THE

NAUTILUS.

A MONTHLY JOURNAL

DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF

CONCHOLOGISTS.

VOL. IX.

MAY, 1895. to APRIL, 1896.

PHILADELPHIA:

Published by H. A. PILSBRY and C. W. JOHNSON.

INDEX

TO

THE NAUTILUS, VOL. IX.

INDEX TO TITLES AND SPECIES DESCRIBED.

Acanthochites Matthews! at St. Vincent's Gulf, South Yorke

Peninsula 72

Agnatha 110

Along the Damariscotta 140

Ancylus peninsuke Pilsbry and Johnson, n. sp 138

Ancylus eugraptus Pilsbry, n. sp 137

Annotated List of the Mollusca found in the vicinity of

Clearwater, Wright Co., Minn 87, 125

Aulacopoda, a Primary Division of the Monotremate land

Pulmonata 10:»

Buliniuhis exilis in Jamaica 14

Bulimuli, sculpture of the apical whorls, a new character

for distinguishing groups of 112

Bythinella palomasensis Pilsbry, n. sp (58

California slugs 1-0

Chiton Bednalli Pilsbry, n. sp 90

Collecting in Southern California 102

Curious Chinese use of shell fish 56

Day on the Spoon River in Illinois 19

Dispersal of shells '•->'>

Dolabella californica Stearns 73

Dolichostyla Pilsbry n.n. for Prochilus Alb. preoccupied . 108

Dorcasia Gray, the earliest publication of 108

Editorial correspondence 77

Epiphragmophora californiensis var. contracoste Pilsbry .

Epiphragmophora Remondi Tryou 72

Fulgur canaliculatum, a remarkable monstrosity of. (Il-

lustrated) 25

IV THE NAUTILUS.

Gastrodonta (Pseudohyalina) patuloides Pllsbry, n. sp. . . 15

Gastrodonta collisella Pilsbry, n.sp 123

Goniobasis virginica in the stomach of American Golden

Eye 11

Gundlachia of Australia with notes on American form. (Il-

lustrated) 61

Haliotis, West Coast species of 129

Helices in Illinois 28

Holopoda 110

Holospira, synopsis of the subdivisions, and some related

genera 50

How to pack specimens for mailing 132

Index to the '• Conchologists Exchange" 43,57

Isaac Lea Department of the Agassiz Association . 6,19,34,

38,69,78,102,117,128 139

Joannisia, note on the genus 78

Lepidopleurus in New Zealand 108

Limnsea stagnalis dredged iu Lake Michigan 3

Limnsea desidiosa var. De Campi .Streng, n. var. (Illustra-

ted) 123

Macoma, three new species from the Gulf of Mexico ... 32

Macoma limula Dall, n. sp 32

Macoma Mitchelli Dall, n. sp 33

Macoma leptonoidea Dall, n. sp 33

Marine shells on the coast of Maiue 34

Marine shells of Puget Sound 38

Meretrix Simpson! Dall, n. sp 10

Michigan Fish Commission, a month with the 2

Mollusks as purifiers of water 36

My first year collecting and studying shells 80

New Publications * 11,22,81,96,105,144

New forms of American Zonitidte and Helicidte 14

Notes and News 11,35,83,94,107,120,143

Notes on California shells 69

Notes of a conchologist in Japan 86

Notes on collecting shells in China 100

Notes on Washington Sphreria and Pisidin, with description

of new species 97

Ocinebra cireimitextn var. uurantia Stearns, n. var. ... 16

Omphalina Andrewse 1'ilsliry, n. sp 14

THE NAUTILUS.

Omphalina Andrewsse montivaga Pilsbry, n. var

Opalliostyla Pilsbry, n. n. for Eudoxus Alb., preoccupied . 108

Patulastra? [Punctum?] pugetensis and Pyramidula? Ran-

dolphii, generic position of, with suggestions for the

classification of American Zouitida? . . 17

Pholas truucata from Revere, Mass. .

Pisidia, description of new 74, 124

Pisidium Walker! Sterki, u. sp 75

Pisidium politum Sterki, n. sp. .

Pisidium miliuin Held from Michigan . .

Pisidium idahoense from Seattle, Washington .

Pisidium ultramontanum ...

Pisidium Randolphii Roper, n. sp. .

Pisidium trapezoideum Sterki, n. sp. . . .

Planorbes, notes on the smaller American . •'-

Planorbis bicarinatus var. aroostookensis in Michigan .

Planorbis Sampson! Ancey from Illinois . . .

Planorbis centervillensis

Planorbis callioglyptus Vanatta, n. sp. . .

Planorbis opercularis var. oregouensis Vanatta, u. var. 54

Planorbis costatus De Tarr and Beecher .... 55

Planorbis umbilicatellus, the geographical distribution of . 117

Pleurodonte Bainbridgei and other Jamaica shells .

Pleurocera subulare in water mains 37

Plover caught by a Pinna

Polygyra (Stenotrema) stenotrema depilata Pilsbry, n. var. 16

Polygyracereolussanctijohannis Pilsbry, n. var. .

Pyramidula allernata and Gastrodonta ligera reversed .

Pyramidula strigosa reversed

Raising baby snails

Reversed American Helices, new records of . .

Ryder, Dr. John A. (Obituary with portrait) . .

Ruscheuberger, Dr. W. S. W. (Obituary) .... 31

Scala, some new species of

.Scala (Sthenorhytis) Mazyckii Dall, n. sp. . .

Scala ranellina Dall, n. sp

Scala Mitchell! Dall, n.sp U2

Shells of Seattle, King Co., Washington 101

Shells of Thunderhead Mt., N. C 120

Small Land Mollusca from New Mexico . 116

VI THE NAUTILUS.

Solariidse, description of two new Eocene 1

Solarium. elaboration Cour. var. bimixta Aldr. n. v:ir. (P).

I, figs- 1,2, 3) . 1

Solarium plauiforme Aldr. n. sp. (PL I, figs. 4, 5, 6) . .

Sora caught by a Mussel. (Illustrated) 49

Sphieria, on certain abnormal 135

Sphserium Primeanum, S. Raymondi, etc 98

Study of fossil shells 7

Teinostorna Hidalgoana Pilsbry, n. sp 52

Thelidoraus aspersa 14

To conchologists ''~

Trochoraorpha fuscata Pease, note on 120

Unio borealis Gray in Michigan 5

Unio bursa-pastoris Wright, n. sp. (PI. Ill, figs. 1, 2) . . 133

Unio ellipsis and U. tenuisimus from Grand Rapids, Mich. 11

Unio Friersoni Wright, n. sp. (PL ill, figs. 3,4). . . . 134

Uuios in city reservior (Phila.)

Unionidse, some notes on the genital organs with reference

to systematics

Unios, the size of 1'5

Unios, new Florida

Unio Hartwrightii Wright, n. sp. (PL II, figs. 4, 5, 6) . . 121

Unio Oscari Wright, (PL II, figs. 1, 2, 3) .

Unionidae, new American

Vallouia, North American species of 16-

Visit to a vessel that was loaded with shells . .' . .

Yitrea Johusoni Dall, n. sp

Vitriua limpida in Western Pennsylvania .

With a dredge [Southern California] 71

INDEX TO CONTRIBUTORS.

A Id rich, T. H. . 1

Chipp, Geo. H. . . . 35, 94

Cockerell, T. D. A 120

Call, Wm. H .10,27,32,50,78,111

Drake, Mrs. Marie 38

Gardner, A. H 119

Hedley, C 61

Henderson, John B. . . . • . 85, 100

Johnson, C. W '. 77

Keep, Josiah 7, 129

Lowe, H 80

Pilsbry, H. A 14, 17, 52, 68, 73, 90, 109, 112, 123

Post, E. J. . . . 107

Randolph, P. B. . 101

Roper, Ed \v. W .13, 55,97

Ruggles, Mrs. T. E 21

Sargent, H. E . 87, 125

Shepard, Ida M 71

Simpson, Chas. T 37

Soper, Mrs. E. C 69

Stearns, R. E. C 16

Sterki, Dr. Y Ill, 74, 91, 116, 124

Streng.L. H. . . 123

Strode, Dr. W. S. . . 19,28,115

Vanatta, E. G .52, 117

\Valker, Bryant 2, 135

Wentvvorth, Mrs. E. P. . . . 34, 140

Wetherby, A. G 94

White, Mrs. G. W 102

Williamson, Mrs. M. Burton 6, 19, 69, 78, 102, 117, 128

Wri-ht, Berlin H. . 121, 133

THE NAUTILUS.

VOL. ix. MAY, 1895. No. 1

DESCRIPTIONS OF TWO NEW EOCENE SOLARIIDJE FROM ALABAMA.

BY T. H. ALDRICH.

Solarium elaboratum Conrad vir bimixta. Plate I, figs. 1, 2, 3.

Shell elevated, peripheral margins minutely beaded, flattened,

acute; umbilical rib very small and placed close to suture, umbili-

cal carina prominent and beaded. Base very finely striated with a

strong beaded rib close to the periphery. Spiral ornamentation ap-

proaching Solarium cupola Heilpr. Max. diam. 15 mm., alt. 7 mm.

Locality : Matthews' Landing beds near Rosebud, Wilcox Co.,

Ala.

This variety, while belonging to the acutum-elaboratum section,

has a combination of characters approaching other sections. The

drawings executed by Dr. McConnell, of AVashington, show this

form so beautifully it is scarcely necessary to describe it.

Prof. W. H. Ball, in Trans. Wagner Free Inst. Science, Vol. 3,

part 2, p. 323, Dec. 1892, has divided the Eocene Solariums into

four sections, and, by letter to me, has lately added a fifth, viz. :

Section DINAXIS Dall. " Spire flattened, with the circumference

of shell forming the periphery ; the umbilicus wide, nearly funicu-

lar, with thread-like spiral ribbing or none, the umbilical carina

simple or finely granular, forming the base of the shell." This new

section includes S. alabamense Dall, and the following new species.

THE NAUTILUS.

Solarium planiforme n. sp. pi. I, figs. 4. 5, 6.

Shell flat, whorls six, apical one smooth, the balance with a

beaded spiral boundary followed closely by a smaller spiral likewise

beaded, two faint spirals near suture ; lines of growth fine, coarser

nearer 'aperture, the side of the body-whorl forming an acute angle

with the top and nearly a right angle with the base; the side is

slightly convex, with a granular raised line immediately below the

periphery and two fainter ones near the base ; the basal keel

beaded ; umbilicus wide, marked with two or three beaded lines.

Aperture wedge-shaped, narrower at junction with body-whorl.

Max. diameter 19 mm., elevation (i mm.

Locality : near Rosebud P. O., Wilcox Co., Ala., in Matthews

Landing beds.

A MONTH WITH THE MICHIGAN FISH COMMISSION.

BY BRYANT WALKER, DETROIT, MICH.

In 1893, the Michigan Fish Commission, in co-operation with the

University of Michigan, inaugurated a systematic biological exami-

nation of the Great Lakes, with special reference to the work of the

Commission in replenishing the rapidly decreasing fisheries of the

State The headquarters of the field-party for 1894 was established

at Charlevoix, the well-known summer resort, on the east coast of

Lake Michigan, and formerly a fishing station of considerable mag-

nitude Through the kindness of Prof. Henry B. Ward, the

Director-in-charge, the writer was invited to spend his vacation

with the party as conchologist. In addition to the usual methods

of collecting along the shore and from small boats, considerable

dred-in- was done in the deeper waters of both Lake Michigan and

Pine Lake A three days' trip to the Beaver Islands at the north-

ern end of Lake Michigan, was one of the most interesting episodes

of the summer, and one most fruitful in its results, as ,t was, un-

doubtedly, the first time the islands had been visited for scientific

purposes The unusual facilities enjoyed by the expedition in the line

of deep water dredging, have afforded many noteworthy additions

to the fauna of the State in all classes of the invertebrate and es-

pecially in the mollusca; and, at the suggestion of the editors ol

THE NAUTILUS, the following summary of the results obtained has

THE NAUTILUS, IX.

PL.

5 6

ALDRICH— New Eocene Sohriid:v.

THE NAUTILUS.

been prepared in advance of the formal report of the summer's

work.

