472 SIBERIAN TROPICAL MIOCENE FOSSILS DALL. 



narrow strip of oi)eii water alonji" the shores until tlie open water at 

 the head of the bays was reached, aeeordin^- to Scanimon, usually 

 about the -0th of .hme. With the boats whaling was carried on from 

 eamps on shtne until, in July or later, the main Hoes had so broken up 

 as to alhnv the shii)s to i)enetrate the bays. 



The shores around the uulf are, in numy places, cliffy or precipitous 

 and the beaches stony, thouy,h the depth of water is moderate, 

 nowhere exeeedinu- 100 fathoms, as far as known. While the latitude 

 of Penjinsk Gulf is that of Shetland or the South Cape of Greenland, 

 and it is not within the Arctic Circle, yet its climate and conditions 

 are essentially arctic, and it is the only region where the true arctic 

 whale has ever been known to breed excei)t in the Polar Sea. The 

 marine fauna probably resembles that of otlun- parts of the Okhotsk 

 Sea where it is known to be extremely scanty along- the shores, profuse 

 in individuals in water deep enough to be free from grounding ice, and 

 strictly arctic everywhere. Further south, ott" the west shore of the 

 lieninsula of Kamchatka, is a noted codtishing ground, but no record 

 of auy attempt to tish in the gulf has been brought to my notice. In 

 the summer a fairly large run of sabnon of several species occurs in 

 most of the rivers falling into the gulf and wild fowl are abundant 

 spring and fall as they come and ge from their breeding grounds at 

 the mouths of the rivers iarther north. 



On the shore of one of the small bays which put out from the gulf 

 coal has long been known to exist, thougii the exact locality is not in- 

 dicated on any of the charts I have been able to examine. The place 

 was known to the whalers as Coalmine or Coal l>ay. In 18(>C the Kus- 

 sian transport Salhalin, Avliich had brought supplies for the telegraph 

 explorers, being short of coal, obtained a quantity from this place, 

 which enabled her to reach the Amoor Iviver, thougli the (pnility of 

 the fuel was poor. It seems to resemble the Eocene lignites of Alaska 

 rather than the coals of greater age and density. 



From this locality iii 1855, when a member of tlie Kinggold and 

 Eodgers exploring expedition in the North Pacific, the late Dr. William 

 Stimpson obtained a small colh'ction of fossils, coiuMnsing six species 

 of mollusks, which were deposited by him on his return to America in 

 the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, wliere they have since 

 remained.* 



" Although uo extended data accompany the specimens, I learn through the 

 courtesy of Lieut. Coumiander Richardson Clover. C 8. Navy, hydrographer of the 

 Navy Department, that the I;. S. S. Ifainock, Lieut. H. K. Stevens, U. 8. Navy, com- 

 manding, visited Coal Buy early in August, 18r)5, and it was douhtless by some one 

 on hoard that the specii-s were collected. The position assigned to Coal Kay on the 

 map of the expedition is in latitude GO'^ 17' north and longitude IGl^ 5.")' east of 

 Greenwich. It is noted that loal was found auundautly, hut of inferior quality for 

 generating steam. Some account of the Humork's visit to Coal Bay is given by A. 

 W. Habersham in his volume entitled "My Last Cruise" (etc.). Philadelphia, Lip- 

 pincott, 1857, pp. 3l'9-371. 



