Salt Spring Island Research Articles

Crossing with Tiff

When I was invited to be part of Tiff's celebration, I wanted to write something new that came directly from his work. I reread Not Wanted on the Voyage, one of the most delightful and darkest novels in Canadian literature, and wrote two poems as a result. There were dozen of images that resounded and wouldn't let me go, but being limited for time, I chose two: Mrs Noyes, waking from sleepwalking, finds she is stroking the forehead of a weeping bear; after the rains have stopped, Ham, his mother and Mottyl stand on the deck of the ark, the moon and stars visible for the first time in days.On the plane from Vancouver to Toronto, I reread The Piano Man's Daughter and tried to write a kind of ghazal that pulled actual phrases from the novel that I pieced together and sometimes expanded or used as springboards to something else (as in the ending three lines). And finally, at the conference banquet Bill told the wonderful story of losing Tiff on Salt Spring Island. He set out to find him and there he was in the middle of the road, stopping traffic. A slug was crossing. When I got home, I couldn't resist using that marvellous anecdote, that so sums up Tiff's generosity and care, in a poem.Woman with BearsNoah's wife steppedinto the pungent dark. Sleep-walking, when she wokeshe was strokingthe wide forehead of a bear.The bear was weeping, its muzzle wet,its mate a denser darknessbehind her in the cage.What to do but keep on strokingtill the animal lowered its headto her lap and closed its eyes.She, too, and when she woke again,a bear slept on either side.One could be death, the othertenderness. She thought of herfirstborn son, killed at her breastfor his hairy arms, his wet fur head;one could be pity, the other desire.She thought of her husband,smooth and hard in their bed;one could be terror, the othergrace. Could she rise withoutdisturbing such a sleep,wade into the world as it had been,bears in the woods pawing berries,tongues purple and plush,she on the porch with Mottyl in her lap,the boy curled in her womb's watery cage,his small mouth opening. One could beforgiveness; the other, memory.Nothing resembles what this one knows.(first appeared in Nimrod International Journal of Prose and Poetry)On the Ark, The First Night of StarsHe stood with his motheron the deck, Mottyl in her arms.Everything gleamed from the coldscrubbing of the rain, its handsnot smallafter all, the moon finallyvisible, doubled in Mottyl'sblue-white eyes.He wondered if the catcould sense it there,wondered if it changed anythingshe couldn't see.Charlie's Poem (from The Piano Man's Daughter)Things pushing up to heaven,others bending down to hell.And in between the livingwalking sideways on the earth. Crablike,crowlike, the charred ankle-wingedglide of lovers: Ede and the Piano Man,Lily and Pan, Lily and Ned; in our own way,dare I say, my mother Lily and me.She said, I was struck like a match,I had no option but to burn.The cornet, flute, harp, sackbut,psaltery, dulcimer, all kinds of musicshall fall down. …

THE INSECT FAUNA AND SOME OTHER CHARACTERISTICS OF NATURAL SALT SPRINGS ON SALTSPRING ISLAND, BRITISH COLUMBIA

AbstractThe natural salt springs on Saltspring Island, southwestern British Columbia, originate from a source at least 1000 m deep and are distinct in chemical composition not only from the surrounding seawater but also from the groundwater-based salt springs on nearby Mayne Island. Spring water is approximately 2.2-fold more saline than average seawater and is characterized by having significantly higher levels of chloride, sodium, sulphate, silica, iron, alumina, and boron; similar levels of calcium, potassium, fluoride, and nitrogen; but less magnesium. The pH levels in different springs vary between 7.3 and 7.9, compared with pH 8.2 for average surface seawater. Near-surface water temperatures range from 7 °C in mid-winter to 16–21 °C in late summer.The flora and fauna that exploit this unique habitat are characterized by halophilic species known from other saline environments such as saline lakes, brackish water, beaches, and the intertidal zone. Organisms that have been isolated and identified include the following: seven species of bacteria, none of which depends exclusively on a saline environment; a blue-green alga that lives within the springs; an abundant filamentous green alga; and halophilic higher plants and grasses. Two species of spiders [Zelotessp. (Gnaphosidae) andPardosasp. (Lycosidae)] are active in the salt-impregnated areas surrounding the springs.Collembola are represented byAnuridasp. (Poduridae); and insects bySaldula comatula(Saldidae, Hemiptera), the chironomids (Chironomidae, Diptera)Thalassosmittia marinaplus two unidentified species, brine flies (Ephydridae, Diptera), and two unidentified cyclorrhaphan dipterans. Among the Hymenoptera, there are two species ofEupteromalus(Pteromalidae),Cyrtogaster capitanea(Pteromalidae),Urolepis rufipes(Pteromalidae), andStigmussp. (Pemphredonidae). Ants (Formicaspp.) and yellowjackets (Vespulasp.) are frequent foragers in the immediate vicinity of the salt spring. There are three species of Coleoptera,Bembidion indistinctum(Carabidae),Ochthebius lecontei(Hydraenidae), andThicanus mimus(Anthicidae). These insects are discussed in terms of their distribution within, and preference for, saline environments.

