Chapter 2 – 1933

January 9, 1933 (McNabs Island)
Tuesday. Dorothy Webster and I went to Thrumcap [coordinates 44.58891, -63.502993].

Called up Leim from the Forrest Building and arranged to be taken down in the Fisheries station boat. Left the King’s Wharf at 11 AM. Claud Darrah was handling the boat by himself. There was a strong northerly wind blowing and quite a sea running. We anchored off the Garrison Pier and Claud took us to the wharf in a dory. We had some difficulty in landing on account of the waves. Arranged to have him call back for us at the Range Pier.

Went direct to the collecting and changed our boats at the usual place.

NW End of Lagoon
There was a patch of fair sized Dumontia in the shallow water at the NW end of Lagoon. The Enteromorpha at this spot was very little changed.

Main Outlet
Collected what I thought was Bangia for the class. But it was something else. I should look for this next year.

• Chordaria – Some old plants still present at Northern edge.
• Dumontia – Slightly more plentiful than on December 10th, but not yet growing in abundance.
• Laminaria agardhii – Plentiful, long and frayed.
• Filamentous Reds – Large and plentiful.
• Ilea and Scytosiphon – Plentiful.

There was no great observable change in mast forms.

Spot between Main Outlet and Little Thrumcap
The Dumontia was much more plentiful at this spot. So we made the collection there, also we brought in some still attached to rocks and tried to grow in the laboratory.

Later on examining all this Dumontia in the laboratory we were unable to detect any fruiting bodies.

Lagoon
All along the edge occasional clumps of small Dumontia plants could be found.

There was no ice anywhere. Collecting was difficult on account of the high wind. Once when bending over I almost got blown into the water. Collecting appeared to be especially cold for the hands.

Lunch where the deer sleep. Started for the boat at 3:30 PM. Caught boat at Range Pier at 4:15 PM. Claud had another man with him, who took us off in a dory, but still we had some difficulty on account of the wind.

At the King’s Wharf we saw Shorty Dwyer drive off in his car just as we landed. I went in and thanked Leim. Took the street car to the lab. In the lab we put the Dumontia on the stones in the window and the rest of the Dumontia and what I had mistaken for Bangia in a dish.

February 7, 1933 (McNabs Island)
Tuesday. Dorothy Webster and I went to Thrumcap [coordinates 44.58891, -63.502993]. Took Moore’s boat to Ives. The road beyond the Garrison Pier was almost obliterated. At the place where we usually change over boots, the log on which we used to sit (and under which we had the bottles hidden) was completely washed away and the bottles were smashed. I found the remains of the dish away up the woods. The place where Enteromorpha grows at the NW corner of the Lagoon was covered with ice.

2nd Outlet

• Dumontia – Long and plentiful in the outlet, we collected it here on the way back.
• Desmarestia viridis – Plentiful.
• Monostroma – Starting everywhere.
  

  

Main Outlet

• Dumontia – Fairly plentiful.
• Scytosiphon – Long and large.
• Ilea – Plentiful and starting to go to pieces.
• Desmarestia viridis – Present.
• Polysiphonia – Long and healthy.
• Spongomorpha – In great quantities.
• Hormiscia – Present.
• Bangia (what I mistook for Bangia) – Present and turning brown.
• Laminaria agardhii – Plentiful and long.
• Fucus evanescens – Fruiting everywhere.
• Ascophyllum – Large, receptacles almost ripe.
• Rhodymenia – In surf with abundant young growth form the fronds.

Lagoon

• Desmarestia viridis – Plentiful.
• Scytosiphon — Plentiful but not as rich as in 2nd Outlet.
• Ilea – Plentiful but not as rich as in 2nd Outlet.
• Dumontia – Plentiful but not as rich as in 2nd Outlet.

Dumontia was not collected near little Thrumcap because it was not as large or as long as in the 2nd Outlet. Looked at Connie’s Pool on way back but could see nothing on account of the ice and because of the mud stirred up when ice was broken.

There was a fair amount of wash on the shore, this included:

• Chondrus
• Olaria
• Agarum
• Laminaria agardhii, etc.

Collected 4 bottles of water from well where the deer drink. Lunch on beach and built a good-sized fire. A boat entered the lagoon by the Main Outlet while we were eating our lunch. We caught Moore’s boat at Range Pier at exactly 4:30 PM. On the way home Moore picked up a passenger from one of the Government boats and as a result took fifty cents off his price to me.

March 7, 1933 (McNabs Island)
Tuesday. D.W. and myself went to Thrumcap [coordinates 44.58891, -63.502993]. Breakfast at my house. Shared a taxi to boat. On the way to boat we saw a Dalhousie girl running down South Street. Florence Hewitt was on the duty boat going down to her school on McNabs Island. Duty boat called at Ives first, we got off at the Garrison Pier. There was quite a lot of snow on the ground.

Outlets

• Dumontia – Very plentiful everywhere.
• Desmarestia viridis – Plentiful.
• Bangia – Appearing everywhere. This was quite different from what I took for Bangia before. The material that I mistook for Bangia had turned brown and was decaying, and I could not find any healthy strands from which to identify the former growth.
• Ilea and Scytosiphon – Large and plentiful, no change except being larger.
• Monostroma – In a very interesting small balloon stage covered the rocks everywhere.
• Dulse – In a form that was apparently new growth. Was quite plentiful in the main outlet. It was most plentiful near the breakers but there was quite a lot of it higher up in the shallow water.
• Chorda filum – A few young plants present. These were dark brown in colour and covered with a dense coating of hairs. These were spotted first by D.W.

Around the edge of the lagoon the Dumontia was plentiful. The bed of Enteromorpha at the NW corner of the lagoon was still present.

Before lunch I hid another glass dish under the spruce tree near where the deer drink. Lunch on the shore. After lunch a man landed in a boat to collect wood. I gave him a hand. It took 40 minutes to walk to the boat, the walking was very hard.

In the laboratory I neglected to put the main collections (chiefly Dumontia) in killing fluid. The next day they had all gone bad.