Owing to the sandy nature of the soil, so characteristic of that

portion of the State, and the long-continued drought which pre-

vailed during last summer, terrestrial mollusks were not so numer-

ous, either in species or individuals, as might naturally have been ex-

pected. The characteristic feature was the occurrence of many spe-

cies, especially of the Zonitidae, peculiar to the northern region. Thus

Zonites ferreus Mse., blnneyanus Mse., and exirjuus Stiiup., Vitrina

limpida Ged., and Helix harpa Say, are not found in the southern

part of the State. Palula asteriscus Mse. and Strobilops virgo Pils.,

also northern forms, were interesting additions to our fauna. The

local and rare (in this State) Helix sayii Binu.,an essentially north-

ern form, also occurred, indicating its probable range across the north-

ern part of the State, as all the examples heretofore known to the

writer have been from the counties bordering on Lake Huron. A

few specimens of the albino variety of Patula alter nata Say, were

found associating with the typical form. Two forms of Helix albo-

labris Say were noted, occurring bide by side, the one quite typical

in shape and color, but rather below the average size and with a

very thick and broadly-reflected lip ; the other larger and much in-

flated, with a thin, dark purplish brown shell, having the narrowly

reflected lip more or less deeply tinged with purple ; a very beauti-

ful form, not seen elsewhere. The only Pupa found was P. con-

li-iif/it Say, while Vertigo was represented by four forms, V. ovata

Say, bollesiana Mse., ventricosa elatior Sterki, and pentodon Say.

In addition to the universally-distributed Suceinea obliqua Say and,

avava Say, was found the elongated form of S. ovalis Old., com-

mon in the northern part of the State, which has been doubtfully

referred to the S. higginsi Bid. (see NAUTILUS, VII, p. 127). In

all, thirty-one species of land-snails were found, of which two were

new to the fauna of the State.

Among the fresh-water pulmonates, many interested forms oc-

curred. The most noteworthy of them was a single example of a

deep water form of Limncea xtagnalits L., dredged from ten metres

depth in Lake Michigan, at High Island Harbor in the Beaver

Islands. It is about 23 mm. in length, exceedingly fragile, of a pure

translucent white, and, though somewhat larger and differently pro-

portioned, appears to be analogous to the var. Uottnica of Clessin

from Sweden. At the same locality occured a small globose form

THE NAUTILUS.

of the same genus which may be new. Also a small white Pliysa

which is provisionally referred to P.gyrina Say. A small elongated

Limncea of the reflexa group from the same locality, seems to be

the L. laneeata Old. No less than seven different species of Lim-

ntcidae, six of operculates, and many Pisidia were brought up by

one haul of the trawl from this prolific locality. In a small lake

near the south end of Beaver Island, which was simply swarming

with animal life, were found the finest specimens of Limmm HIIIJI/H

Migh. yet seen from Michigan. The largest example collected

measured 28J mm. in length and 19 mm. in breadth, the aperture

being 19 i mm. long and 13 mm. broad.

The Limnceidae of Pine Lake, which empties into Lake Michigan

at Charlevoix, were also extremely interesting. The bottom of the

lake is composed almost wholly of marl, except where it has been

covered by a thin coating of sand washed in from the shores, and,

as a consequence, both plant and animal life exist under very un-

favorable circumstances. The level of the lake seems to have been

lowered by the canal made by the U. S. Government to connect it

with Lake Michigan, and the former lake terrace is now largely ex-

posed, and, in many places, quite dry. In the numerous pools, how-

ever, which are left along the shore, the Limncea cataseojihnn Say is

found in great abundance and almost infinite variety. It varies in

shape from the comparatively slender form usually found in the

Great Lakes to the globose form described as L. pinguis by Say, and

seems, in many cases, to run very close to that of L. ample Migh.

The Pine Lake examples have usually a very thick, solid opaque

shell, and a large proportion are more or less distorted, the most

common effect of their unfavorable environment being apparently

to induce a very abrupt and rapid expansion of the outer lip, which,

in most cases, is accompanied by a heavy callous deposit all round

the aperture. The dredge also brought up from the marl of the

bottom some other curiously distorted forms of Limmm, whose

specific position has not yet been satisfactorily determined. The

curious Planorbis mitltii'olvis Case also occurred here, rarely alive,

but in great abundance among the dead shells along the shore.

There is reason to suppose that these shells came largely from the

marl deposits under the lake. It also seems probable that this

species will prove to be only a form of P. campanttlatus Say, pecu-

liar to localities where the marl is found. At any rate, all the lo-

calities in this State, from which it is now known, are alike in this

THK NAUTILUS. 5

respect, and specimens were found in places where the marl was less

abundant, which seem to connect the two forms.

Along the Lake Michigan shore, among the stones, Physa om-,7-

laria Say occurred, exhibiting a very heavy, solid, opaque shell.

The same form is found plentifully at Mackinac Island, and seems

to be one of the most characteristic forms of the region. A heavy

malleated form of Limncea emarginata Bay is associated with it in

both localities. Limnrca desidiosa Say and Physa Integra Hald.

were found plentifully in similar localities.

In one of the smaller inland lakes near Charlevoix, the dark red

form of Planorbis e.cacuttts Say, recently distinguished as var. ru-

bellus by Sterki, was found. The typical form of the same species,

as well as P. bicuriiiiitiis Say :\\nl parvtts Say, occurred abundantly

in the deep-water dredging at High Island. The great similarity

of the Limnreid fauna of northern Michigan to that of Maine was

again manifested in the discovery, in a small mill-pond near Charle-

voix, of the ecarinate form of P. bicarinatus recently distinguished

by Mr. Pilsbry as var. aroostookensis. The only species of Ancylus

met with was the A. parallel ns Hald., which was common among the

lily-pads in all the smaller lakes. Among the operculates there was

little of special interest. Goniobasis livescens Mke., as usual in the

lake region, was abundant everywhere, and in Lake Michigan was

found in thirty feet of water. Valvata tricarinata Say and sincera

Say were also abundant in deep water, and the latter species from

High Island was unusually large and fine, and might be referred to

the form described as V. striatu, by Lewis. The Campolomae were

also abundant. The slender northern form described by Lea as C.

milesH, however, was found only in one lake on Beaver Island. The

Lake Michigan form was C. decisa Say. The Amnicolae were ex-

ceedingly abundant, the two larger forms A. Ihnosu Say and litstrica

Pils. occurring everywhere. -4. grana Say was found at High

Island only, as was also a single specimen of Bythinella oblnsa Lea.

One of the few disappointments met with was the failure to find the

deep water form, A. sJteldoni Pils., originally found in the deep

water of Lake Michigan, at Racine, Wis. The only novelty among

the Unionidae was the occurrence of Unio borealis Gray, in a small

lake on Beaver Island. This is another addition to our fauna, and,

I believe, the most western locality yet cited for the species, which,

as Mr. C. T. Simpson, to whom I am indebted for the identification,

suggests, is apparently only a form of Unio litteo/ns Lam. The

0 THE NAUTILUS.

Anodontce occurred with their usual abundance and perplexing

variety so characteristic of the inland lakes of Michigan. Possibly,

owing to the unprotected character of the shore near Charlevoix,

but few were found in Lake Michigan. A. footlana Lea, however,

was found at Fisherman's Island near Charlevoix and also at St.

James' Harbor, Beaver Island, where .4. subcylindmcea Lea and

ferussaciana Lea also occurred. But it was among the Corbiculidae

that the most interesting finds of the expedition were made. Both

species and individuals were exceedingly abundant. Indeed, there

can be no doubt that the smaller Pisidia form one of the most im-

portant portions of the food of the whitefish. The Sphaeria were

most abundant in the inland waters where S. simile Say and stria-

tiniim Lam. were found in profusion nearly everywhere. S. rhom-

boideum Say and the beautiful little S. rosaceum Pme. also occurred

in one of the smaller lakes. A fine, new species, about the size of

S. occldentale Pme. was dredged from 25 metres off Grand Traverse

Bay. A larger form not yet satisfactorily determined was brought

up from a lesser depth off the south end of Beaver Island. The

Pisidia are now in the hands of Dr. V. Sterki, who has kindly con-

sented to examine and determine them, so that the entire list can-

not be yet given. But I am enabled to state that there are, at least,

twelve species represented, of which seven are new to the State, in-

cluding four species new to science. At High Island Pisidia were

particularly abundant. A fine triangular form, as large as P. vir-

yinicum Bgt., proves to be the P. idahoense Eoper. At the same

place, Dr. Sterki's recently-described species, P. punctatttm, also

occurred. A most interesting find was that of a form which Dr.

Sterki informs me cannot be distinguished from the P. mi Hum Held.,

of Europe. This, I believe, is the first instance in which a species

of this family has been proved to be an inhabitant of both conti-

nents. The other species found were P. variabile Pme., nbditinn

Hald., compressum Pme.,rotundatum Pme. and ventricostmi Pme. In

all, ninety-three species of mollusca were obtained, of which eleven

species and three varieties were new to the fauna of the State, one

species new to this country, and five species new to science.

ISAAC LEA DEPARTMENT.

[Conducted in the interest of the Isaac I,ea Couchological Chapter of the Agassiz

Association by its General Secretary, Mrs. M. Burton Williamson.]

The Isaac Lea Conchological Chapter of the Agassiz Association is

THE NAUTILUS. /

a corresponding chapter. It is composed of men and women inter-

ested in the study of shells. It also has a juvenile section composed of

boys and girls. It is a working chapter, or society, as every member

is expected to send an annual report of work done by him. These

reports and such papers as the members may furnish are known as

the transactions of the society. Each year the volume of transac-

tions, in manuscript, is forwarded from one member to another

until each member has read the book, but as some time must neces-

sarily elapse before all the members of the chapter can receive it,

the editor of THE NAUTILUS has kindly consented to allow space

for extracts from the transactions in THE NAUTILUS each month.

Each member in this way can have a copy of the annual reports to

himself.

The Chapter is officered as follows :

President, Prof. Josiah Keep, Mills College, Cal.

General Secretary, Mrs. M. Burton, Williamson University, Los

Angeles County, Cal.

SECRETARIES OF SECTIONS :

Section A. — Marine shells of the West Coast, Prof. Keep, Mills

College, Cal.

Section B— Marine shells of the East Coast, Mr. A. H. Gardner,

Box 84, Fort Hamilton, N. Y.

Section C. — Land shells east of the Kocky Mountains (Sec. not

yet chosen).

Section I). — Fresh water shells east of Rocky Mountains, Dr. W.

S. Strode, Lewiston, 111.

Section E. — Land and fresh water shells west of Rocky Mount-

ains (Secretary not yet chosen).

Section F. — Fossil shells, Hon. Delos Arnold, Pasadena, Cal.

Section G. — Juvenile Section, Mrs. Mary P. Olney, Spokane,

Wash.

Section H. — Microscopic shells (Secretary not yet chosen).

A STUDY OF FOSSIL SHELLS.

Report of Josiah Keep. From the Transactions of the Isaac Lea Conchological

Chapter of the Agassiz Association for 1894.

Two years ago last summer, as I was returning to California from

the Atlantic Coast, I had occasion to stop for a number of hours in

the city of Cincinnati. By far the cheapest and most satisfactory

THK NAUTILUS.

way to explore a city is to get on a street car and ride until you are

told to get off, and then try another line in like manner.

Acting on this principle I hailed an electric car and was soon

hurrying along the streets, up one hill and down another, and then

over level stretches till I arrived at the " Burnett Woods" park. I

did not need to be told to get off here, for the condition of things

was evident, and this was, without doubt, the best place to spend

the hot hours of mid-day. I was delighted with the place at once.

What grand old trees were there, beeches and oaks and walnuts,

majestic specimens with huge trunks and great spreading limbs.

Strolling across the little hills and valleys which make up the

park, I came at last to a huge excavation where a new street was

being cut out and an old one widened. A gang of prisoners, under

the eye of armed guards, were working there in the hot sun. Snmr

were shoveling away the loose soil, others were breaking up hard

strata with their picks and bars, while still others were down to bed-

rock, and were drilling holes for blasting.

The rock looked interesting, and I drew near to a cliff which had

been partly carried away, and was delighted to find that the rock

was full of fossils. In some places it was literally made up of shells

and corals, and, so perfectly were they preserved, that you might

trace every mark of sculpture on the shell, and observe its outline

as perfectly as if it had just been brought up alive from the ocean.

