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PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA REPORT OF THE PROVINCIAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY FOR THE YEAR 1934 PRINTED BY AUTHORITY OF THE LEGISI,A'l'IVE ASSE)JBLY. VICTORIA, B.C.: Printed by CHARLES F. BANFIELD, Printer to tbe King's Most Excellent Majesty. 1935. \ To His Honour- J. W. FORDHAM JOHNSON, Lieutenant-Gove1-nor- of the PTovince of British Columbia. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HONOUR: The undersigned respectfully submits herewith the Annual Report of the Provincial Museum of Natural History for the year 1934. G. M. WEIR, Pr-ovincial Secr-etary. P1·ovincial Sec1·eta1·y's Office, Victoria, B.C. PROVINCIAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, VICTORIA, B.C., December 31st, 1934. The Honourable Dt·. G. M. Wei~·, Provincial Secretary, Victoria, B.C. SIR,-! have the honour, as Director of the Provincial Museum of Natural History, to lay before you the Report for the year ended December 31st, 1934, covering ·the activities of the Museum. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, FRANCIS KERMODE, Directo1·. DEPARTMENT of the PROVINCIAL SECRETARY. The Honourable Dr. G. M. WEIR, Minister. P. DE NOE WALKER, DeJJ uty Minister. PROVINCIAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. Staff: FRANCIS KERMODE, Directo1·. NANCY STARK, R eco1·der. MAUD P. HARTREE, Stenographm·. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE. Accessions __ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 7 Activities----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 Admission _______________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __ 5 7 Anthropology and Archreology -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7, 8, 9 BotanY--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9, 10 Ento mol ogy--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- 1 0 Mammalogy________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 11 Marine------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 Oology_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 11 0 rnithol ogy---------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------.---------------------------------------------------- 11 Palreontology__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 10 ARTICLES. The Black Widow Spider_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 13 Notes on Pacific Coast Hepatics ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 14 Some Notes on G rimmia___ ______________________________________ ___________________________________ _____________________________ 14, 15 The Hanging Gardens of British Columbia_______________________________________________________________________ 15-23 PLATES. FACING PAGE. School-children attending Lectures in Provincial Museum, Victoria, British Columbia__________ 6 Anemone narcissi/lora. Alice Arm, Northern British Columbia _____________ _____________________ ________ 15 Clintonia unifiora. Alice Arm, Northern British Columbia _________________________ _______________ __ ___________ 15 Mountain Saxifrage. Alice Arm, Northern British Columbia ________________________________________________ 15 First Glimpse of Kitsault Glacier. Alice Arm, Northern British Columbia ____ ________ _________ 19 Kitsault River. Alice Arm, Northern British Columbia _________________________________________________________ 19 Northern Country, Bridge across Cariboo Creek. Alice Arm, Northern British Columbia ___ 19 Mountain at Head of Cottonwood Creek, Cowichan Lake, Vancouver Island ________________________ 21 Pentstemon M enziesii. Vancouver Island ________________________________________ ---------------------------------- 21 Caltha leptosepala. Alice Arm, Northern British Columbia ____________________________________________________ 21 Comus Canadensis. Alice Arm, Northern British Columbia ------------------------------------------------ 21 Salix arctica. Alice Arm, Northern British Columbia _____________________________________________ ____________ 21 REPORT of the PROVINCIAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY FOR THE YEAR 1934. BY FRANCIS KERMODE, Direct01·. OBJECTS. (a.) To secure and preserve specimens illustrating the natural history of the Province. (b.) To collect anthropological material relating to the aboriginal races of the Province. (c.) To obtain information respecting the natural sciences, relating particularly to the natural history of the Province, and diffuse knowledge regarding the same. ADMISSION. The Provincial Museum is open to the public, free. November 1st to April 30th, week days, 9 a .m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 1st to October 31st, week-days, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday afternoons, 1 to 5 p.m. The Museum is closed on New Year's Day, Good Friday, Remembrance Day, and Christmas Day. VISITORS. The following figures show the difference between those who registered and those who were checked by the staff. While only 23,766 registered, the total of the check was 44,697. ! Registered. Checked. January ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 606 1,500 February -----------------------------------------------------------------·------- 644 1,669 March -----------------------------------------------···------·-----·------··------- 700 1,660 April ------------------------------------·-------·--··------------------------------- 1,331 2,780 May ---------------------------------------···--------------··------------------------- 1,423 3,034 June --------------·-·-----------·-·--·----··-··----·---·-·-·-----------·----·------ 2,460 4,337 July -----··-·-·-···-·----- ---------·-·-·--------·----·---·---------------------- 5,887 11,600 August -------------------------------------------------·--------~------------------ - ---- 5,844 9,159 September ·------------------------------------------------------------------------·· 2,400 3,984 October -------------·----·-··-·-····-----------------------------------------------· 1,107 1,805 November --------------------------·---------··-------·····-·----·------------------ 608 1,294 December ----------------------------------------·--------------------·-·--------- 756 1,875 Totals ________________________ __________ ______ __________ , ________________ 23,7 66 44,697 ACTIVITIES. During the year a number of specimens have been presented to the Museum, of which an annotated list is given under the heading " Accessions." A very large collection of Archreological material from many localities throughout the Province was presented by Mr. W. B. Anderson, of Victoria, who for many years was Inspector of Indian Orchards for the Dominion Government. This collection is worthy of special men tion and is a very valuable acquisition to our Archreological collection. A number of very fine Indian baskets, principally of the Salish tribe, were purchased during the year. We were very fortunate in securing these, as baskets of this type are not easily secured. Miss M. Wooldridge presented us with two very fine specimens of Indian basketry. Mr. S. J. Darcus, who is a very keen Ornithologist, is responsible for three very valuable additions to our Oological collection. During the early spring Mr. A. Nicholls and Mr. E. H. Lohbrunner signified their intention of making a trip into the Alice Arm District in search of botanical specimens. As very little, if any, botanical work had been done in that region, they offered to secure specimens for the Provincial Museum Herbarium. On their return they presented us with a large number of H 6 BRITISH COLUMBIA. specimens, all new locality records for our Herbarium and some new to the Museum Herbarium. I take this opportunity of thanking them for their kindness and generosity in donating these plants. On pages 15-23 is an article by Mr. A. Nicholls given on their trip and botanical observations. There is also a report on pages 14 and 15 giving a list of additions and correc tions to the" List of Hepatics of Pacific Coast and Adjoining Territory," by A. H. Brinkman, published in the Museum Report for 1933. In May Mr. Kermode, the Director of the Museum, left for Ottawa to attend a meeting of the Canadian Advisory Museums Committee to the Carnegie Corporation of New York, whose duties are to advise and assist in building up Museum work in Canada for the Carnegie Cor poration. At the meeting the Director of the Provincial Museum made application to the committee to recommend that a grant be made to carry on educational Museum work for adults and children. A grant was secured for this purpose and the Department undertook to carry out a series of lectures, which were held in the Provincial Museum, and proved to be a great success. The lectures were as follows:- SATURDAY MORNING CHILDREN'S LECTURES·. Date. Title. Lecturer. IAttendanc e. 1934. Dec. 8 ···--- F eathered Friends ----------------------------------------------------- Mr. K . Racey ------------------------