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Q 42 ProyrnciaL Museum Report. 1917 


Senecio canus Hook. 
Senecio cumbalarioides Nutt. 
Senecio mutabilis Greene. 
Cichorium Intybus L. 
Agoseris glauca (Pursh) Steud. 
Crepis occidentalis Nutt. 
PAL-HONTOLOGY. 
A noteworthy addition to the small collection of Tertiary fossils in the Provincial Museum 
was acquired in October, 1916. This consists of a fossil tooth of the rare Desmostylus, an 
extinet race of the mammalian group of sirenians, to which the living dugong and the recently 
extinct Steller’s sea-cow belong. 
The tooth referred to was found by Miss M. Egerton, of Victoria, in the fossiliferous sand- 
stone cliff near the mouth of Coal Creek, Sooke, in the summer of 1916, and was forwarded by 
R. E. Gosnell, at the suggestion of the Director, to Lawrence M. Lambe, Dominion Vertebrate 
Paleontologist, Ottawa, for determination. Mr. Lambe’s reply included the following statement :— 
“The tooth from Otter Point, in the Sooke District, Vancouver Island, belongs to the sirenian 
species, Desmostylus hesperus Marsh, of Pliocene (? Miocene) age. This tooth is of particular 
interest as it is the first one of this kind found to our certain knowledge in Canada. Last year 
Dr. Newcombe, of Victoria, B.C., presented to this Department a large, perfect, unworn tooth 
which he obtained from a curio-dealer, and was supposed to be from Alaska. Miss Egerton’s 
specimen was happily secured in situ, and possibly a further search at the locality may reveal 
other remains of the species. It appears to be the first right upper molar; Dr. Newcombe’s 
being the second left molar. It is probable that the beds from which the specimen comes are 
of Miocene age, but the genus may have ranged up into the Pliocene. Remains of Desmostylus 
have been found in Japan, California, and Oregon. The genus is closely related to the existing 
Manatus of Florida and the recently extinct Rhytina (Steller’s sea-cow) of the North Pacific. 
The specimen has been broken off at the top of the roots, which have remained in the rock, and 
may possibly still be recovered to make it complete if a visit is made to the locality and care is 
exercised in their removal.” 
As several finds of Desmostylus had been reported from California, from which State the 
first specimen had been described, it was thought advisable to write to the well-known geologists, 
Dr. Merriam and Dr. Ralph Arnold, for further information. The former had already taken 
much interest in the Sooke formations and had published preliminary descriptions of fossils 
found in them in 1897 and 1899. In the years 1906 and 1911 he had also published notes on the 
genus Desmostylus, with special reference to the remains found on the Pacific Coasts of America 
and Japan. Dr. Arnold, it was known, had devoted a great deal of time to the Tertiary faunas 
of the Pacific Coast, and had in view a publication which might continue the work so well 
commenced by his report on the Marine Pliocene and Pleistocene of San Pedro, California. Dr. 
Arnold had also sent field parties to our Coast, who had made large collections of fossils at and 
near Sooke. 
Permission was readily given to make use of such conclusions as had been arrived at by 
the above geologists with regard to the age of the formation from which our Desmostylus tooth 
came. 
Quoting from a letter received from Mr. B. L. Clark, of the University of California, who 
is now examining and describing the Tertiary fossils of this Coast in collaboration with Drs. 
Merriam and Arnold, the following statements are of interest :— 
“ After studying the fauna from the Sooke beds and that from the Carmanah Point beds, 
my conclusion is that they belong to the same period of deposition and, very probably, to the 
same faunal horizon. A number of species common to the beds of the two localities are distinc- 
tive forms, such as, I believe, may be taken as good horizon markers. Some of these species 
are Agasoma acuminatum, Bullia buccinoides, Hudolium petrosu, Molopophorus Newcombei, 
Macrocallista vancouverensis, and Chione ? n. sp. 
This fauna, from both localities, apparently belongs to the same horizon as that found in 
the Restoration Point beds near Seattle. ‘These were referred to the Seattle formation by 
Arnold and Hannibal, and to his Blakely horizon by Weaver, the fauna of which he designates 
as that of the Acila geitysburgensis zone. 

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