Most of the shells were those of brachiopods, a class of mollusks

that now exist but sparingly, though in ancient times they must

have been as thick as the leaves of a forest.

How I longed for increased facilities for transportation on that

July day. I wanted to take away at least a barrel of the fine >]H i-i-

mens! They lay all around me. and it almost broke my heart to

leave some fine pieces of stone studded over with those choice relics,

lint when I lifted one of those pieces and found that it weighed

many pounds, I was reluctantly compelled to carefully put it down

and content myself with a few fragments that were not too large for

my coat pockets. One of these fragments is before me as I write.

What a story these old relics tell to one who is able to interpret

their language. How many ages have passed away since each pair

of these shells contained a living occupant, a creature without gills,

indeed, but supplied with a pair of feathery arms which it stretched

out and waved in the warm waters of the Silurian sea. When its

little life was over, the shell sank down in the mud and was quickly

filled and covered with the soft ooze.

THE NAUTILUS.

All this took place when the ocean rolled over what is now the

State of Ohio ; before there was any coal, long before there were

any Appalachian Mountains, and so long before the creation of

Adam, that the time since the first man seems but a little while in

comparison.

Century after century went slowly by, the land gradually rose,

and the ocean slunk away.

Then came a time when uncouth monsters ranged over the soil ;

then a period of ice and desolation ; then the age of man. But through

all these uncounted millions of years, one little shell was quietly

waiting — waiting a thousand thousand years, until the blast of the

convict gang threw it up to the surface, and the sun shone down

upon it, and a human U-inir rejoiced to find it there. Could itspeak,

how it would inquire what had become of the ocean. Simple little

shell, you have had a long sleep, but the world has been awake and

astir all the time.

Perhaps this paper seems little like a conchological report, but,

during the past year, most of mv work with shells has been, not with

modern species, but with fossils. I have been arranging a geologi-

cal cabinet, and have been putting into their places molluscan

species, from the little Lingula cnneata of the Lower Silurian rocks,

down to those species which are now living along the coast.

How important it is for any one who desires to understand the

noble science of geology, to first learn as much as possible of its

handmaid, coucbolotry. The shells of mollusks are the most endur-

OJ

ing of fossils. They are the seals impressed upon the stony docu-

ments of the distant past, by which the scholar can tell you, often

in a moment, the age in which those documents were written, and

what of value you will be likely to find therein.

It may not be scientific, but I love to imagine that the mollnsks

which secreted these shells are alive once more. I question them

concerning the past, concerning their contemporaries and their sur-

roundings. I open the Devonian drawer of fossils and ask those

revived mollusks to tell me concerning the "Age of Fishes." The

little Pupa vettista of the Carboniferous Age tells me a story of its

life in the " dim watery woodlands" of the Coal Period.

Ammonite and Hippurite discourse concerning the"Age of Chalk;"

the giant Ostrea details the quiet story of Tertiary times, and,

finally, a little Olivella, such as now sports in the sands of the beach,

tells me how it came to be buried in a little hill that has evidently

been raised from the ocean in comparatively recent times.

10 THE NAUTILUS.

And so the great story of life is narrated ; a story so wonderful,

so interesting, so full of suggestion of a great and wise Creator, that

I take up the burden of life once more, encouraged, instructed,

broadened, helped !

THE ANNUAL REPORTS PRESENT A VARIETY. — As the mem-

bers of the Isaac Lea Chapter are found from Maine to San Diego,

Cal., and while some live on the sea coast, others dwell near lakes

and rivers, while others again reside far from any body of water,

the annual report of work done by each member is varied. Some

members have had years of experience, while others, perhaps, give

us their first years' experience in collecting and studying molluscan

forms of life; but each report is interesting, and, from month to

month, we hope to give one or two reports of the members of our

Chapter. This month our members will be interested in Professor

Keep's paper on fossil shells. After reading it, our juvenile mem-

bers will be glad to learn that Professor Agassiz, in his " Geologi-

cal Sketches," tells about the Silurian fossils of Cincinnati, Ohio,

and what he says about the fossil beds adds new interest to the re-

port of our President.

University P. O., Los Angeles Co., Cal.

AN UNDESCRIBED MERETRIX FROM FLORIDA.

BY WM. H. DA 1. 1..

Meretrix simpsoni n.s.

Shell small, plump, concentrically grooved, but somewhat irregu-

lar in sculpture, smoother toward the beaks; varying in color ex-

ternally from pure white to livid bluish overlaid with streaks or zig-

zag brown lines, the interior from pure white to deep bluish purple ;

the most common color variety much resembles Sowerby's figure of

C. hebrtea Lam. (Thesaurus.pl. 134, figs. 143-4), but with the pos-

terior end more rounded, the hinge teeth more compressed and

smaller, and with a well-developed pallial sinus reaching to the ver-

tical of the beaks; the lunule is smooth, long-ovate, marked off by

an incised line, but not differentiated by color or otherwise from the

adjacent parts of the shell ; the escutcheon is obscure.

THE NAUTILUS. 11

Alt. 15'0; Ion. 18'0 ; long, of post-umbonal part ll'O; diam. 8'0

mru. Habitat from Curacao and St. Thomas, West Indies, to Cedar

Keys, Florida, from low water to 26 fathoms ; Chas. T. Simpson

and other collectors, in the U. S. Nat. Museum.

This is probably the species which has been identified by Antil-

lean collectors with Circe (Lioconcha) hebrcea (Lam.) Sowerby, but

it is a smaller shell and a true Meretrix, represented by specimens

from seven localities in the Museum collection and noted in Bull.

37, U. S. N. M., p. 56, No. 285 in 1889.

NOTES AND NEWS.

UNIO ELLIPSIS AND U. TENUissiMus. — I have never seen Unio

ellipsis Lea and tenuissimus Lea noted from Grand Rapids, Mich. I

wish to report the finding of 23 specimens of ellipsis and 24 of tenvis-

simus in Grand River, about two miles south of the city ; they were

taken by me last summer. — \V. MILLER, Grand Rapids, Mich.

MR. WM. B. MARSHALL, formerly on the zoological staff of the

N. Y. State Museum, at Albany, is now in Washington as an assist-

ant in the Dept. of Mollusks.

DR. WM. H. DALL leaves Washington on the 16th of May to

spend the summer in Alaska in field work.

MESSRS. USELMA C. SMITH AND ROBERTS LEBOUTILLIER, of

Philadelphia, have returned from a naturalizing trip to Jamaica.

GONIOBASIS VIRGINICA Gmel. occurred in considerable numbers

in the stomach of a specimen of the American Golden Eye ( Claucion-

etta clangula americanci) from a Philadelphia market, which I ex-

amined March 28.— H. W. FOWLER, Phila.

MR. EDW. W. ROPER, of Revere, Mass., has returned from

Jamaica, where he has spent the winter. Good success in collecting

shells and ferns is reported.

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

MISSION SCIENTIFIQUE AU MEXiQUE, etc., Etudes sur les Mollus-

ques Terrestres et Fluviatiles, par MM. P. Fischer and H. Crosse (Vol.

II, pt. 7). The present part contains the remainder of the Unionidce

12 THE JSAUTILUS.

and the Cyrenidce (Corbiculidw). Like those which have preceded,

the execution of the plates is superb, and the text is prepared with

the attention to detail and accuracy characteristic of its authors.

Many species of Unionidce described by Morelet are herein for the

first time illustrated, as well as those of Crosse and. Fischer. This

part completes the work, but one more will be issued containing

additions to the fauna, being supplementary to the entire work.

IN the Proc, Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, VIII, Mr. Charles Hedley

describes a new species of Ccecum (C. ampntatvmi) from Sydney

Harbor, Australia, and gives an interesting paper on Gundlachia.

The latter we will reprint in a future number.

LISTE SYNONYMIQUE ET BIBLIOGEAPHIQUE DBS MOLLUSQUES

Terrestres el Fhiviatiles de la Nouvelle'Zelande. By Henry Suter,

with preliminary note on the affinities of the New Zealand mollusk

fauna by H. Crosse. The land mollusk fauna of New Zealand has

received much careful study during the past few years, and this cat-

alogue of 86 pages, embodying the results of the studies of HUTTON,

SUTER, HEDLEY, PILSBRY and others, is a complete epitome of

progress to this time. It is prefaced by a note from the experienced

pen of CROSSE, contains copious references, and a plate illustrating

some interesting forms. The work is well-done and of great utility.

MONOGRAPH OF THE GENUS STROPHE, by C. J. Mayuard (Cou-

trib. to Science II, Nos. 3 and 4). Mr. Maynard prefaces his de-

scriptions by some interesting observations, inter alia, that Slrophia

is found in the Bahamas only on islands and keys where palms grow,

and does not occur on any that are not, or have not been inhabited

by man. The descriptions of many new species follow. The care-

ful and exact record of localities for each species and subspecies, is

a most commendable feature of the work. There can be no doubt

that the forms are in many instances extremely local in distribution, .

a fact which we owe to Maynard's researches. The localities given

in former works on the genus are in a large number of cases wholly

untrustworthy. Maynard proposes a new subgenus Multostrophia,

type S. eximea n. sp., for shells with small Maynardia-like tooth and

very fine striations. Among the figures we notice that that of <S'.

cinerea (p. 119) has the axial lamella on the outer lip, doubtless an

error of the engraver.

THE NAUTILUS.

V°L. ix. JUNE, 1895. No. 2

PLET7RODONTE BAINBRIDGEl AND OTHER JAMAICA SHELLS.

BY EDWARD \V. ROPER.

It was the writer's good fortune, during a recent trip to Jamaica,

to stumble on the metropolis of the large and interesting land shell,

Pleurodonte baiiiliriilyei Pfr., at Mandeville. The locality, a heavily

wooded hill near the hotel, had been neglected until many hills

more remote were searched, without revealing more than an

occasional dead shell. The numerous low piles of limestone frag-

ments upon the summit were turned over with great success, the

prizes including several white specimens. The common run included

black with splendid purple lip, dark brown with purple or brown

lip, and light brown with lip of the same color. The largest speci-

men was 56 and the smallest only 42 millimetres long. Only two

or three specimens were over 50 millimetres long, and the lot

averaged smaller than those in other collections examined by the

writer. There was no variation in shape, all being low depressed

conical, with finely granulated surface, and all were banded, even

the white shells being encircled with a very fine semi-transparent

line. This does not correspond with the typical white form, var.

pretiosa, which is proportionately much more elevated. The Man-

deville white shells differ only in color from their black and brown

fellows. All variations of color are liable to be found under the

same rock heap, so that environment is not responsible for the col-

14 THE NAUTILUS.

oration. Indeed, it is uncertain which is the type color. The vet-

eran Jamaica conchologist, Mr. Henry Vendryes, believes, with

Bland and others, that pretiosa is the type and the dark shells

varieties. The genuine Eainbridgei is said to have come from

Demerara, but this question of disputed nomenclature the writer

will not attempt to solve. Associated with Pleurodonte bainbridgei

at Mandeville were other interesting shells, including Pleurodonte

peracitt'issima, P. aiiomala, Stoastoma pisum, the giant of the genus

and the little Gnppya epistyllithnn.

At Port Antonio, Pleurodonte acuta, in shape near the type,

acutissima Lam., but very black even to the lip, was found associa-

ted with P. validfi. A form almost equally black, but with light

lip, was found at Manchioneal. These shells were strikingly differ-

ent from the varieties of P. acuta found in other parts of the island.

Bulimus exilis, a very common West Indian shell, but not pre-

viously reported from Jamaica, was found abundantly at Castleton

not far from the botanical gardens. It was probably imported on

plants.

On the hills at Mandeville, a dagger-leaved plant, which retained

a considerable quantity of rain water in the axils of its large leaves,

was much frequented by Thelidomus aspera. The mollusk was often

found with its body touching the water.

NEW FORMS OF AMERICAN ZONITIDJE AND HELICID.2E.

BY HENRY A. PILSBRY.

Omphalina Andrewsse n. sp.

Shell allied to 0. inornata Say in general characters and size.

