N 16 Provincial Museum Report. 1910 



possession of the holes and crevices formerly occupied by puffins and guillemots, and driving 

 these birds from many of their old breeding-haunts entirely. No time should be lost to 

 exterminate the pests so as to allow the puffins to regain possession. 



" Of other mammals on the island, a species of deer-mouse seems to be the only one. It 

 is apparently somewhat different from the Mainland and Vancouver Island forms. These 

 mice are quite harmless in relation to bird-life. 



"Many fine flowering plants and shrubs adorn the island, especially in the early spring; 

 one of the most notable, because of its rarity on the Pacific Coast, being the choke-cherry, 

 which grows out of the dry, earthless crevices of the rock. 



"Marine life is well represented about the reefs and pinnacles adjacent. On South Reef 

 there may be found fine specimens of the large rock-pecten, sea-urchins, and a variety of 

 smaller mollusks and crustaceans. I do not doubt that a large and most interesting collection 

 could be made of marine life with proper appliances. 



" I left the island on July 28th, having stopped there continuously, except for short trips 

 occasionally to outlying rocks and islands. During the six weeks' sojourn several parties of 

 whites arrived seeking to explore the island, and as they had no permits to land, I refused 

 them according to instructions. Two parties of Indians landed, and one of these began 

 robbing the gulls' nests. They, however, desisted when I spoke to them, after surreptitiously 

 concealing the eggs they had gathered. These I afterwards found and photographed." 



Reptiles and Batrachians. 



This branch of the collection has been practically at a standstill for a number of years. 

 Quite a number of specimens have been secured during the last two years' field-work. It is 

 hoped to be able to carry on this work through the coming year, and have a number of the 

 specimens already on hand sent to authorities for proper identification. 



Pishes. 



A most unusual visitant to this Coast was a sunfish (Mola mola) which was captured at 

 Ucluelet, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, by some Indians fisbing about two miles off- 

 shore on July 11th, and presented to the Museum by Second Officer E. P. Jordan, of the 

 S.S. "Tees." This appears to be the first record of this species north of San Francisco, 

 California, 



Another straggler, a white sea-bass (Cymoscion nobilis), was taken in the salmon-nets off 

 Port Alberni, Barkley Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, by Messrs. Butterfield 

 and Mackie, and presented to the Museum through Deputy Game Warden, W. R. Carter, 

 of Alberni. This is the third record of this fish having been taken along this Coast ; the first 

 was taken some years ago in Sooke Harbour by Sir Clive Phillipps-Wolley, and the second in 

 Todd's traps at Sherringham Point, Strait of Juan de Fuca. 



A number of smaller fishes have been added to the collection by our field collectors. 

 These specimens have not, up to the present time, been studied and systematically arranged. 



Entomology. 



During the past three vears much greater attention has been paid to this branch of natural 

 history, with the result that the Museum collections have been enriched by large numbers 

 of desirable specimens, many new to British Columbia and several new to science. The trip 

 to Atlin undertaken by Mr. E. M. Anderson, of the Museum staff, in 1914 was very successful 

 in this respect. Naturally a practically virgin country and one so little traversed by th& 

 entomologist would be expected to produce good results, and these expectations were fully 

 realized by the quantity and quality of the material collected, over 2,000 insects being taken 

 during the three months. 



Amongst, the butterflies taken on this trip were several very rare ones, and many new to the 

 Province, viz. : Pamassius smintheus var. nanus, Neu. ; Papilio machaon var. aliaska, Scudder 

 (this is a very interesting and rare capture; very little is known about this insect, and thus- 

 far it has been taken only in Alaska and is still very rare in collections) ; Eurymus hecla var. 

 glacialis, McLachlan (this is an exceedingly rare species, its habitat being Arctic America and 

 Arctic Europe) ; Brenlhis triclaris, Hub., a high-altitude species ; Brenthis polaris, Bdv., an 

 inhabitant of Arctic America ; Brenthis friyga varieties saga, Kallen, and improba, Butler, 

 the latter being still very rare in collections ; Erebia disa var. mancinus, Dby., a beautiful 



