22 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
September, 1894, and sent by Grebnitski to the museum in St. Petersburg; and (3) 
Milvus melanotis, the black-eared kite, a mere straggler, taken once on Bering Island. 
The specimen was ijresented to the Vega expedition by Mr. Grebnitski (Palmen, Vega 
Exp. Vetensk. laktt., v, 1887, i). 294). 
One of the Commander Island birds {FlialaeroGorax jyerspiciUatus) 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 His- 
tory of Pallas’s Cormorant; Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xii, 1890, pj). 83-88). In 1882 I 
fortunately disinterred a number of bones of this bird, which have been described and 
figured by Mr. F. A. Lucas {tom. cit., pp. 88-94, pis. ii-iv). Aii additional collection 
made by me in 1895 will also shortly be elaborately described and figured by him. A 
preliminary note may be found in Science, November 15, 1895, p. 601. 
FISHES. 
A collection of littoral and river Ashes occurring at the Commander Islands, 
brought together by Mr. Grebnitski and myself, is now being repoited upon by Dr. 
Tarleton H. Bean. The report will be imblished in the Proceedings of the United 
States National Museum, as No. 11 of the “Contributions to the Natural History of 
the Commander Islands.” 
TUNICATES. 
Stgela 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 and very annoying on the few other- 
wise pleasant days of which the summers of that region can boast. Geometridee 
and Alicrolepidoptera are rather numerous, Noctuidcc less so. I have only seen one 
specimen of diurnal Lepidoptera, viz, a butterAy very much like Vanessa urtiem. Of 
the Coleoptera, the large staphylinid, Creophilus viUosus, is very numerous on the 
seal-killing grounds. Mr. John Sahlberg has reported upon a few (9) Coleoptera 
and (1) Hemqitera collected by thelV^ri expedition (Vega Exp.Vet. lakt., n^, 1885, pp. 
01-68), one of which is described as new, viz, Anisotoma ahhreviata, one of the Siphida;. 
My own collections are considerably larger and contain (besides the Microlepidoptera), 
according to a preliminary census by Mr. M. Linell, 46 species, of which 33 are 
Coleoptera. These include all of Sahlberg’s species excei>t Oxypoda opaca and Aniso- 
toma abbreviata, so that the Coleoptera from the Commander Islands now number 35 
species. Of these, no less than 12 species belong to the Staphylinidec. The other 
orders are represented by 2 species of Hemiptera, 5 Biptera, 3 Hymenoptera, 1 Sipho- 
naptera, and 1 Lepidopter, viz, Agrotiphila alaslccc Grote. 
It should be remarked that the insects collected of late years in the neighborhood 
of the main villages must not be given too great weight in determining the zoological 
relationship of the islands, for many have undoubtedly been introduced recently from 
Petropaulski, Kamchatka, in the large quantity of Arewood shipped to the islands 
every year. In fact, some of the species collected by me in 1895 were taken on or 
near the wood-pile. 
