Salt works along the Yucatan coasts of Mexico and Belize provide a record of salt production for inland trade during the height of Late Classic Maya civilisation (AD 550–800). At the Paynes Creek Salt Works in Belize, production focused on the creation of salt cakes by boiling brine in pots supported over fires in dedicated salt kitchens. Underwater excavations at the Early Classic (AD 250–550) site of Jay-yi Nah now indicate there was a longer and evolving tradition of salt making in the area, one that initially employed large, incurved bowls to meet local or down-the-line trade needs before inland demand for salt soared.

Sea-level rise and settlement are investigated at Ta'ab Nuk Na, an ancient Maya salt works in Belize, by examining samples from wooden posts and marine sediment. The samples included Post 145 of Building B and the Nunavut beam, along with marine sediment columns cut from beside both wooden posts. The sediment columns were sampled at 2 cm intervals. Loss-on ignition confirmed the presence of organic material. Identifying the organic content involved removing nonorganic material from the sediment and sorting the organic material under magnification. This procedure established that most of the organic material was red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle). Red mangroves tolerate salt water, but under conditions of sea-level rise, the plants grow vertically to keep their leaves above water. Sediment, leaves, and detritus trapped in the prop roots form mangrove peat, which serves as a proxy for sea-level rise. AMS dating of fine red mangrove roots determined that the local sea levels rose at Ta'ab Nuk Na throughout the Late Classic period and continued into the Postclassic period. Radiocarbon dates obtained from the wood-post samples yielded Late Classic–period dates. Comparing the radiocarbon dates from the wooden posts and the sediment core samples determined that the site was abandoned before the rising seas flooded the area. Evidently, sea-level rise did not play a role in site abandonment.

Salt is an essential commodity; archaeological remains around the world attest to the importance of its production, exchange and consumption. Often located in coastal locations, many production sites were submerged by rising seas, including the Paynes Creek Salt Works on the southern Belize coast. Survey and excavation of these sites has identified ‘kitchens’ for brine boiling, as well as Terminal Classic residential structures at Ek Way Nal. The authors report the discovery of an earlier residential building alongside salt kitchens at the nearby site of Ta'ab Nuk Na. This finding indicates that surplus household production began during the Late Classic, when demand for salt from inland cities was at its peak.

Systematic flotation survey and spatial analysis of artifacts at the submerged salt work of Ek Way Nal reveal evidence of a residence, salt kitchens, and additional activities. Ek Way Nal is one of 110 salt works associated with a Late to Terminal Classic (A.D. 600–900) salt industry known as the Paynes Creek Salt Works. Wooden posts that form the walls of 10 buildings are remarkably preserved in a peat bog below the sea floor providing an opportunity to examine surface artifacts in relation to buildings. Numerous salt kitchens have been located at the Paynes Creek Salt Works by evidence of abundant briquetage—pottery associated with boiling brine over fires to make salt. As one of the largest salt works with 10 buildings, there is an opportunity to examine variability in building use. Systematic flotation survey over the site and flagging and mapping individual artifacts and posts provide evidence that the Ek Way Nal salt makers had a residence near the salt kitchens, along with evidence of salting fish for subsistence or surplus household production. The results are compared with ethnographic evidence from Sacapulas and other salt works.

Jadeite artefacts at Maya sites are normally associated with ritual and ceremonial locations, with high-quality jadeite reserved for elite objects. The discovery of a jadeite gouge with a wooden handle at a Classic Maya salt-working site submerged by sea-level rise—Ek Way Nal, Belize—is therefore unexpected and provides new information about the utilitarian use of this stone. The extremely high quality of this jadeite tool is particularly surprising, offering new insight into the Classic Maya exchange systems and the role of salt makers such as those based at Ek Way Nal.

Annectina viriosa, a new species of Ammodiscidae (Foraminiferida), is described from Recent brackish ponds on a salt flat adjacent to Lake Winnipegosis, Manitoba. Colonization of the ponds was probably by avian transport. The distinct morphotype is either the result of an allopatric speciation event within the last 5,000 years or it is a previously undescribed species of shallow-water Annectina from nearby Hudson Bay. It is also possible that recovered specimens are previously unrecognized ecophenotypic variants of some known species produced by unknown hostile environmental factors within the pond ecosystem. The latter hypothesis is difficult to test without extensive biological culturing. The large number of phenotypically stable specimens living in these ponds warrants recognition of these populations as a distinct taxon.

Frequently descriptive entomology suffers from a lack of precise data on specimen colour. Since colour is rarely defined and since an effective technique is available, the authors suggest that greater consideration be given colour analysis. A simple procedure is outlined in relation to colour analysis of specimens undergoing degreasing.

Preston and Westwood (1981) reported on the distribution of Thymelicus lineola (Ochsenheimer) in Manitoba. They suggested that the species arrived here about 1970 by way of northwestern Ontario. At that time the population in central Winnipeg was the most western known in the Prairie region and they suggested that the spread of the species might be impeded by the arid nature of the Great Plains to the west. Klassen et al. (1989) noted that specimens subsequently had been taken 70 km west of Winnipeg at Rathwell(49°39'N; 98°33'W) near the western edge of the Red River Valley soils on the eastern edge of the Prairie. In 1986 Preston and McKillop collected the European Skipper at Eriksdale (50°52'N; 98°06'W) 100 km to the northwest of Winnipeg in the marginal lands of the interlake region (Klassen et al. 1989).

Vapour degreasing and cleaning of entomological specimens proved to be a viable alternative to standard methods. Defined change in colour upon degreasing clearly portrayed the effectiveness of this new technique.

1. An examination of eighty-nine samples of uncooked and thirty-eight samples of cooked food purchased by one particular hospital showed that the purchased food was bacteriologically clean.

2. A similar examination of 173 samples of food after it was cooked and prepared for serving in the hospital kitchens showed that, with the exception of cold chicken, the bacterial flora was greatly reduced by cooking. Ten of forty-six samples of cold chicken, however, were contaminated with fairly large numbers of Cl. welchii.

3. An investigation into the cooking and handling of the fowls indicated that contamination of the cooked fowls with kitchen dust was a probable explanation for the presence of Cl. welchii.

4. Immediate refrigeration of the fowls, well separated on shallow trays, was shown to be a satisfactory method of preventing the growth of contaminating Cl. welchii to any dangerous extent.

5. Six outbreaks of food poisoning, in which there was an association between cold chicken and the clinical symptoms of Cl. welchii food poisoning, are reported and discussed.

I have pleasure in thanking Dr Betty Hobbs of the Food Hygiene Laboratory of the Public Health Laboratory Service at Colindale for the serological typing of numerous strains of Cl. welchii; Mr D. B. Colquhoun for assistance with the phage-typing of the staphylococci; Mr G. Kerr for the photography; and the kitchen staff in the hospital concerned for making possible the numerous samplings of food and the other inquiries into the day-to-day affairs of the hospital catering department.