ii6 The Ottawa Naturalist. 



for tlic market, but what really attracted my attention most was 

 the innumerable crabs under stones, sea-weed, etc. I forthwith 

 transported eight or nine of them to my pocket, but they kept 

 running over my arms and jacket so" persistently that by the 

 time I reached Victoria they had all managed to escape save 

 one. I may here say that one thing very characteristic of the 

 British Columbia fauna is the omnipresent crab. 



At Victoria I took a walk along the sea shore and was 

 charmed by the varied living creatures in the pools at low tide. 

 Besides crabs I noticed a species of Coitus, Limpets {Aaiicea), 

 and lovely Anemones (Actinia). The first mentioned were very 

 active and persistently endeavoured to catch crustaceans ; the 

 limpets held on tenaciously to the rocks so that it was difficult 

 to remove them without breaking the edge of the shell, whilst, 

 in the language of M. Louis Figuier the anemones expanded 

 " their tentacles as the daisy displays its florets." 



While in the vicinity of Victoria, my attention was drawn 

 to the marked difference in the colour of the tent caterpillar, 

 Clisiocampa calif OTiiica, from that of our eastern form. It is 

 decidedly of a red colour, and was found feeding near its tent 

 on an oak and wild rose, or crawling along the fences. I col- 

 lected a few and have now the cocoons with the pupaj in a box 

 in my cabin. 



A model of its kind is the provincial Museum at Victoria. 

 It would be out of the question to try to describe the numerous 

 mammals, birds, crustaceans, insects, etc., in this institution, but 

 I must call attention to three specimens of the land-crab [Birgus 

 latrd) of Columbus Island.* These very large crustaceans are 

 said to be entirely terrestrial, living principally on a small species 

 of cocoa-nut, to obtain which they climb trees. If such be the 

 case, it necessarily follows that there must be some very marked 

 modification of the respiratory organs. 



*A tropical island. 



