1917 Rigg: on Bladder Kelp 315 



for harvesting along the northwest portion of Orcas Island and at numer- 

 ous other points among the San Juan Islands. He also found kelp in the 

 Smith Island bed, but the water was too rough to permit of accurate ob- 

 servations as to quantity or condition. 



On Dec. 26, 1916, kelp was observed by the writer at Fort Ward, 

 Pleasant Beach, and Waterman, all near Seattle. The observations were 

 made from a steamer as it docked at these points. The tide was be- 

 tween 9 and 10 feet at the time of these observations, while the highest 

 tide that day was 15.1 feet. A tidal current was moving past the kelps 

 and they could be seen plainly. Some kelps were without fronds, but 

 many still had them. It could not be determined from these observations 

 whether any specimens were still fruiting. The beds were evidently much 

 thinner than on the several occasions on which the writer had observed 

 them during the summer. Considerable masses of drift kelp were lodged 

 r.bout the piling of the dock at Pleasant Beach and a considerable number 

 of kelps were seen floating. Also on Mar. 16, 1917, at 6:30 P. M., at 

 I'.early low tide about 25 kelps were seen by the writer near the dock at 

 Waterman. These were observed from the steamer as it docked. No fronds 

 were seen, but there may have been a few short ones. There were many 

 more than 25 kelps at this point earlier in the season. Again on Mar. 

 ;^0, 1917, at 6:00 P. M. the writer saw a few old kelps mostly without 

 fronds near the dock at Pleasant Beach at low tide. They were still 

 attached. 



Mr. George A. Schwabland of Victoria, British Columbia, told the 

 writer that the openings made by the fishermen cutting away the kelp in 

 order to keep free passage for their boats through the kelp beds among 

 the Queen Charlotte Islands in very late summer are frequently filled 

 in a short time with a new growth of kelp. 



3. DISCUSSION 



In the following discussion the writer makes use of the above data 

 and also of the facts that he has noted during 9 years of observations along 

 the shores of Puget Sound (three of which have been spent at the Puget 

 Sound Marine Station) and one summer spent along the coast of western 

 Alaska. 



Nereocystis seems to be an annual plant. It seems to be the normal 

 thing to find young plants in spring, fruiting specimens in summer, and to 

 find the kelp either drifted loose or showing signs of old age during the 

 following winter. ]\Iany individuals do undoubtedly live through the win- 

 ter, but the larger number of them in the Puget Sound region disappear 

 before they are a full 12 months old. The ones that survive are not al- 

 ways the ones in the most protected places. In Alaska it is certainly very 



