[mcmurrich] presidential ADDRESS 11 



sive fishing banks, extending as far north as Hudson's Straits, a dis- 

 covery whose importance has not yet been fully realized. 



In Ontario the conditions were very different. Of older settle- 

 ment and peopled largely by colonists from the Motherland, more 

 opportunities were afforded for the manifestation of the national 

 scientific attitude, and a number of names suggest themselves as 

 worthy of mention in connection with zoological studies. As far 

 back as 1830, there was published in thfe Journal of Zoology (Vol. 5, 

 London) a paper by Dr. Antony Capper which contains much interest- 

 ing information concerning the mammalian fauna in the vicinity of 

 Toronto at that time, together with the first description of the Nor- 

 thern gray squirrel and the Short-tailed shrew. Dr. Capper came to 

 this country in 1825 and settled on north Yonge Street about ten 

 miles out from the town of York, as it then was called. His residence 

 in Canada extended only over six years, but in that time he was able 

 to acquire an extensive acquaintance with the local mammalian 

 fauna. 



In later times the interest in zoological studies grew apace. 

 Professor Hincks of the University of Toronto stimulated it by both 

 example and precept. and contributed to the Journal of the Canadian 

 Institute several papers on classification, especially of birds, and his 

 successor Professor H. Alleyne Nicholson, better known for his palseon- 

 tological contributions, gave us our first knowledge of the form.s 

 inhabiting the deeper water of Lake Ontario. The study of our 

 native birds attracted several observers, among whom the Hon. G. 

 W. Allan may be mentioned, and especially T. Mcllwraith of Hamil- 

 ton, to whom we owe an extensive work on The Birds of Canada. 

 Entomology found ardent students in Wm. Brodie, Wm. Saunders 

 and James Fletcher, and Dr. Bovell deserves mention as one who 

 interested himself in anatomical investigations, contributing papers 

 on the structure of such forms as the bear, the lobster and the leech. 

 The limitations I have set debar the mention of many other equally 

 worthy Ontario naturalists and also preclude a just estimate of the 

 advances that have been made in zoological investigation by younger 

 workers, many of whose contributions would do credit to the Zoology 

 of any country. 



As one of the representative scientists of Quebec we have Sir 

 William Dawson, less eminent as a zoologist than as a geologist, but a 

 contributor to our knowledge of the marine fauna of the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence, in which field special mention must be made of the work of 

 J. F. Whiteaves, under whose guidance extensive dredging operations, 

 the first to be carried on in Canada, were conducted in the Gulf, and 

 to whom we owe the first comprehensive list of our eastern marine 



