100 THE NAUTILUS. 
NOTES OF A COLLECTING TRIP TO DEPARTURE BAY, VANCOUVER 
ISLAND. 
BY GEORGE W. TAYLOR. 
The account given by Mr. Wood in the October nuniber of THE 
Nauritvs of his collecting trip to Monterey Bay tempts me to put 
on record au experience of my own which goes to prove that our 
Northern waters are quite as rich in mollusean life as those of the 
sunnier South. 
Departure Bay isasmall bay on the east coast of Vancouver 
Island, about 75 miles north of Victoria. It is shut in by its own 
shores on the north, west, and south, and is protected from the open 
sea on the east by a series of small islands. Consequently, the 
water, at most seasons of the year, is smooth, and as the depth 
ranges from 10 to 50 fathoms, and the bottom is varied, being sandy 
in some places and rocky in others, the bay is a capital place for a 
dredging expedition. 
In August, 1888, through the kindness of Mr. S. M. Robins, the 
managing director of the New Vancouver Coal Company, I was 
able to spend four days in dredging from a small steam launch be- 
longing to the Colliery Company. Much time was wasted on this 
occasion in searching for suitable ground, but the result of the four 
days’ work was by no means disappointing, as I took home with me 
more than five thousand (5,000) specimens of one hundred and ten 
different species. One of them, since named in manuscript by Mr. 
Whiteaves as Pecten Vancouverensis, was new to science, and several 
others were additions to our Vancouver lists. 
In July of the present year, I spent three and one-half days in 
the same locality in company with Professor Macown, the well- 
known Canadian botanist and naturalist. We were determined, if 
possible, to beat the previous record, and therefore worked very in- 
dustriously. Wespent two and one-half days collecting on shore 
between tide marks, and one day was devoted to dredging over the 
ground prospected in 1888. ; 
In the shore collecting my own captures amounted to nearly 
2,500 shells of 61 species. In the dredging expedition our joint bag 
reached the grand total of over seven thousand (7,000) specimens of 
88 species. This very satisfactory result was obtained from an ordi- 
