2 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 61, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



with the Brown Bear for another season's work. He made limited 

 studies of the lesser forms of animal life that inhabit the sub- 

 arctic waters of the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea and 

 those that occupy the shores and slopes of the islands. 



Our work, and the work of Scheffer, expanded upon informa- 

 tion obtained by biologists who visited the area late in the 19th 

 century and early in the 20th century. In 1902, W. H. Osgood, 

 for the Bureau of Biological Survey, conducted an expedition 

 to the base of the Alaska Peninsula. Results of his field work 

 were published as "A Biological Reconnaissance of the Base of 

 the Alaska Peninsula" (North American Fauna Series No. 24: 

 1904). In 1911, Alexander Wetmore and A. C. Bent investigated 

 the western end of the Alaska Peninsula and some of the Aleutian 

 Islands (Wetmore's field report was never published). In the 

 summer of 1925, assisted by Fur Warden Donald H. Stevenson, 

 I was assigned to field work at the western end of the Alaska 

 Peninsula. Additional investigators who visited the Aleutians 

 include Lucien M. Turner and William H. Dall (in the 19th cen- 

 tury), and Ira N. Gabrielson (in the 20th century). 



In the present report, references are made to all individuals 

 who are known to have contributed to the knowledge of the fauna 

 of the Aleutian Islands. These individual contributions total into 

 a considerable volume of data that have been of inestimable help 

 in evaluating the Aleutian fauna. In view of this assemblage of 

 data, and for a better understanding of the fauna of this part 

 of Alaska, the present report embraces all of the Alaska Peninsula 

 and the Aleutian Islands. 



In compiling the material presented here, and in gathering the 

 field data, I am indebted to my colleagues in the field on all three 

 expeditions — 1925, 1936, and 1937. These colleagues, already 

 mentioned — Stevenson, Williams, Scheffer, Steenis, Gray, and 

 Jewell — are men whose zeal for research and loyalty to the joint 

 undertaking must ensure success of an expedition. John Selle- 

 vold, veteran seaman and captain of the Brown Bear, went beyond 

 the requirements of his duty to help us in many ways. 



John W. Aldrich and Allen J. Duvall, both of the U. S. Fish 

 and Wildlife Service, have been especially helpful with advice 

 and assistance in working with specimens. Herbert Friedmann, 

 of the National Museum, has also helped considerably, and Ira N. 

 Gabrielson, who has made many trips to the Aleutian district, 

 has been especially generous with his field notes. Many others, 

 both in Washington and in the field, assisted in many ways. 



Also, I must pay tribute to those original inhabitants of tne 



