THE CANADIAN FIELD-NATURALIST 



VOL. XXXV. 



OTTAWA, ONT., JANUARY, 1921 



No. 1. 



FAUNAL NOTES FROM THE ATLANTIC BIOLOGICAL STATION (1920.) 



By A. WiLLEV and A. G. Huntsman. 



Owing to its geographical situation, Pas- 

 samaqiioddy bay occupies a critical posi- 

 tion between the Gulf of Maine and the 

 Bay of Fundy ; its herring and pollock 

 fisheries give it a definite standing as a 

 fishing ground ; and the Biological Station 

 makes it a centre of research. In view of 

 these circumstances and for other reasons 

 which could be but need not be mentioned 

 here, we thought it desirable to put on 

 record some of the more salient of tlie oc- 

 casional observations, having no relation 

 to the main business of the station, which 

 came to our notice during the summer of 

 1920. We found for example indications 

 that when a group of animals has been 

 treated monographically, members of that 

 group that have not been mentioned in tlie 

 monographs will nevertheless make tiieir 

 appearance in the bay. And their presence 

 in the bay is at least as interesting as is 

 their mention in a monograph. 



Not all the records which follow are 

 those of fugitive species, but great im- 

 portance should be assigned to the latter 

 because of their relation to the prevailing 

 currents. . It is sometimes assumed that 

 permanent residents are more valuable 

 than transitory vagrants. This is true for 

 commercial exploitation but not for scien- 

 tific interpretation. And the Biological 

 Station may be said to exist for the pur- 

 pose of effecting the reconciliation between 

 science and commerce in fishery matters. 

 In such a sense we believe that these notes 

 are worth the trouble that has been in- 

 volved in making the identifications. 



- Every bay has something out of the 

 ordinary to offer every year, but it is 

 rarely that the opportunity arises for the 

 exceptional events to be authenticated. 



Gellius arcofenis Vosmaer (Figure 1). 



An example of this siliceous sponge, two 

 feet in diameter, was obtained in the 



shrimp trawl on June 23rd, 1920, at. 

 ' ' Prince ' ' station No. 4, in Passamaquoddy 

 l)ay, at a depth of 25 metres on a muddy 

 bottom. From the standpoint of system- 

 atic zoology it was the most notable trophy 

 of the season. It is a circular mat-like 

 sponge and it is proposed to call it the 

 ' ' mat-sponge ' ' ; only about half of the 

 circle was secured. It is one of Vosmaer 's 

 Arctic sponges, named by him in 1885 

 from material obtained by the AVillem 

 Barents Expedition (1880-1881) in the 

 Barents Sea between 72 and 77 north 

 latitude and between 24 and 50 east 

 longitude, from depths of 140 to 170 

 fathoms. All the specimens at his dis- 

 posal were fragments, flat pieces indicat- 

 ing, as he thought, tliat the original shape 

 was probably that of a fan. Two exam- 

 ples of the same species were dredged up 

 by the Swedish (Vega) Arctic expedi- 

 tions, one of Avhich was cake-like and cir- 

 cular, 90 mm. in diameter. These were 

 described bv Fristedt in 1887 ; one from 

 Lat. 76 52 ''n.. Long. 116 E., 36 fathoms; 

 the other from Lat. 59 33' N., Long. 43 

 28' W., south of Greenland, 120 fathoms. 



Lastly a few examples, dredged by Mr. 

 J. F. Whiteaves in 1872 in the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence off Cape Gaspe and Cap des 

 Rosiers, 75 to 80 fathoms, were described 

 by Lawrence M. Lambe in 1896 in the 

 Transactions of the Royal Society of C*an- 

 ada for that year. These were all flat, 

 about 18 mm. thick, and as much as 120 

 mm. across. Thus the sponge obtained 

 last year at the Biological Station was 

 much larger than any previously recorded 

 in that species, and illustrates very well 

 the pronounced Arctic element in the 

 fauna of Passamaquoddy bay. Such an 

 expanse of canal-system as this species 

 presents must exert a profound influence 

 upon the circulating pabulum of its en- 

 vironment and so play an economic role 

 not less important because unperceived. 



