24 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



Piqnlla decora and arvtiva; Acanthinula harpa; Liinnaa oruta; L. kumilis; Fisidium 

 equilalerah: Tlie new species described from Bering Island by Aurivilliiis is Plcuro- 

 toma l>eri)i(/i; and by Dall, in liis lirst paper, JAicimcUa rcfle.va (p. 344, pi. ii, figs. 1-3), 

 Cerithiopsis xlejm'tjeri (p. 345, pi. ii, fig. 4), and Htrombdla callorhina var. sttjneyeri (p. 

 340, pi. II, figs. 5, G). 



WORM8. 



At least one species of earthworm occurs, and several leeches, but, like the rest of 

 the lower invertebrates collected, they have not been reported upon as yet. Wiren has 

 described a new species of cha'topod from Bering Island, viz, Potamilla neglecta (Vega 

 Exp. Vet. lakt., ir, 1S83, p. 422). 



SPONGES. 



A new variety (arctiva) of Usperia linyua has been described fi'oin Bering Island 

 (5-10 fathoms) by Fristedt (Vega Exp. Vet. lakt., iv, p. 449, pi. xxv, figs. 20-24; pi. 

 XXIX, fig. IS). 



PLANTS. 



It Avas quite to be expected that Steller, as an expert botanist, should have made 

 extensive botanical collections on Bering Island, and as he seems to have collected 211 

 species of plants there (see Pennant, Aict. Zool., Suppl., 1787, p. 38), he gathered more 

 species than any of the various collectors who visited the Island afterwards. Thus the 

 combined collections of Dybowski, AViemutli, and Kjellmau include 144 phanerogams, 

 while 1 have brought home nearly exactly the same number of species. The combined 

 number of species, however, is much greater. Dr. Kjellman has published an inter- 

 esting account of the flora as revealed in the first-mentioned collections (Vega Exp. 

 Vet. lakt., IV, 1887, pp. 281-300), while the late Prof. Asa Gray, in 1885, reported 

 upon my collections in the Proceedings of the United States National Museum, vii, 

 pp. 527-529, to which paper I added a few remarks (ibid., pp. 529-538). During my 

 trip in 1895 I had but scant time and facilities for collecting jilants, and 1 confined 

 myself chiefly to an unsuccessful search for Cusniopc o.rycoccoides in the exact locality 

 and about the same season as I had collected it in 1882. Nevertheless, I was able to 

 add a few species to the flora, which Dr. J. N. Hose, of the National Herbarium, has 

 kindly determined for me as Garex rariflora, Kwnifjia idandica, and RaniincHhis hf/per- 

 boreus. From the lists published it should now be i^ossible to compile a tolerably 

 complete flora of Commander Islands phanerogams. 



Dr. Asa Gray described one of my ericaceous plants as new, viz, Cassiope 

 oxyvoccoidcs, and the late Dr. George Vasey afterwards determined one of the grasses 

 to be new and named it Alopccurun uteimr/eri (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., x, 1887, p. 153; 

 figured as fig. 2, pi. xxiv. Grasses Pacif. Slope, by Vasey, pt. i, 1892). As these 

 species have not as yet been recorded from other localities they must be regarded, 

 provisionally at least, as peculiar to the Connnander Islands, and Dr. Kjellmaii's 

 statement to the contrary effect {torn, cit., p. 280) must be modified accordingly. 



Dr. Kjellman's concluding remarks {torn, cit., p. 289) are so interesting and impor- 

 tant that I venture to translate them here, as follows: 



The flora of the Commander Islands is chiefly composed of two elements. One of these consists 

 of species not entering the present Arctic region, or at any rate not to be regarded as belonging to the 

 characteristic plants of this region. Most of these have their chief range of the present d;iy extending 

 over the islands and coasts of the Northern Pacific Ocean. These form the bulk of the vegetation 



