'IMII<; r.lltDS Ol-' '\1\K KlIML ISIiANDtS. 



I>y IjKONIIAIM) >STK.IJNIO(iKI{, 



Curdlor, PiriHioii of It'viilihn and /lalrarliiaHx. 



Zooloj^iciilly spoiikiiij;, llic Kniil ishiiuls ;in», ii Icrrd imuxjiiila as yot. 

 During' Ilic- l;isl, one, liuiidird iiiid lilty yc-iirs vuiioiiH /ooloj^ists iuid (5()I- 

 le(!torK liavc, toucln'd iit viiiioiis localiticH in l,liiit iiilcicslinj;' cliiiiii of 

 v<)l<!iiiii<' isliiiids, l)iit IK) sysU'iiiiil ic, collcictiii^i or ('.xploriii.ii has cvci- Ikumi 

 iiiidci'lakcti. or all tlu^ :iniiii:ils inhabiting tiiai bleak :in<i Ib^^y region 

 the bii'ds ;ii(' best known, but the loliowinjijf IJHt will best (leiiioiiKtiate 

 liow ini|)«!rrt'<',t is our kno\vl(Mlj><', of even these. Tlui trouble is th;d, 

 only in <'.onipiiiativ(ily I'ew cases have the exiiet islands and lo(;alities 

 been fuiniKhed by the observers, and when I state that two lannas 

 meet sonieAvlua-e in the Kuril ehain, vi/, that ol' Yezo in the- south and 

 tliat of KauKthatka in the north, it will at onee be, se(;n iiow extremely 

 unsatistaetiory is a speeimen oi- an observation labeled " Kuril islands" 

 only, as most of tliem are. Very lew people realize tliat this st(»iin- 

 b(>aten and dangerous arehipela^'o is about (>.'i() miles lon^, and that it 

 is a very important link in the ehain of islands whieh fiMiee oil" the 

 <!Uiious series of inland s(!as of Asia's I'axjilie eoast. 



Steller was the (irst naturalist to gather mateiial on some of the Kurils, 

 an<i most of his observations ha,v(r been utilized by I'allas in his Zoo- 

 j^raphia Itosso Asiatica. Stcdier only visittid the northern islands, and 

 most of ['alias's references, therefore, relate to these. Or. Merck and 

 Lanj^sdortfalso furnished some s|)e,cim<Mis and observations, but, nothing;' 

 of any importance was obtained until Wosnessenski's visit, IS45-'H). 

 This intrepid and careful collector wintered on IJrup and collected in 

 various of tlu^ hir^^er islands. Numei'ous specimens wei'c sent l)y him 

 to the Academy of Scienc(!s in St. Tetcrsbur^, but unfortunately his 

 collections were never worked uj) systematically and collectively. What 

 we know about them has to be gathered laboriously from various scat 

 tered refeiences in tin; inunerous writing's of IJrandt,, lVIidden<lorll', and 

 Hehrenck. ►Sine*; his day no ini|)ortant (lollections have been made in 

 the Kurils except by (Japt. Ii. .1. Hnow. During' a winter's sojourn on 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. XXI No. 1 144. 



