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capitulation of 1654 as Captain Commandant in Port Royal and surrogate tutor of the children of the late M. d'Aulnay, was the father of Pierre and Charles Melanson, for the former would be only twenty-two years old in 1654 and therefore not likely to be placed in positions of such responsibility as those mentioned in connection with the name of La Verdure.

There is not much weight in Judge Savary's argument that he has been unable to find any name resembling Melanson in the directory of Scotland. The spelling of names is liable to change, even at this day, and such changes were far more common in past centuries before education was as widely diffused as it is now. My own name, which is that of a family which has lived in Galloway, Scotland, since the time of the Romans, has been spelled in a number of different ways, as may be seen by reference to the ancient records of the Kingdom of Scotland. In 1296 it was de Hanyethe, in 1424 it was de Hanna, but up to the year 1600 it was usually written Ahannay. The name of Melanson has doubtless experienced similar changes, indeed its spelling in Acadia has been by no means uniform. The records of Nova Scotia show that one Paul Mollanson was deputy from Mines in 1720. This spelling of the name suggested to me the idea that the old Scotch name of Melanson is represented now by the modern Scotch name of Mollison. Mr. W. K. Mollison of this city informs me that in Scotland the name is spelled in four different ways, viz., Molison, Mollison, Molleson and Mollinson. The change of a single letter makes the latter mode of spelling correspond with that of the Acadian deputy of 1720.

Mr. W. K. Mollison informs me that he heard from his grandfather when a boy that the family was of French origin. I mention this for the benefit of Judge Savary's theory and in the interest of that fair