Rich chestnut colored above, opaque buff below; the surface bril-

liant, polished. Whorls 4J, slightly convex, slowly widening, sep-

arated by moderately impressed, margined suture ; spire small, very

low-convex, its width less than half that of the shell ; last whorl

very wide, depressed, rounded at periphery, evenly flattened-con-

vex beneath ; convex around the deeply indented umbilical perfora-

tion. Aperture slightly oblique, elliptical-lunate; interior lined

with a heavy white callus which thins out and disappears a few

millimetres from the lip-edge; the latter thin, sharp; columellar

margin concave, expanded in a minute triangle slightly impinging

on umbilicus. Alt. 8, greater diameter 16, lesser 13'2 mm. ; width

of spire 7 nun.

THE NAUTILUS. 15

Under plants on the summit of Thunderhead Mountain. (Mrs.

Geo. Andrews, June, 1894.)

With the general aspect of 0. inornata, this species is even more

polished, with somewhat rounder aperture and notably narrower

spire. This last difference is very perceptible on comparing the

upper surfaces of the two species. 0. andrewsce is also in the Acad-

emy collection from Macon Co., Georgia, collector unknown. The

name must not be confused with Zonites andrewsi, which is a species

of Gastrodonta, a genus belonging to quite a different division of the

Zoiiitidce. 0. rugeli is a more capacious shell with wider spire than

andrewsce.

0. Andrews* montivaga n. v.

Like the type in the shining surface, etc., but with five whorls,

chestnut above, slightly paler and subtranslucent below ; last whorl

more widened toward the aperture, more sloping. Aperture quite

oblique, wider and shorter than in andrewsce, the upper and basal

margins sub-parallel ; baso-cn/umellar lip very gently curved, not

deeply rounded as in andrewscr. Interior without white lining,

having only a narrow white rib within the lip. Alt. 8'7 ; diam.,

greater, 17 ; lesser, 13'5 mm. ; width of spire S'5 mm.

Same locality and collector. The very much straighter basal lip

and lack of white lining differentiate this from preceding species.

Gastrodonta (Pseudohyalina) patuloidea n. sp.

.Shell about the size and form of Pyramidnla striatella Anth. ;

light green, hardly transparent ; irregularly but closely rib-striate

above, below and in the umbilicus, the first 1» whorls smooth.

Whorls 4?, slowly increasing, convex, with impressed sutures; last

whorl rather tubular, rounded at periphery and below ; aperture

about the size of umbilicus, round-lunate, flattened above, lip sim-

ple, the upper margin flattened down and arched forward, as in Sele-

nites or Gastrodonta elliolti; retracted at insertion. Umbilicus large,

showing all the whorls very plainly. Alt. 2'5, diam. 5'1 mm.;

aperture, alt. and width about T8 mm.

Thunderhead Mountain, under bark of a rotten log with P. alter-

nata (ribbed), P. perspectiva, Gastrodonta elliotti, etc. (Mrs. George

Andrews, June, 1894).

Two adult specimens collected. It is much smaller than G. elli-

otti Redf., with far larger, open umbilicus and heavier sculpture,

recalling a Pyramidula.

16 THE NAUTILUS.

Polygyra (Stenotrema) stenotrema depilata n. v.

Globose conic, the spire mnfh elevated; surface completely lacking

hairs or their scars, showing sparse oblique short wrinkles above

(hardly seen without a high power lens), the base with the luster of

silk, or like the bloom on a grape, and showing indistinct spiral

sculpture. Parietal tooth smaller than in the type, further from the

basal lip, and not connected by a raised callus with the upper ter-

mination of the lip. Notch of basal lip rather shallow and wide.

Alt. 8, diam. 10 mm.

Thunder-head Mountain (Mrs. Andrews), with typical P. steno-

trema of the usual depressed-globose and hirsute form.

A NEW VARIETY OF OCINEBRA CIRCUMTEXTA STEARNS.

BY E. R. C. STEARNS.

A very pretty variety of Ocinebra eircumtexta has recently been

detected on the coast of Los Angeles County, by some of the local

collectors. It is of a pale orange color ; the bands, which in the

typical form are dark, sometimes almost black, in the variety here-

in described are of a deeper orange. I have named it var. niir<nit!ii.

It is noteworthy, the prevalence of the orange hue, pale or dark,

in many of the species of Ocinebra of the west coast.

This color is frequently met with in various shades in Purpura

crispata of the Puget Sound and Alaska region.

Los Angeles, Cal., May 10, 1895.

NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF VALLONIA.1

BY DE. V. STERKI.

Private inquiries and publications appear to make it desirable to

give a few notes on our Vallonia, in this place. As far as known,

at present, there are the following species in North America:

Group of V. pulchella. Not ribbed ; peristome with strong lip.

1. V. piilcht'l/H Mull. (= V. niinuta Say), North America, east of

the Rocky Mountains ; west of them at least scarce. All Europe,

and adjoining parts of Asia and Africa.

'2. V. rxtentri.cn Sterki. Northeastern North America from

Maine and Quebec to Washington, D. C. All Europe. It is con-

stantly distinct from T. pti/<-lie//n, and, when once known, can not

'C'onf. Observations on Vallonia, in Proe. Ac. Xat. So, I'liiln., IS'A p. 234.

THE NAUTILUS. 17

be mistaken. Generally smaller; somewhat elongate in outline,

and so is the umbilicus ; the spire is smaller, lower, and the suture

less deep ; the peristome is not everted, as in pnlchella, but only

slightly expanded.

Group of V. costata. Ribbed ; peristome with strong lip.

3. V. costata Mull. Eastern North America to the Mississippi

Valley, but less common than pnlchella, though numerous in some

localities.

4. V. albula Sterki. Quebec, Manitoba to British Columbia.

Larger than costuta (27-2'8 mill.), whitish, with fine, crowded,

membranous ribs ; quite unlike any costata from Europe or North

America. Also jaw and radula show differences, and so it was to be

regarded as distinct, the more so as it has been found in company

with costata at Quebec.

5. V. gracilicosta Keinli. Utah to Dakota. Differs from costata

by the stronger and more oblique ribs on the shell, and small or no

membranous appendages on them ; the last whorl and the aperture

are more angular at the periphery, and more flattened above ; the

color is grayish, and the lip porcelain white, while in costata it is

somewhat glassy transparent.

li. V. pnrvula Sterki. Illinois to Nebraska and Indian Territory.

Smaller than costata (diam. 2 mill.), the spire flat, the last whorl not

descending.

Group of V. cyclophorella. Peristome without a lip.

7. I'. ei/clopJwrella Ancey. Rocky Mountains. Ribs very fine

and crowded ; shell thin, grayish or whitish ; last whorl ascending

and descending ; aperture transversely elongate ; peristome thin,

without a lip ; diam. 27 mill.

8. V. perspective!, Sterki. Appalachian Mountains, in Tennessee

and Alabama ; also in Iowa. Membranous ribs rather fine and

crowded; spire low; last whorl descending; peristome continuous

without a lip ; shell thin, pale horn to colorless ; diam. 2'0 mill.

ON THE GENEEIC POSITION OF PATULASTRA ! [PUNCTUM ?] PUGETEN-

SIS AND PYRAMIDULA? RANDOLPHII, WITH SUGGESTIONS

FOR A CLASSIFICATION OF AMERICAN ZONITIDJE.

BY HENRY A. PILSBRY.

Specimens of the two species named above preserved in alcohol

by Mr. Randolph, of Seattle, Washington, and kindly forwarded

'These species were described in NAUTILUS for March, 1895, p. l:>o.

18 THE NAUTILUS.

to the writer by Dr. Wni. H. Dall, have furnished preparations of

the teeth enabling us to fix the the generic positions of these inter-

esting little species. P. pugetensis proves to be a Zonitid, with the

dentition much like that of Pseudohyalina mtiniscula and milium,

perfect laterals 4, as in mitni&i-tilu, while milium has 2 or 3. The

jaw, imperfect in my preparation, looks like that of minusciila.

P. randolphii has the characteristic dentition of Puiietum, and

with pi/ijma-um (v. minutissimuni) and conspeetum it makes three

species of this genus for America. There are two in Europe, pyg-

mceum Drap. and massoti Bgt., and one in Africa, cryophilum Mar-

tens. Some other minute Patuloids will doubtless prove to belong

to Punciwn when their dentition is examined. P. randolphii has a

narrower umbilicus than our other species.

So ambiguous are the shell characters of these genera of small

Zoiiitiiiir and EndodontidcR that, as the event has proved, Dall was

fully justified in the liberal use of question-marks in his provisional

generic references. The moment their soft parts come under the

microscope, broad distinctions between the groups appear, leaving

no uncertainty as to the limits of the genera and families. The

difficulty is to get the animals of these liliputian races alive or suit-

ably preserved for dissection.

The classification of the numerous groups and genera of Zo>iifi<!n

is still in an embryo condition. The forms with well-developed

spiral shell inhabiting North America fall into groups as follows:

a. 9 System bearing a long dart-sack surmounted by one or more

coronal glands, and usually containing a slender, curved

dart. Subfamily ARIOPHANTIN.E Pils.

b. Caudal mucus pore present ; shell without opaque color-

markings, Genus GASTRODONTA.

c. Shell with internal teeth or a layer of callus on the floor

of last whorl, s.-g.

cc. No internal teeth or callus.

d. Surface polished, s.-g.

</il. Surface conspicuously striate or costulate,

s.-g. Pseudohyalina.

bb. No caudal pore ; shell with streak, band or flame markings,

Genus PcEClLOZONlTES.

aa. 9 System lacking dart-sack, etc.

Subfamily ZONITIN.E Pils.

THE NAUTILUS. 19

b. No noticeable sliell-lobes developed ; mucus pore present.

c. Shell small, depressed and glassy; lower part of vas

defereus not enlarged, Genus VITREA.

cc. Shell larger, smoky ; lower part of vas deferens greatly

enlarged, Genus OMPHALINA.

ccc. Shell smoky, Vitriim-like ; vas deferens not enlarged,

Genus VITKINIZONITES.

Ib. Right shell-lobe developed ; no caudal pore,

Genus VITRINA.

The positions of the genera Pristiloma and Convlus cannot be

decided until their genitalia are investigated. The latter may

prove to belong with Micrm-i/*ti.< and Guppya in a sub-family Micro-

cyxliine, characterized by obsolescence of the sessile spermatheca.

The ArlophantincE are well represented in the Orient by Arlojjltantu,

Xe&ta and other genera. The Zonitime by Zunites (restricted),

Rhysota, Trochomorpha, etc. Although the grooves above the foot-

edges are present in all Zonitithe, the tail pore is absent in various

members of each prime division, such as the genera Ptecilozonites,

Trochomorpha, etc. The greatest defect in our knowledge of Ameri-

can forms is in respect to the Zonitoides and Vitrea groups, the

shells of which offer no diagnostic genera features ; and the nomen-

clature cannot be settled until the presence or absence of a dart-

sack is ascertained in all the small species. The animals should be

drowned, as ordinary alcoholic specimens of these minute forms are

almost impossible to manipulate.

ISAAC LEA DEPARTMENT.

[Conducted in the interest of the Isaac Lea Conchotogical Chapter of the Agassiz

Association by its General Secretary, Mrs. M. Burton Williamson.]

The outlook for the Isaac Lea Chapter for this year is very en-

couraging; new members are coming in, and all our members are

enthusiastic in regard to the possibilities of the Chapter. With THE

NAUTILUS as our official organ, we hope for a brilliant future for

the Chapter. This little corner of THE NAUTILUS will always con-

tain articles from the pen of beginners, as well as from those of more

advanced students of coneholouv.

A DAY ON THE SPOON RIVER IN ILLINOIS.

Report of Dr. W. S. Strode, Lewist.uvn, 111. From the Transactions of the Isaac

Lea Conchological Chapter of the Agassiz Association for 1894.

Owing to sciatic rheumatism, the writer, during the past summer

and fall, has been unable to do much active work in the collecting

20 THE NAUTILUS.

field. But one trip was made to the Illinois River, and, unfortun-

ately, the stream was on a " high," and the conditions unfavorable

for collecting. Excepting the dredging up of some fine Plenrocera

lewisii Lea, nothing of interest was obtained.

However, a trip was made to Spoon River at Bernadotte, twelve

miles from Lewistown, on October 20, which was more fortunate.