Recruitment, growth, and mortality of a living articulate brachiopod, with implications for the interpretation of survivorship curves

An intertidal sample of 118 to 155Terebratalia transversaon Saltspring Island, B.C., was censused in 1974, 1975, and 1976. Growth in length was a maximum of 7.8 mm per year and declined with size (age). As in fossil articulates, mortality rate was independent of age (size). Recruitment was patchy in time and space, was multi-annual or continuous, and was concentrated near conspecific adults. There were as many as 800 individuals/m2. None moved or changed orientation. Morphologic variation ofTerebrataliavalves is not directly controlled by the intensity of waves or currents.Paleontological survivorship curves based on size-frequency data are subject to ambiguous interpretation because two critical assumptions (direct relationship of size and age, constant population structure) are difficult to justify.

The Black Settlers on Saltspring Island, Canada, in the Nineteenth Century

SALTSPRING ISLAND lies off the southeast coast of Vancouver Island, B.C. north of the Saanich Peninsula, in the strait of Georgia. On this island, according to popular myth, a black colony settled in the 1860's. The creation and propagation of this myth is a topic of little academic investigation, and this discussion avoids a direct confrontation with the falsifiers of history. Nevertheless, it must be pointed out that research on Saltspring Island has been; done from white perspectives. These white viewpoints are responsible for the mythological proposition that because there were blacks on the Island, they constituted a black colony. This myth exists in the face of the facts that the time of arrival, location and interests of the black pioneers were quite different. This paper is an attempt to portray the sequence of events that led up to the settlement and a brief description of the roles and positions of blacks in the colonial society.

HERPYLLOBIUS ELONGATA N.SP. AND OTHER HERPYLLOBIIDS (PARASITIC COPEPODS) FROM THE COASTAL WATERS OF SOUTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA AND NORTHERN WASHINGTON

A new species, Herpyllobius elongata (Family Herpyllobiidae, parasitic cope-pods on polynoid worms), is described. Three females were found on Hololepidella tuta (Grube) from Fulford Harbour, Saltspring Island, British Columbia. The species seems most closely related to H. polynoes (Krøyer), but deviates from all other herpyllobiids by having the stalk in continuation of the body axis, and not perpendicular to the horizontal plane through the ectosoma. The male is unknown. Descriptions and records from the waters of southern British Columbia – northern Washington are also given for two other species, H. haddoni Lützen and H. polynoes (Krøyer).

Nematodirus odocoilei sp. n. (Nematoda: Trichostrongylidae) from the Black-Tailed Deer, Odocoileus hemionus, in North America

Descriptions are given of male and female Nematodirus odocoilei sp. n. recovered from the small intestine of Odocoileus hemionus on Saltspring Island, British Columbia, Canada. The new species is most similar in spicule conformation to Nematodirus lanceolatus Ault, 1944, and N. oiratianus Raevskaia, 1929. It may be distinguished from these species by the following characters: The new species has a spicule tip with two pairs of slender spurs and a central shaft, small lobules on the dorsal lobe, and the externodorsal rays not close to the margin of the bursa; whereas, N. lanceolatus and N. oiratianus have spicules with one pair of processes and a central shaft, large lobules, and externodorsal rays close to the bursal margin. Besides the type locality, N. odocoilei was found among specimens from Odocoileus hemionus in Montana, Oregon, and Wyoming, and from Ovis canadensis in Montana. During a study of the parasites of the bighorn sheep, Ovis c. canadensis, a few male Nematodirus sp. were found in the intestinal washings of bighorns necropsied in Montana (Becklund and Senger, 1967). Further study has convinced the present writers that these males are undescribed and apparently a normal parasite of black-tailed deer; hence they are described herein as Nematodirus odocoilei sp. n. The proposed specific name is based on the type host, Odocoileus hemionus (Rafinesque, 1817). The descriptions are based on 10 males and 10 females which were probably fixed in formalin. Before examination they were cleared in phenol-alcohol or lacto-phenol. All measurements are in microns, unless otherwise indicated. Nematodirus odocoilei sp. n. (Figs. 1-8)