Transactions of The Royal Society of Canada 



SECTION IV 

 Series III DECEMBER 1914 Vol. VIII 



Sonic Hydroids of the Vancouver Island Region. 

 By C. McLean Fraser, Ph.D. 

 Curator of the Pacific Coast Biological Station, Nanaimo, B.C. 

 (Presented by A. B. Macallum, Ph.D., F.R.S.C.) 



INTRODUCTION. 



Although two papers have appeared already on the hydroid fauna 

 of this region, these were principally of value from a distribution 

 standpoint, hence the time now seems opportune to issue a more 

 descriptive paper to include all the species obtained to date with a key 

 to the genera and species, that others who wish to become familiar 

 with the common forms, may do so without finding it necessary to 

 consult a number of papers, all of which are seldom found in a single 

 library. The time seems opportune because within the last few years 

 the waters of the Pacific have been receiving a little more attention 

 and the number of species known is now sufficiently great to form a 

 good basis for further work. A description of these will give one 

 a chance to diagnose the majority of the common forms at least. 



Some valuable descriptive papers on material from the west coast 

 have been published but in all cases the number of species described 

 was small, not great enough to include many general species. Cal- 

 kins' paper gives some full descriptions and is of great value for the 

 restricted area from which his material was obtained. Nutting's 

 two papers and Clark's two papers give descriptions of several species 

 and many species that Torrey has described have been found in this 

 vicinity. Nutting's monographs on the Plumularidae and the Ser- 

 tularida? cover the ground fairly well for these two families. All 

 these papers are referred to in the text and the bibliography. 



The present paper is intended to give description and figures of 

 all the species that are known to have been obtained in the region 

 which includes the waters from Puget Sound northward to the 

 Queen Charlotte Islands or in other words the waters in proximity 

 to the Province of British Columbia and the State of Washington. 



In all but a few cases the writer has specimens of each in his own 

 collection and the description and figures have been taken directly 

 from these. The drawings are hence all original drawings and unless 

 otherwise stated were taken from material obtained from this region. 

 In a few cases it has been necessary to give description and drawings 



Sec. IV, 1914— 8 