The river was at a low stage, and everything favorable for collect-

ing. My partner was Dr. J. M. Maguire, whose hobby was not

shells, but birds. Yet, as is the case with all lovers of nature, when

once within the pale of her magic influence, all her animate crea-

tures met a responsive thrill in the kindly heart of the good doctor,

and I found in him an enthusiastic and efficient helper in my search

for molluscan treasures.

Procuring a boat we pulled up the river to Island No. 1, five

miles from the village. There at the limit of back water from the

mill-dam, we expected to find some shells ; nor were we disappointed,

for in the shallow water above and below this island, and on the

banks under clumps of willows where they were carried by the

minks and muskrats, we obtained quite a number of the following

Unios : capax Green, coccineus Hild., cornutu* Bar., ebenus Lea,

elegans Lea, lachrymosits Lea, luteolus Lam., lamssimus Lea, oi-ri-

dens Lea, parvus Bar., pustit/ittus Lea, pustulosus Lea, rubiginosus

Lea, trie/onus Lea, Margaritana complanata Barnes, Anodonta

inbeeilis Say, decora Lea, edentulu Say.

Landing on this little island, which covers only about one acre of

ground, we ate our lunch, and the doctor collected two or three each

ruby-crowned and golden-crowned kinglets, that were busily seeking

a dinner in the willows, and we then turned our boat's head down

stream on our return voyage to the village. Every half mile or so

we would come upon a flock of the beautiful moon ducks or dab-

chicks, and, in the trees along the banks, were many red squirrels,

and when one was particularly saucy, the crack of the doctor's gun

would fetch him tumbling into the river. When the village was

reached, we determined to try our luck in the shallow water along

the rocky banks a half mile or so below the mill-dam.

The water gates of the mills had just been shut down, and this

would give us six inches less water to work in than when they were

open. We soon descried an unexpected advantage from this fact.

A half mile down the river, just above a place called the " deep

bole," we found a large number of Unto donatiformis Lea and

Pleurocera >'/i rutn/n Say. Ill thirty minutes we picked up '-'nil of

THE NAUTILUS. 21

the little Unios, and over a pint of the univalves. They were evi-

dently making their way up stream, excited to do so by the strong

millrace current. Many of them were busily working their shells

out of sight in the coarse sand, and if we had been an hour or so

later, perhaps none would have been visible.

Having collected all we desired of these two species, we went be-

low the deep hole, and, in water from one to two feet deep, collected

all we cared to haul home of the following species :

Unio alatus Say. A few.

Unlo anodontoides Lea. Very plentiful and fine, ranging in size

from full grown ones seven inches long to the very small young ones

an inch in length ; and both varieties, the plain brown colored and

the beautifully rayed ones.

I iiiu occidens Lea. Some very good ones.

Unio f/ibbosus Barnes. Only a few found, along with its cousin,

the anodontoides, and U. rectus Lamarck, a half-dozen.

U. graci/is Barnes. Quite plentiful.

U. lackrymosus Leu. Some nicely marked ones.

I', liijnmentinus Lam. More numerous than any other mussel in

this locality. Specimens 5 to 7 inches long, were nicely raved and

but little eroded on the beaks.

Unio multiplicatus Lea. Four or five of the gigantic ones, 7 to &i

inches long and a foot in circumference.

U. piicatus Lesueur. Plentiful, and all sizes.

U. tuberculatus Barnes. Plentiful, and all sizes, from 7 inches

down.

Margaritana ruyosa Barnes. A few adults found.

M. eomplanata Bar. Very plentiful and very fine, all sizes, from

the beautifully-rayed young specimens, to the full sized adults pecu-

liar to this river. One lying before me as I write, is 8} inches long

and thirteen inches in circumference.

This water was too swift and the bed of the river too rocky for the

Anodons, and only a few edentulaSny and grandis Say were found.

Having loaded our boat with only the finest ones, and as many as

we could get in our buggy, we pulled back up to the town, loaded

up and departed for home, well satisfied with our day's outing.

A VISIT TO A VESSEL THAT WAS LOADED WITH SHKLLS. — This

winter I was much interested in a vessel which came into the port

of Boston loaded with nothing but shells. I obtained a beautiful

specimen of Spondjlus, pink with white spines, and I can find uoth-

THE NAUTILUS.

ing like it in the museums here nor near Boston. Also a specimen

of Oliva, beautifully marked. I visited the vessel three or four

times, and was kindly allowed to visit the hold of the vessel, which

had to be entered on hands and knees. Tellinas, Conns, Myas and

other shells by heaps and bushels was a sight to behold and never

forget.

I have taken great interest in the Isaac Lea Conchological

Chapter, and have obtained much assistance in my work through

it, and by coming in communication with the other members of it.

— Extract from the Transactions of the I. L. C. C.,for 1894, by Mrs.

T. E. Rngyles, Milton, Mass.

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

A MONOGRAPH OF THE LAND AND FRESHWATER MOLLUSCA OF

THE BRITISH ISLLS. By John W. Taylor, F. L. S. — We have in-

dicated the scope of this long-expected work in a former issue (Dec,

1894, p. 96). The first part is now before us, and well sustains the

expectations excited by the prospectus, the fact that Mr. Taylor has

been devoting the study of years to the subject, and by the knowledge

that a number of excellent observers were co-operating with the

work, and most of the members of the Conchological Society of

Great Britain have contributed data for its p:\ges.

An Anisopleiiriiiis Pulraonate Gastropod, Ilili.i tisyn /••.,/ v. :,>;»//« Moq.

The present fascicle of 64 pages treats of necessary elementary

facts of the science of couchology ; the broader principles of classifi-

cation ; primary divisions of Moflitsea; of nomenclature, synonyms,

etc. The shell, its composition, structure ami forms are then con-

sidered, and here are defined the terms u.-ed in technical descrip-

tions of mollusks, " turreted," " fusiform," " depressed," "turbinated"

and so on, each explained briefly and illustrated by a figure in the

text. This is an extremely valuable feature, for it makes perfect!}'

clear to the beginner in conchology the whole jargon of descriptive

terms, and, bv a well-chosen illustration, fixes it in the mind.

THE NAUTILUS.

A reniform Bivalve, I'/iio margarUifer v. slnualu Lam.

The parts of the shell and their names are similarly depicted.

The questions of species and varieties are

then discussed at length. The definition of

"species" is good; but that of "variety"

seems to us to beg the question entirely.

Thus, in one paragraph, a variety is said to

be an incipient species ; in another, " varie-

ties may be individual, that is, occurring

only in a more or less isolated and sporadic

way, or they may be a sexual character,"

etc. American naturalists, at least, do not

regard such deviations as this as "varieties,"

but use that term for what Mr. Taylor calls

(Mont.) x -2, showing the " a sub-species, geographic variety or race."

nearly straight coluruella. We believe that sexual and " random "

Pyriform univalve, Clan- variations should have no place in specific

silia lanmata (Mont.). nomenclature. It is also unfortunate that

Mr. Taylor (in common with Mine. Paulucci and others) uses the

term "mutation '' to express a slighter modification than "variety,"

as it has a very different significance in palaeontology, expressing

the successive stages of a specific form, or genetically related series

of specific forms, in successive formations.

In treating of the causes of form-modification in shells, Mr. Tay-

lor states that fluviatile species tend to develop a lengthened shell

under the influence of a steady and rapid current, and short forms

of otherwise elongated species in lakes and other large bodies of

water.

Section through the shell

of Clausilia lauiin<i/<i

24

THE NAUTILUS.

Excellent illustrations are scattered freely throughout the text,

illustrating at every point the statements made or the peculiarity

mentioned ; and this is a new departure in couchological treatises

a. s.

An Equivalve, Inequilateral Pelecypod I'nin /lii-tnriun (L.). a. s. anal or

excurrent siphon ; !ir. x. branchial or inuurrent siphon;/', foot.

which can hardly be too warmly commended. The illustrations

herewith shown are examples, and in beauty and fidelity to nature

they speak for themselves. One would be critical indeed to ask for

anything better than the figure of Unio margaritifer or Planorbis

cvrneits. The species will be illustrated with colored plates, of which

one accompanies this part. It is a really superb piece of color-

printing.

Vertigo antivertigo r/<nn>r/ii.-i corneus v. nHiinn ILii.r nemoralis

(Drap.). Moq. L.

Malacologists will look with interest for the succeeding parts; for

that before us leads us to hope that Mr. Taylor will hivak with the

time-honored but woefully antiquated system of generic and family

classification of former English manuals of land and fresh-water

mollusks, and adopt a nomenclature and classification abreast of

the science. The work will doubtless prove of great utility to those

interested in British malacology, especially on account of the ex-

haustive treatment of variation and distribution contemplated ; and

the features noted above will, moreover, render it useful to eonchol-

ogists generally.

THE NAUTILUS.

VOL. ix.

JULY, 1895.

No. 3

A REMARKABLE MONSTROSITY OF FULGUR CANALICULATUM.

Fiilgur canaliculatum is one of the most conspicuous Gastropods

of our coasts from Long Island to the Chesapeake. It occurs less

abundantly as far south as Florida (east coast) and northward to

Cape Cod.

FIG. 1. F. canaliculatum, deformed.

In the Tertiary series, F. canaliculatum appears in the Pliocene of

North and South Carolina ( Waeamaw and Croatan beds) ; and pass-

26

THE NAUTILUS.

ing downward, we find in Fulyur coronatum var. rugosum Conrad,

from the Miocene of St. Mary's, Md., its probable ancestor.

F. canaliculatum exhibits but little variation in the recent fauna,

except in point of size, southern specimens becoming much smaller.

Thus, at St. Augustine, Florida, the largest shells found are not

over half the dimensions of the largest from the New Jersey coast.

The typical form of this species is shown in fig. 2. Mr. James A.

Harking, of Atlantic City,

has called our attention to

a remarkable deformed

specimen, which he found

at that locality, illustrated

in fig. 1. It is an adult of

average size, in which the

basal canal is twisted to

the left at a right angle to

the axis of the shell. The

growth-lines are every-

where unbroken, no evi-

dence of an early fracture

being visible, either outside

or within the a p e r t u r e.

There is an abnormal lump

or callus upon the upper

part of the columella, prob-

ably deposited to fill some

space left by the altered

position of the soft parts

in the cavity.

It is difficult to say how

a monster of this sort was

produced. The unbroken

sweep of the growth-strire

FIG. •!. F<il<ji< r i;ii,,ili<-i(lni<i,,'^M\-. from body-whorl upon the

canal indicates that the present canal was formed entirely after the

abnormal condition set in, andjis not a case of shell fracture and

subsequent " patching" of llie'pieces, such as is often found. It is

probable that the columellar sidej|of the canal in the half-grown

individual was injured, both soft^and hard parts being affected ; the

mantle lining of the outer lipjand base of canal being unhurt.

THE NAUTILUS.

The specimen has been presented by Mr. Harkins to the collec-

tion of the American Association of Couchologists.

c. w. j. & H. A. p.

DESCRIPTION OF A NEW VITREA FROM PUGET SOUND.

BY W. H. DALL.

Vitrea Johnson! n. s.

Shell small, pale waxen-white or translucent, of three and a half

whorls, rather rapidly enlarging, smooth except for delicate radial

lines of growth which are occasionally visible; suture distinct,

slightly impressed ; spire hardly elevated but not flattened ; periphery

rounded, base convex, im perforate, the pillar lip strongly reflected

close to the axis; aperture semiluuar, sharp edged, the peristome

hardly flexuous, the upper edge a little in advance of the lower;

resting stages indicated internally by one or two narrow whitish

streaks where the shell is slightly thickened, but which do not pro-

ject internally. Height of shell 1, major diam. 2, minor diam.

1'5 mm.

This differs from V. indentata by the absence of the impressed radial

grooves and by its much smaller size for the same number of whorls;

from V. subrupicola Dall by its more rapidly enlarging last whorl

and more ample aperture in specimens of the same size. The latter

species has one whorl less in the same diameter, and attains*, when

fully developed, a much larger size, besides having a peculiarly flat-

tened appearance both above and below.

V. Johnsoni was named in honor of Prof. O. B. Johnson who has

done so much to promote interest in the rnollusk fauna of the Puget

Sound region. It was collected under chips with Vitrea pugetensis

near Seattle by Mr. P. B. Randolph.

