird skins. Then, having sought and obtained permission “to write up the entire natural history of Vancouver Island,” he departed to Victoria with an assistant, the two energetic enthusiasts at once setting to work to secure flowering plants and the eggs of migrating birds and “to collect the fauna and flora of the sea”—in which work they were “very successful.” By June they were at Departure Bay, “ranging the country for miles around” to tabulate the birds and secure samples of plants and trees. “I was also employed,” Mr. Macoun reported, “in collecting from the sea, especially sea-weeds.” Going posthaste to Nanaimo, he met by appointment another assistant, whereupon, securing a boat, they carried out some exhaustive dredging operations. One haul, at twenty-five fathoms, brought up sixty specimens of a rare hexactinellid sponge. They took 156 star-fish, 195 crabs of various kinds, over a hundred different sponges, “a fine collection of barnacles,” and “a very large collection of marine shells.” Both assistants “were indefatigable.” One went out every evening with a lamp and net and caught moths and beetles. “This collection alone numbered over 600 specimens.” The party captured 1,100 species of flowering plants, about 400 species of cryptogams, and nearly 150 species of sea weeds; and the naturalist decided that another season’s work would enable him “to write an exhaustive report of the whole fauna and flora of the island,” provided he again had those two most excellent assistants with him. Remembering he had promised to visit Rossland and inquire into the rotting of mine timbers there, he darted off on that mission, found that four species of fungus were responsible, explained that the evil would be prevented if the timber were treated with a strong saline solution, and then went hurrying back to Ottawa, where he set about naming a number of plants that had been received from Guelph, Winnipeg, Calgary, and other places. He also seriously tackled the question of the flora of the Ottawa district—after which, I dare say, Mr. Macoun began to feel tired.