DEATH OF PROF. MACOUN 297 



His time, during the winter of 1907-8, was chiefly occupied in 

 revising the manuscript and reading the proof of his Catalogue of 

 Canadian Birds, in which he was assisted by his son, Mr. J. M. 

 Macoun. He received orders to go to Vancouver Island for the 

 season of 1908, and, after he had got together the information 

 gained by his two previous visits there, in 1887 and 1893, left 

 Ottawa for British Columbia and reached Victoria on May 29. 

 The information already obtained of the plants, birds and small 

 mammals was very extensive and he planned to work up the 

 whole natural history of the Island in two more seasons. During 

 the summer of 1908, while large collections were made on land, he 

 spent much time in collecting sea-weeds, and made his headquar- 

 ters for some time at the Biological Station at Departure Bay, near 

 Nanaimo, Mr. C. H. Young joining him later, when much dre g- 

 ing for starfishes and other sea forms was done, and they were 

 greatly helped by Mr. S. W. Taylor, in charge of the Biological 

 Station. On his way home in September, he investigated the 

 diseases causing the rotting of timber in the mines at Rossland, 

 B.C., and suggested means for controlling them, one being creosote, 

 and the other by soaking the timber in water raised to a tempera- 

 ture of from 190° to 200° Fahr., and containing enough common 

 salt to form a thoroughly saturated solution, the latter method 

 having been employed with good success in Great Britain. 



Prof. Macoun spent the following winter in working up his 

 collections and, on April 24th, 1909, was again on his way to 

 Vancouver Island, this time to the West Coast, and Barclay 

 Sound was chosen for the field of work. He was assisted by Mr. 

 C. H. Young and Mr. Wm. Spreadborough. Much collecting of 

 marine fauna and flora was done and a great many species and 

 specimens were obtained. An idea of the extent of his collections 

 this year may be gathered from the following synopsis of the 

 collections made, which was published in his Report for 1909: 

 Starfishes 400; Crabs and Shrimps 400 ; Fishes 100; Isopods 500; 

 Tunicates and Ascidians 90; Sponges 250; Hydrozoa 150; Jelly 

 Fishes 4; Shells 37,927; Insects 850; Birds 9; Mammals 2; 

 Toads, etc. 15; Sea- worms 150; Sea-urchins 50; Sea-slugs 75; 

 Barnacles 35; Polyzoa.45; Actinozoa (Stony Corals) 25; Sea- 