It may be mentioned that the original types of V. subrupicola

were collected at Clinton's Cave, Utah, by Dr. Packard; while

much larger specimens, though with the same number of whorls,

were collected later at Cave City, Calaveras Co., California, by

Hemphill. After careful study I have found no characters except

size to separate these from the Utah specimens, but in view of this

difference the former may take the varietal name of spela-a. Neither

form can be confounded with V. indentata by any one who critically

compares good specimens. A specimen of V. subrupicola with four

28 THE NAUTILUS.

whorls has a major diameter of 2'7 ram.; one of the variety, with

exactly the same number of whorls, measures 4'0 mm., and my

largest specimen 5'5 mm.

HELICES IN ILLINOIS.

BY W. S. STRODE.

lu the Spoon river region of central Illinois, Polygyra muttilineata

is probably the most numerous of all the Helices. In the heavily

wooded districts bordering the banks of the stream, where rotten

logs, decaying leaves and vegetation are in the greatest abundance,

they attain the largest size. Further back near the blurts they are

much smaller, not being more than one-half the size of those found

near the river's bank. This difference which is due probably to

environment, has given rise to the so-called multilineata major and

minor. Not long since while driving across the bottom a mile from

the river, I noticed many snails in the wagon track and crawling

across the road. Just on my left was a tract of swamp prairie land

containing several acres. The previous season this had grown up

with tall prairie grass two or three feet in height, but a day or two

before it had burned over. Going over to it I found the ground

thickly strewn with multilineata which the fire had killed. Wher-

ever a bit of grass, log or rail had escaped the fire, live ones could

be picked up by the handful. It was the most extensive snailery

I had ever seen. Thousands of them dead and alive, but not an

albolabris nor &profunda nor a Helix of any kind except ti\e multi-

lineata; and in coloration from those that were almost albinos to

the rubra with scores of lines, and all were the minor variety.

Pyramidula alternate is the next species in relative abundance.

Taking both upland and lowland it probably will outrank the »r«/-

tilinenta. Then comes the «/>/"'''*'•'•'"> which in some localities is quite

abundant. P. hirsuta, profunda, mitehelliana and albolabris will

rank in the order in which I have placed them. On the overflow

land of the Illinois River a snail is rarely to be found. Further back

near the foot-hills and on the margins of creeks tributary to this

stream, they are quite common and fine. In these localities are to

be found a few Polygyra elei'ntn Say, quite rare in the Spoon River

region.

THE NAUTILUS.

DR. JOHN A. RYDER.

29

Dr. John Adam Ryder, Professor of Comparative Embryology at

the University of Pennsylvania, and one of the most eminent em-

bryologists and histologists in the world, died at his residence in

Philadelphia, March 26, after a short illness, at the age of 43 years.

The immediate cause of his demise was a complication of nervous

troubles, which brought on gastric symptoms. Dr. Ryder was a

very hard student, and his death was doubtless caused largely by

over study.

JOHN A. KYDER, PH. D.

Dr. Ryder was born near London, Franklin County, Pennsyl-

vania, in 1852. He received a common school education and en-

tered an academy, where his educational course was interrupted by

financial reverses to his father. He then adopted his life work

•30 THE NAUTILUS.

teaching, and entered as a Jessup scholar, under an endowment held

by the Academy of Natural Sciences of this city. He speedily

showed great interest in scientific study and pursuit, and immedi-

ately began original research which has made him prominent in

scientific circles. His mind was stored with a vast accumulation of

facts which he so aptly used afterwards iu illustrating his lectures.

Early in life he began the publication of those original investiga-

tions that soon stamped him as one of America's foremost biologists.

Later he was called, by the late Professor Spencer F. Baird, to the

position of Embryologist to the United States Fish Commission.

The succeeding years, up till 1886, were spent in investigating

the development, habits and breeding grounds of the oyster, stur-

geon and other fishes, and in elaborate investigations bearing on

these. His published papers on the oyster number about fifteen,

and contain suggestions whose economic value is only now beginning

to be recognized. His works and papers on the sturgeons and on

propagation of the salmon are the most exhaustive upon these par-

ticular lines of study extant. These have been published in the

bulletins of the United States Fish Commission, and have attracted

the attention of American and European scientists. By means

of Professor Ryder's method, the great fresh water lakes are now

annually stocked with many thousand young sturgeon.

Dr. Ryder, four years ago, made an extended investigation of

oyster culture at Sea Isle City, and the results of these studies are

expected to revolutionize oyster culture.

He proved that oysters could be cultivated by artificial methods

by starting with the egg, and, under conditions which can be con-

trolled, and within a prescribed area and cost, that oysters could be

raised by persons possessing the proper knowledge. He also wrote

extensively upon the development of cetaceans and other mammals,

and the thoughts and ideas advanced by him and the Hue of inves-

tigation opened up have been seized with avidity by scientists.

In 1886, he was invited to take the Professorship of Comparative

Embryology at the University of Pennsylvania, and thereafter,

although actively engaged in undergraduate and graduate teaching,

he still was busy with his pen. The Proceedings of the Academy of

Natural Sciences, of the American Philosophical Society, the Ameri-

can Niiturnlixt, as well as the most prominent of European journals,

were enriched by his contributions. Dr. Ryder was a strenuous

opponent of the Weissmanian school of biological thought, believing,

THE NAUTILUS. 31

as he did, that all phenomena of living organisms could be explained

by the laws of mechanics. He was one of the foremost of mechanical

evolutionists.

His chief writings and papers embrace " The Inheritance of Mod-

ifications Due to Disturbances of the Early Stages of Development,

Especially to the Japanese Domesticated Races of Golden Carp ; "

" Dynamics in Evolution ; " " The Mechanical Genesis of the Form

of the Fowl's Egg ; " "A Physiological Hypothesis of Heredity and

Variation ; " " The Origin of Sex Through Cumulative Integration,

and the Relation of Sexuality to the Genesis of Species ; " " On the

Mechanical Genesis of the Scales of Fishes ; " " The Sturgeons and

O

Sturgeon Industries of the Eastern Coast of the United States, etc.;"

" The Development of the Common Sturgeon ; " " Evolution of the

Specialized Vertebral Axes of the Higher Types; " "A Physiologi-

cal Theory of the Calcification of the Skeleton," and " The Origin

and Meaning of Sex."

Dr. McFarlane, speaking of Dr. Ryder, said : " He was, undoubt-

edly, one of the three greatest embryologists. His true worth was

not known by the public, but the scientists with whom he was asso-

ciated readily appreciated his great genius. His relations with his

friends, colleagues and students were marked by a simplicity, earn-

estness and straightforwardness of purpose that endeared him to all.

He enjoyed a profound reputation in Europe, and the news of his

death will call forth the deepest sympathy from friends of science

everywhere."

DR. W. S. W. RUSCHENBERGER.

Dr. William S. W. Ruschenberger, the eminent naval surgeon

and scientist, died March 29, at his home, 1932 Chestnut Street,

Philadelphia, in his 88th year.

Dr. Ruschenberger was one of the most widely known members

of his profession in this country. He was born in Cumberland

County, New Jersey, September 4, 1807. After receiving an

academic education in Philadelphia and New York schools, he en-

tered the medical service of the United States Navy as a surgeon's

mate, August 10, 1826.

He was commissioned a surgeon in the navy April 4, 1831, and

from 1835 to 1837 was Fleet Surgeon to the East India Squadron,

with which he circumnavigated the globe. In 1840-42, Dr. Rusch-

32 THE NAUTILUS.

enberger was attached to the naval rendezvous in Philadelphia.

From 1843, he was Superintendent of the United States Naval Hos-

pital at Brooklyn, and, during his term of service there, organized

the Naval Laboratory, for supplying the service with pure drugs.

He was again Fleet Surgeon of the East India Squadron from 1847

to 1850 ; Fleet Surgeon of the Pacific Squadron from 1854 to 1857,

and of the Mediterranean Squadron from August, I860, to July,

1861, having served in the intervals between cruises at Philadelphia.

In 1871, he was commissioned Medical Director on the retired

list, with the relative rank of Commodore.

Dr. Rtischenberger has been best known in Philadelphia, per-

haps, for his scientific labors, and particularly for his efforts in be-

half of the Academy of Natural Sciences, which bestowed on him

the highest honors within its gift.

He was elected Vice-President of the Academy in January, 1869,

and President in December of the same year, serving in the latter

office until 1881, when he was succeeded by Dr. Joseph Leidy. At

the time of his death he was oue of the curators, and Director of the

Concbological Section.

Dr. Ruschenberger won considerable reputation by the results of

his scientific observations during his various cruises, which he pub-

lished at different times. Some of his works were : " Three Years

in the Pacific," "A Voyage Round the World," "Elements of

Natural History," " Lexicon of Terms Used in Natural History,"

" Notes and Commentaries During a Voyage to Brazil and China."

Besides these, he wrote "A Notice of the Origin, Progress and Pres-

ent Condition (1852) of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila-

delphia," and various other pamphlets.

Dr. Ruschenberger's works on Natural History were among the

first American treatises on this subject, and were largely instrumen-

tal in creating an interest in zoology in this country. One of the

most eminent entomologists in America, in speaking of Dr. Rusch-

enberger, said that he had first learned the orders of insects from

Ruschenberger's Natural History.

THREE NEW SPECIES OF MACOMA FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO.

JiY WILLIAM H. DALL.

Macoma limula, n. s.

Shell small, long and narrow, moderately inflated, anterior end

rounded, longer ; the posterior end subrostrate, bent to the right ;

THE NAUTILUS. 33

the pallial sinus deep, reaching more than half way from the verti-

cal of the beaks to the anterior adductor ; one bifid cardinal tooth

in the left and two in the right valve, without laterals ; ligament

short, strong ; exterior with nearly smooth beaks and no radiating

lines, but most of the valve covered with low elevated concentric ir-

regularly broken lines, which are irregularly swollen or granulose

minutely in a longitudinal sense ; color of the shell pale lemon-yel-

low or white, without distinct epidermis. Alt. 6'0, Ion. 13'0, poste-

rior end 6'0, diam. 3'5 mm.

Gulf of Mexico west of Florida in 26 fathoms ; offCape Lookout,

N. Carolina, in 22 fathoms ; Barbados in 100 fathoms.

This curious shell is distinguishable from any other American

species by its peculiar surface. It grows twice as large as the meas-

urements given above.

Macoma Mitchell!, n. s.

Shell small, thin, polished, pinkish-white, moderately inflated ;

teeth as in .17. limula but more feeble ; valves closely resembling

Tellina versicolor Cozzens, but without the lateral teeth, less solid,

the pallial sinus more distant from the anterior adductor, the pos-

terior dorsal slope less arched and not quite so long, the muscular

impressions less impressed and the anterior end somewhat broader ;

in M. mitehelli the surface is mostly smooth, but near the ventral

margin, especially in front, there are impressed, somewhat distant

and inconstant, concentric lines in harmony with the lines of growth

or nearly so. Alt. 8'25, long. 15'0, post, end 6'0, diam. 4'0 mm.

Habitat, Matagorda Bay, Texas, (I. D. Mitchell).

Macoma leptonoidea, n. s.

Shell very thin, high, short, polished, smooth or with fine silky

concentric striula; under a thin iridescent epidermis ; hinge very

feeble, teeth as in M. linui/n ; pallial sinus irregular, reaching about

two-thirds the whole length, backward from the front edge of the

valves ; outline of valves leptonoid, the anterior slope longer and

more rounded, the posterior shorter and more direct but not ros-

trate, though there are two obscure ridges radiant backward from

the beaks but not modifying the posterior margin ; the shell is some-

what compressed but not flattened. Alt. 13'0, Ion. 1(>, Ion. of post.

end IvO diam. li'O mm. Matagorda Bay, Texas, (Lloyd.).

This little shell looks curiously like a Lepton. Its outline, though

larger, differs little from that of Lepton longipes Stm. The types of

34 THE NAUTILUS.

the above mentioned species are in the National Museum, being re-

spectively Nos. 95,619, 124,686 and 125,532.

ISAAC LEA DEPARTMENT.

