SECTION IV, 1916 175] TRANS: RUS.G. 
Notes on the Plankton of the British Columbia Coast 
By J. PLayFarR McMuRrkicH, Ph.D., F.R.S.C. 
(Read May Meeting, 1916) 
Little attention has as yet been given to the plankton of the British 
Columbia coastal waters, the only references to the subject that I 
know of being those of Peck and Harrington! and Herdman,’? both 
these papers referring to collections made in Puget Sound. It has 
seemed advisable, therefore, to place on record the following notes, 
since, even although they are based upon but a small number of col- 
lections, they represent a much more extensive area and add materially 
to our knowledge of the forms represented in the West Coast plankton. 
The occurrence of plankton in sufficient quantity to discolour 
the water over considerable areas is a well-known phenomenon, 
but in my experience it happens much more frequently in Pacific 
waters than in the Atlantic. In a voyage up the coast of British 
Columbia in September, 1912, several patches of “brown water’’ 
were observed, and the opportunities which presented themselves for 
obtaining samples of the plankton causing the discolouration were 
eagerly seized. Circumstances did not permit the examination of 
the collected material in the living condition, but it was preserved in 
formalin, and even although for various reasons it was necessary to 
postpone its examination until now, it was found to be still in excellent 
condition for the identification of its constituents. 
1. The first patch of “brown water’’ examined was encountered 
in the northern part of the Gulf of Georgia, and while it was not con- 
venient at the time to slow down the ship sufficiently for the use of a 
tow-net, I was able to secure some bucketfuls of the water and found 
the discolouration due to the enormous numbers of Pyrocystis. The 
preserved material has unfortunately been lost, and I am unable to 
identify the form specifically, but the examination of the fresh material, 
made with a low power of the microscope, revealed practically nothing 
but this single form which must have been present in almost incal- 
culable numbers, since the discoloured area was of very considerable 
extent. This was the only case observed in which the plankton 

1J. I. Peck and N. R. Harrington—Observations on the Plankton of Puget 
Sound. Trans. N. Y. Acad. Sci. XVI. 1898. 
?W. A. Herdman, J. C. Thompson and A. Scott—On the Plankton collected 
continuously during two Traverses of the North Atlantic, etc., with dn Appendix 
on dredging in Puget Sound. Trans. Liverpool Biol. Soc. XII. 1898. 
