Q 42 Provincial Museum Rei>ort. 1917 



Senecio can us Hook. 

 Senecio eymbnlarioides Nutt. 

 Senecio mntabilis Greene. 

 Ciclwrium Intybus L. 

 Agoscris glauca (Pursh) Steud. 

 Crepis occidental^ Nutt. 



PALAEONTOLOGY. 



A noteworthy addition to the small collection of Tertiary fossils in the Provincial Museum 

 was acquired in October, 1916. This consists of a fossil tooth of the rare Desmostylus, an 

 extinct race of the mammalian group of sirenians, to which the living dugong and the recently 

 extinct Steller's sea-cow belong. 



The tooth referred to was found by Miss M. Egerton, of Victoria, in the fossiliferous sand- 

 stone cliff near the mouth of Coal Creek, Sooke, in the summer of 1916, and was forwarded by 

 E. E. Gosnell. at the suggestion of the Director, to Lawrence M. Lambe, Dominion Vertebrate 

 Paleontologist, Ottawa, for determination. Mr. Lambe's reply included the following statement : — 



" The tooth from Otter Point, in the Sooke District, Vancouver Island, belongs to the sirenian 

 species, Desmostylus hesperus Marsh, of Pliocene ( ? Miocene) age. This tooth is of particular 

 interest as it is the first one of this kind found to our certain knowledge in Canada. Last year 

 Dr. Newcombe, of Victoria, B.C., presented to this Department a large, perfect, unworn tooth 

 which he obtained from a curio-dealer, and was supposed to be from Alaska. Miss Egerton's 

 specimen was happily secured in situ, and possibly a further search at the locality may reveal 

 other remains of the species. It appears to be the first right upper molar ; Dr. Newcombe's 

 being the second left molar. It is probable that the beds from which the specimen comes are 

 of Miocene age, but the genus may have ranged up into the Pliocene. Remains of Desmostylus 

 have been found in Japan, California, and Oregon. The genus is closely related to the existing 

 Manatus of Florida and the recently extinct Rhytina (Steller's, sea-cow) of the North Pacific. 

 The specimen has been broken off at the top of the roots, which have remained in the rock, and 

 may possibly still be recovered to make it complete if a visit is made to the locality and care is 

 exercised in their removal." 



As several finds of Desmostylus had been reported from California, from which State the 

 first specimen had been described, it was thought advisable to write to the well-known geologists, 

 Dr. Merriam and Dr. Ralph Arnold, for further information. The former had already taken 

 much interest in the Sooke formations and had published preliminary descriptions of fossils 

 found in them in 1S97 and 1S99. In the years 1906 and 1911 he had also published notes on the 

 genus Desmostylus, with special reference to the remains found on the Pacific Coasts of America 

 and Japan. Dr. Arnold, it was known, had devoted a great deal of time to the Tertiary faunas 

 of the Pacific Coast, and had in view a publication which might continue the work so well 

 commenced by his report on the Marine Pliocene and Pleistocene of San Pedro, California. Dr. 

 Arnold had also sent field parties to our Coast, who had made large collections of fossils at and 

 near Sooke. 



Permission was readily given to make use. of such conclusions as had been arrived at by 

 the above geologists with regard to the age of the formation from which our Desmostylus tooth 

 came. 



Quoting from a letter received from Mr. B. L. Clark, of the University of California, who 

 is now examining and describing the Tertiary fossils of this Coast in collaboration with Drs. 

 Merriam and Arnold, the following statements are of interest: — 



" After studying the fauna from the Sooke beds and that from the Carmanah Point beds, 

 my conclusion is that they belong to the same period of deposition and, very probably, to the 

 same faunal horizon. A number of species common to the beds of the two localities are distinc- 

 tive forms, such as, I believe, may be taken as good horizon markers. Some of these species 

 are Agasoma acuminatum, Bullia buccinoides, Eudolium petrosu, Molopophorus Newcombei, 

 Macrocallista vancouverensis, and Cliione t n. sp. 



This fauna, from both localities, apparently belongs to the same horizon as that found in 

 the Restoration Point beds near Seattle. These were referred to the Seattle formation by 

 Arnold and Hannibal, and to his Blakely horizon by Weaver, the fauna of which he designates 

 as that of the Acila geitysburgensis zone. 