[Conducted in the interest of the Isaac Lea Conchological Chapter of the Agassiz

Association by its General Secretary, Mrs. M. Burton Williamson.]

MARINE SHELLS ON THE COAST OF MAINE.

Report of Mrs. E. P. Wentworth. From the Transactions of the Isaac Lea Concho-

logical Chapter of the Agassiz Association for 1893.

During the past two years I have been much interested in con-

chology and have devoted my spare hours to collecting and study-

ing mollusks.

I have collected marine shells from the Damariscotta River,

Long Creek, near Portland, Peak's Island in Casco Bay, and Old

Orchard and Higgin's Beaches, all these localities being in Maine.

At Peak's Island the following shells were found in great, abund-

ance : Mytilus ediilis, Modiola modiolus, Macoina baltica, Mya are-

naria, Saxicava arctica, Biiccinum nndatum, Nassa obsolela, Nassa

trivittata, Purpura lapillus, Littorina rudis, L. litorea, L. palliata,

Lacuna vincta, Natica hens, Acnuea testudinalis. Occasionally

there would be found hidden in the crevices of the rocks or thrown

upon the beaches, Crepidula fornicata and Anomia ueitleata.

The Damariscotta River, some forty or fifty miles east of Port-

land, is somewhat sheltered ; and it contains mollusks which might

once have been plentiful all along the coast of Maine, but which are

now not often found so far north. Among these shells are the

Odostomia bisiituralis Say (if I have made no mistake in the identi-

fication), of which the extreme northern limit is Massachusetts

Bay, according to Bulletin No. 37, U. S. National Museum. Uro-

salpinx cinerea is very common in Damariscotta River, and the fol-

lowing shells are also found there: Rissoa mimda, Mya arenaria,

Modiola plica! ii /n, < 'repidula convexa, Alexia myosotis, Purpura la-

pillus, Littorina palliata, etc. There are many old shells of Ostrea

virginica and Venn* mercmm-in buried along the banks of the river

and some of the people who live near by say that within their re-

membrance there were many oysters and qtiahogs in the river and

THE NAUTILUS. 35

that they have been killed out by the sawdust from the mills above.

On this river are the celebrated Damariscotta shell heaps composed

almost wholly of oyster shells, and varying in depth from a few feet

to more than sixty feet. Some of the oyster shells from these heaps

are more than a foot in length.

At Old Orchard arid Higgin's Beaches the shells are very differ-

ent from those found on Peak's Island or in the Damariscotta

River. Here are found, on the sand, between high and low water

mark, Cyprina islandica, Tellina tenera, Ensis Americanus, Siliqua

costata, Mactra solidissima, Nassa triviltata(very fine specimens), Ly-

onsia hyalina, Scala greenlandica, Bela harpularia, Periploma ( Coeh-

lodesma) leanum, Modiolamodiolus, Mya arenaria, etc. Clinging to

the seaweeds thrown up by the surf, I found Tmchydermon ruber,

Anomia glabra, Anomia aculeate. Also found at Higgin's Beach, a

very fine Petrieola pholadiformis.

GENERAL NOTES.

THE collection of Dr. P. P. Carpenter, the well-known authority

on West Coast shells, has been purchased by the Field Columbian

Museum of Chicago.

DISPERSAL OF SHELLS. — In his book on the " Dispersal of

Shells," Mr. Kew mentions floating pumice-stone as a possible

means of dispersal as pointed out by Mr. Bates and Sir C. Lyell.

As a slight contribution to dispersal, or possible dispersal, by this

means, I may say that on November 18th last I picked up a piece

of poroua blast-furnace slag, about <Sx6x2 inches, that contained 17

individuals of Zonites nitidus Miill., radiatulus Alder and arboreus

Say, all hibernating. This slag was lying among drift on the bank

of the Ohio River and the nearest point from which it could have

come is at least 10 miles above the point where it was found. As

the slag is very light and floats hir/h in the water, it would prob-

ably travel a considerable distance before the shells were all drowned

and thus a colony of Z. nitidus, a northern shell, might he started a

considerable distance down the Ohio. — GEO. H. CLAPP, Pittsburgh,

Pa.

36 THE NAUTILI'S.

PROF. H. E. SARGENT has left Woodville, Ala., to spend the sum-

mer in Clearwater, Minnesota.

PROFESSOR THOMAS H. HUXLEY, the most famous of English

biologists, died at 3.35 P. M., June 29, at the age of seventy years.

Dr. W. D. HARTMAN, of West Chester, is publishing an Illustra-

ted Catalogue of the Molhisks of Chester Co., Pa., in The Village

Record, West Chester.

PLANORBIS SAMPSONI Ancey, described from Sedalia, Mo., and

hitherto recorded from no other locality, is in the collection of the

Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., from Athens, Illinois, collected by E. Hall.

PLANORBIS CENTERyiLLENSis Tryon. — This very distinct species

seems to be quite widely diffused on the Pacific slope, but most west-

ern collectors call it vermicularis Gld., judging from the labels of

numerous lots before us. It is a small, brown shell, with high

whorls, flat top, concave in the middle, and narrow umbilicus, while

the true vermicularis is a flat, corneous shell, very similar to purvus

or small deflectus, and doubtfully distinct from eastern forms.

MR. 8. N. RHOADS has returned from a collecting trip through

Tennessee, from the Mississippi to Roan Mountain. Land shells,

i'nionUhi' and Pleuroceratidce were found abundant. Jo spinosa was

rather scarce in the Tennessee, Nolachucky and Holston Rivers

under boulders ill swift water. Vitrinizonites was taken at Roan

Mountain, as well as Polygyra andrewsce and major, with other fine

and local species. Helieina occnlta Say also turned up in east Ten-

nessee. Mammals were scarce throughout the State, except at Roan

Mountain.

MOLLUSKS AS PURIFIERS OF WATER. — Charles Hedley, in the

Journal of Malacology, says: "A use, novel to me, of pond snails by

the Chinese silk-growers, is described in an official work which

caught my eye by chance. This waif of malacological information

is so certain to escape recorders that I transcribe the passage : ' The

water used for reeling silk is taken from mountain streams, as being

the cleanest ; the water from wells is never used, and if mountain

water cannot be had, river water is taken, which is cleaned by put-

ting a pint of live shell-fish to one jar of water. There is a special

kind of shell-fish, called the pure-water shell-fish (probably Viripur/i

chlnen&is Gray), found everywhere in ponds, wells and creeks.

They first of all sink to the bottom of the jar, and then by degrees

make their way up its sides, consuming gradually all impurities in

the water within half a day or so. After the clean water has been

drawn from the jar, the shell-fish are cleansed and put to the same

duty again.' "

THE NAUTILUS.

VOL. ix. AUGUST, 1895. No. 4

PLEUROCERA SUBULARE IN WATER-MAINS.

BY CHAS. T. SIMPSON.

The U. S. National Museum has recently received from the Han-

nibal Water Co., of Hannibal, Mo. (through Mr. Chas. T. Lewis), a

number of dead shells of Pleurocera subulare Lea, taken from the

mains and pipes of the company in that city.

Mr. Lewis states that they accumulate at the cocks and faucets,

and seriously retard the flow of the water, putting the company to

considerable expense to remove them ; also, that none have been

found in their reservoirs or settling-wells, and they have never seen

them in the Mississippi River.

The specimens taken in the company's pipes are always dead, and

are only found in a space of perhaps 12 to 15 blocks, and not all

the pipes in this area are infested.

This species has been found as far west as the White River, Car-

roll Co., Arkansas, and in the Mississippi River at Davenport, from

which localities specimens were obtained that are now in the Na-

tional Museum Collection, though the range of this form is mostly

to the eastward of these localities. It is probable that the eggs or

very young entered the mains through the strainers and took up

their abode in certain favorable localities in the pipes, where food

was brought to them by the currents, or existed in abundance, and

that a more careful search would disclose them in a living state in

the service pipes.

38 THE NAUTILUS.

The existence of mollusks in water pipes is no new thing, though

it is always interesting, and this is the first instance I have heard of

in which any of the Pleuroceridie have such a habitat. M. Locard

found 44 species belonging to 13 genera in the water-mains of Paris,1

and that they possessed certain peculiarities, no doubt the result of

their environment. These were a diminution in size and decrease

of coloration on account, perhaps, of the want of light ; a more

slender form, as this would make the least resistance to currents and

enable the mollusks to cling more securely to the pipes. The speci-

mens of Plettrocera sent by Mr. Lewis did not specially differ from

those in the Museum Collection from Davenport, but, as the species

had only been noticed at Hannibal a few years, it is probable that

there has not sufficient time elapsed in its new environment to pro-

duce any important changes.

Many other cases of mollusks living in water pipes are known,

notably that of Dreissensia polymorpha, introduced into England

from the Aralo-Caspian region, and it has proven a serious nuisance

in the mains of London, Birmingham and Manchester.

MARINE SHELLS OF PUGET SOUND.

By Mrs. Marie Urake. From the Transactions of Isaac Lea Conchological Chapter

of the Agassiz Association for 1894.

I have a Glycimeris f/em'i'osa Gld. which I got from Dr. Pomeroy

of Vashon Is. It weighed 7} Ibs. when alive, and was dug from a

depth of three feet. Its length is 73 inches, width 4} inches. Its

longest circumference is I-'!', inches. It gapes widely at both ends ;

rarely meets when alive. Its edges are covered with a yellowish-

brown epidermis. The pallial sinus, though not very deep, is from

k inch to 2 inch wide. Its distinct concentric grooves or lines are

slightly irregular. The valves of this shell are strongly bulging.

This shell is commonly called " Goe-duck," because it is so deep a

burrower. The Indians esteem this shell-fish a great delicacy, and

ornament their houses and yards with the shells. It is highly es-

teemed as an article of food, though quite difficult to obtain ; one is

said to furnish food for a whole family. Star-fish are also found by

the hundreds at low tide on the mud flats, and of every hue — bright

scarlet, peacock-blue, sea-green and paler tints.

'See NAUTILUS, Sept., 1894, p. 59.

THE NAUTILUS. 39

I have found three species of Purpura here and many varieties,

but the handsomest one is Purpura crispata Chenm. In my mind,

the finest shell belonging to Puget Sound is this Purpura when

banded orange and white. This shell usually does not see the light

of day. Some persons prefer the deep orange variety. Both live

under the water on the under side of stones or in rocky places, and

are either obtained by dredging or at very low tide. Purpura lac-

tuca Esch. is not found in so deep water, hence its white color; it is

exposed to the rays of the sun sometimes. About September 1st,

you can notice a great many purpuras closely packed together,

clinging to rocks laying their eggs, which are in little capsules and

resemble yellow oats stuck on end thickly over parts of the rock.

Each capsule contains three or four dozen eggs, which require about

four months to hatch, if they are not doomed before by some star-

fish hungry for an egg dinner. You can find a few egg cases almost

any time of the year, but most of the eggs are laid during the

mouths of August and September. Purpura lives on mussels, limpets

and barnacles, or, if food gets scarce, it will eat dead fish. But the

Purpura are not always victorious, for, when a crab wants a " pur-

ple tea," he shows no mercy to the destroyer of other homes, but

inserts his strong claws under the operculum of the Purpura and

digs him out and devours him.

O

One June morning, at Point Defiance, I saw three Calliostoma

eoztatum eating a sea-weed breakfast. They looked so dainty and

seemed to enjoy the bright sunshine so thorough!}', that it was with

some regret that I placed them in my basket.

One of my friends dug up a fine Priene oregonensis Redf. It was

five inches long and covered with a heavy dark brown epidermis.

When the epidermis is removed, the shell is white. It has a strong

epidermis. I have found a few specimens of Bittium fi/osnm Gld.,

under stones at low tide, and several Margarita papilla. Orepidnla

dorsata Brod. I have found by the hundreds growing on the shells,

especially upon Placunanomia maerosehisma Desh. The Littorina

are very plentiful and are large. I have searched for Chrysodomus

dints Rve., but have seen no traces of it. Perhaps it is found only

• on the ocean beach, and does not care for the Sound.

