FISHES AND INSECTS. 31 



One of the Commander Island birds {Phalacrocorax perspicillatus) deserves at least 

 a passing notice, not only because we know of no other locality in which it has with 

 certainty occurred, but because it has become extinct within recent years through the 

 agency of man. The history of this rare bird (only 4 specimens exist in museums) is 

 traced and full description given by me in a separate paper (Contribution to the 

 History of Pallas's Cormorant; Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xii, 1890, pp. 83-88). In 1882 

 I fortunately disinterred a number of bones of this bird, which have been described and 

 figured by Mr. P. A. Lucas [torn, cit., pp. 88-94, pis. ii-iv). An additional collection 

 made by me in 1895 has also been elaborately described and iigured by him. (Contri- 

 butions totheNatural History of the Commander Islands. — xr. TheCraniumof Pallas's 

 Cormorant; Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xviii, 1895, pp. 717-719 and pis. xxxiv-xxxv.) 

 A preliminary note may be found in Science, November 15, 1895, p. 661. 



PISHES., 



A collection of littoral and river fishes (45 species) occurring at the Commander 

 Islands, brought together by Mr. Grebnitski and myself, has been reported upon by Dr. 

 Tarleton H. Bean. The report is published in the Proceedings of the United States 

 National Museum, as No. 12 of the "Contributions to the Natural History of the 

 Commander Islands." (Fishes collected at Bering and Copper Islands by Nikolai A. 

 Grebnitski and Leonhard Stejneger, by Tarleton H. Bean and Barton A. Bean ; Proc. 

 TJ. S. Nat. Mus., xxix, 1896, pp. 237-251," No. 1106.) Two of the cottoid fishes in their 

 collections have since been described as new species by Barton A. Bean, viz : Myoxo- 

 c&phalus mednius and Porocottus quadratus (in Jordan & Bvermann, Fishes of North 

 and Middle America, ii,. 1898, pp. 1983 and 1998 respectively). A few additional 

 species were collected by me in 1896 and 1897, viz : Sehastodes glaucus, Mexagrammos 

 lagocephalus, Oncocottus hexacornis, Sistiocottus bilobus, and Bryostemma polyacto- 

 cephalum. For further details see Jordan & Gilbert's "Fishes of Bering Sea," in the 

 third volume of this report. 



TUNIOATBS. 



Styela arctica has been described by Swederus (Vega Exp. Vet. lakt., IV, 1887, 

 p. 108) as a new species from Bering Island. 



INSECTS. 



Mosquitos are numerous on Bering Island, less so on Copper Island, and very 

 annoying on the few otherwise pleasant days of which the summers of that region 

 can boast. Geometridce and Miorolepidoptera are rather numerous, Noctuidm less so. 

 I have only seen one specimen of diurnal Lepidoptera, viz, a butterfly very much 

 like Vanessa urticw. Of the Coleoptera, the large staphylinid, OreopUlm villosus, is 

 very numerous on the seal-killing grounds. Mr. John Sahlberg has reported upon 

 a few (9) Coleoptera and (1) Hemiptera collected by the Vega expedition (Vega Exp. 

 Vet. lakt., IV, 1885, pp. 61-68), one of which is described as new, viz, Anisotoma 

 abbreviata, one of the SipMdcB. My own collections before 1896 were considerably 

 larger and contained (besides the Microlepidoptera), according to Mr. M. LineU, 50 

 species, of which 34 are Coleoptera. These include all of Sahlberg's species except 

 Sitones lineellus and Oxypoda opaca, so that the Coleoptera from the Commander Islands 