Modiola modiohis L. (Modiolus capax Conr. V) grows to an enor-

mous size in the vicinity of Puget Sound. My husband brought me

several from Henderson Bay ; the smallest measured 7 inches in

length, the largest 9 inches, and was 4 inches in diameter. These

40 THE NAUTILUS.

he found growing in the mud, standing perpendicular, only about an

inch being visible at very low tide. They are heavily bearded near

the edge, partially covered with a light brown epidermis (which is

several shades lighter than the epidermis of this same species which

grows in the south), and considerably eroded near the unbones. All

the shells living in the mud here are somewhat eroded. These mon-

sters have an uncanny look ; they are hermits when they grow old,

do not live in clumps or groups as they do when young, or as My-

tilus edidis does. Often I have seen a solitary M. modiolus upon a

pile or log, which was entirely covered with M. edulis. They grow

from TJj inch to 8 inches in a single year. It takes muscle to re-

move one of the huge creatures from a rock or pile when it has

fastened itself with brown byssal threads, which it spins with its

huge tongue-like foot, from a sticky secretion formed at the base of

the foot. They are said to live six hundred feet deep down in the

ocean. Pupuras are death on mussels.

Placunamomia macroschisma Desh. is found here in great num-

bers. They live upon the under side of rocks which lie wholly in or

part in water. A chisel is necessary to separate them from the

rock, and even with this the pear-shaped byssal plug is rarely ob-

tained entire. The interior of the upper valve is of a lovely sea-

green and nacreous. The edges of the valves are thin and crumble

at the least touch, which renders them difficult to clean and send

away. If they grow upon other shells they are not so easily broken,

but are much stronger. I have a fine specimen which I found

growing in an old shell of Cardium corbis Mart. I obtained the

byssal plug and both valves entire. The shells sometimes grow

upon each other ; when thus found, a perfect specimen is more read-

ily obtained than from a rock. These shells are often mistaken for

an oyster, especially by those unlearned in shell lore; they do re-

semble the variety known as 0. e.rpa»sn, though they are much

larger and have the byssal opening and plug, which the oyster does

not have. These bivalves are much handsomer than their southern

cousins A nomia lampe. The animal is a bright orange, and is quite

beautiful. To be prepared for the cabinet they are dipped in very

hot water and the animal removed with a tiny steel chisel prepared

for the purpose, then gently closed. This shell requires careful

handling.

I saw a Lnnulin lewisii Gld. eating a I'unlium corlns very much

larger than itself. I stopped this predatory proceeding, took both

THE NAUTILUS. 41

Lome in my basket, and, after cremating the bodies, placed both

shells in my cabinet. Both these shells are abundant on the Sound,

and are easily obtained by digging in the sand and mud. The

Macoma family thrives here. I have not found M. tecta, but M.

nasuta and M. inquinata are prized by the Indians as food, and M.

inconspicua is found by the hundred, the exterior slightly eroded by

the mud in which it dwells, but the inside of the shell is of a bright,

rich, shiny pink ; pale yellow and pure white are also found. The

shell is about the size of a finger-nail.

I was surprised to find upon the rocky beach at Brown's Point a

living specimen of Lyonsia californica Conr. It was moving about

in a pool of water among pebbles and rocks. It seems marvelous

that its thin, delicate little shell could remain uncrushed an instant ;

but it seemed to enjoy life as well here in the rugged, stormy north

as it does in the wanner waters of the " land of sunshine and blue

skies."

Cardium corbis is more hardy, though, unlike most of our north-

ern shells, it is smaller than its southern cousins C. quadragenerium

and Liocardhim elatum, but it is much more numerous than either

of these species.2

Peeten hastatus Sby. is called by many our "prettiest shell," and

with the thousands of little spears (hastatus), toothed edges and deli-

cate coloring, it is indeed a lovely shell. I saw one for the first time

(living) at Point Defiance during the month of April. It was

caught on the top of a rock by becoming entangled by a piece

of sea-weed ; it opened and closed its shell rapidly, making a curi-

ous sound. The orange color of the animal shone and glittered in

the sun. The circulation could be seen and the working of the

heart and other organs. This Peeten is a deep-water species, swims

about freely in the water and moves about at the same angle as a

kite does in the air. It lives among sea-weeds and is found in great

abundance at Fox Island in the spring of the year. The lower

valve is bleached by the sand. It lives in the water and is never

exposed to the rays of the sun, hence the delicacy of the color. This

shell-fish has black eyes, and can tell when a hand or a bird comes

to grasp it. I have seen Amusium caurinum in deep water, but

have never succeeded in capturing one, as it is obtained only by

dredging in very deep water. It is brown outside, white within, and

has 20 ribs, and is not so handsome as P. hastatus.

- And is also a much heavier shell than the southern Cardium. M. I!. \\

42 THE NAUTILUS.

arcnai-in L. is highly prized here as food, and grows six inches

long. Maehcera patula Dixou is sold in our markets. Pgammobia

rubroradiata Nutt. is more abundant and larger than in the south.

It is found 5 inches long, here, partially covered with dark brown

epidermis. Tapes and Saxidomus are well represented, and, though

not so prettily marked, are very much larger and stronger (coarser)

than those growing iu the warmer waters of the south. They are

almost always to be found in the markets.

Zirphcea crispata L. was recently described in one of our Tacoma

daily papers by one of our Government surveyors as " a new clam."

" We have found a new shell unknown to science," etc. We

were greatly amused, and sent an article to the paper the next day

saying Zirphcea crispata (" a new clam ") is found in abundance on

both sides of the Atlantic, and was named by Linnreus long ago.

Limpets I have found in great abundance and of great size. I

have several specimens of Acmaa patina Esch. found here in the

"Narrows," measuring 2! inches iu length and 13 inches across.

Many of this species have bauds of translucent tints on their inte-

rior, and are beautifully marked outside.

A.pelta\s regularly marked with stripes from the apex, which is

often corroded, in adult specimens, to the base. This is a most

pleasing shell ; is a sort of hermit, lives alone, often easily obtained ;

strong, not easily broken ; often pure white inside, sometimes banded.

I have one with a bright yellow baud inside, embossed. Large

specimens measure Id inches in length,!} inches wide, 11 inches

high. I have not found A. spectrum Nutt. nor Lottia gigantea Gray,

here. Fine specimens and many variations of A. wabra Nutt. are

abundant. I have found more of A. persona than of any other spe-

cies. At Brown's point, we find at one spot a variety having a

gray interior with beautiful translucent bands. This is a new var-

iation to me. A. asmi Midd. is found here, and many I have not

been able to classify.

I have one specimen of Fissuridea aspera Esch. 21 inches long,

li inches wide and nearly 11 inches high.

Limpets are sometimes used for picture frames by setting thrm

deep in wood and fastening with glue. I saw one valued at fifty

dollars here.

THE NAUTILUS. 43

INDEX TO CONCHOLOGISTS' EXCHANGE. i

AN INDEX TO THE " CONCHOLOGISTS' EXCHANGE."

The publication of this magazine was commenced by Mr. Wm.

D. Averill, of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, in July, 1-S.sii. The

first number was printed on a postal card. The August number

(No. 2) consists of four pages, without pagination, size 5.] x 6J

inches. The September number contains six pages, without pagina-

tion. October number contains eight pages, which are numbered,

the first being page 11; the last page (18) is blank. November

number contains six pages. December number, eight pages and

the last page is blank. January and February numbers (1887)

each contain eight pages. March and April (Nos. 9 and 10) were

printed together as a " double number," which consists of twelve

pages. The May and June numbers each contain twelve pages and

are a little larger, 5* x 7 inches. Vol. I. complete, contains 84

pages.

Vol. II, Nos. 1 and 2 (July and August, 1887) each contain 1(>

pages. September number contains 12 pages, and with this num-

ber there was another increase in size to 5| x 7-1. October and

November numbers each contain 16 pages. December number, 12

pages. January (1888) number, 12 pages, plus a cover (pp. i-iv)

of the same kind of paper. February number contains 8 pages and

a cover (pp. i-iv). March and April were printed together, but as

one number (No. 9) ; this contains 12 pages and a cover (pp. i-iv)i

and this was the last number published. Vol. II, complete, con-

tains 120 pages, exclusive of cover pages. No index to either vol-

ume was issued. The " Exchange " contains many new generic or

subgeneric names, with other important changes in nomenclature,

and some new species. The Index herewith given has been ar-

ranged to aid conchologists who have not access to a complete copy

of the original publication. It has been cut into short pages in

order that those who have the Conchologist's Exchange may bind

this Index with it.— H. A. P. & C. W. J.

44 THE NAUTILUS.

ii INDEX TO CONCHOLOGISTS' EXCHANGE.

INDEX TO GENERA AND SPECIES IN THE CONCHOLOGISTS'

EXCHANGE, VOLS. I AND II.

Arnnicola porata, A. linjosa, A. cincinnatiensis, A. parva, II, 91

Anatiua papyracea Say, II, 78

Anceyia Pilsbry, u. subg. (Pristina Ancey being preoc-

cupied in Vermes), I, 26, 54

Ancylus fuscus Adams ; Aucylus paralellus Hald., . II, 2

- Angasella Aucey, u. subg., type Helix cyrtopleura Pfr. ;

Australia, ... ... II, 38

Angitrema armigera Say, A. verrucosa Raf., . II, 93

Angrandiella Ancey, n. subg., type Helix angrandi

Morelet; Andes of Peru, 1,20

Anodonta gibbosa Say and A. couperiana Lea, . . I, 27

Anodonta edentula Say, ..... II, 20

Anodonta ferussaciana Lea, . . . . . II, 37

Anodonta imbecilis Say ; Anodonta grandis Say, 11,21

Anodonta plaua, A. corpulenta, A. suborbiculata, . II, 36

Arion subfuscus and Helix hispida var. fusca in York-

shire, ..... . . I, 7

Atlautica Ancey, n. subg., type Helix semiplicata Pfr. ;

Madeira," . . 1, 54

Averellia Ancey, n. subg.,=Coelospira Ancey non Hall, I, 54

Batbyaxis, Ancey, n. subg., type Cwliaxis Layardi Ad.

&Angas; Cape Colony, . ... 11,39

Bernuidia, Ancey, n. subg., type Helix Burmudensis

Pfr. ; Bermuda I, 53

" Bertia, Aucey, n. subg., type Nanina cambodjiensis

Reeve ; Indo-China, ..... I, 53

Brazieri., Ancey, n. subg., type Helix velata Hombrou

et Jacq ; Caroline Isls., . . . . . II, 22

Bulimini found in Central Asia, ..... II, 5

Burtonia Bourg., .... . II, 22

Bythinia tentaculata Linne, . . . . 11,80,114

Bythinella obtusa Lea, .... II, 81

Calostropha, Ancey, n. subg., type Helix Rafi'rayi Tapp.-

Canefri ; New Guinea, . . . . . II, 3<S

Campeloma subsolida, C. exilis. and C. ruf'a, . II, 66

Carychium exiguum Say, .... 1,6"); II, !I2, 115

THE NAUTILUS. 45

INDEX TO CONCHOLOGISTS EXCHANGE. iii

~Cavicola, Ancey, n. subg., type Streptaxis (?) cavicola

Gredler; China 11,39

Ceronia arctata Conrad, II, 89

Clialepotaxis Aucey, n. subg., type Nanina (?) infantilis

Gredler ; China, II, 22

Chelidonura Rochebrune nou Adams, . . . . II, 22

-Chelidonopsis Ancey, n. gen., Chelidonura Rochebrune

being preoccupied, .... . II, 22

^Chrysodon Ancey, u. subg., type Helix auridens Rang. ;

Martinique, . . .... I, 54

-Cojlospira Ancey, n. subg., type Helix Macneili Crosse ;

Costa Rica, . ... I, 20, 2(3, 54

Conomitra found living in the West Indies, . II, 9

Corbula contracta Say, . . . II, 61

Coxia Ancey, n. subg., type Helix Macgregori Cox;

New Ireland, I, 75

Crystallopsis Ancey, n. subg., types H. Huuteri Cox ;

H. Allasteri Cox, etc. ; Solomon Is., ... II, 22

Cuiningia tellinoides Conrad, II, 89

C'ypnea, a list of the rarer species, . . . . II, 34

Cytherea Sayii Conrad and Cytherea (Gouldia) mactra-

cea Linsley, . .... II, 109

Ensatella aruericana Gould, .... II, 34

Entodina Ance}r, n. subg., type Helix Reyrei Souverbie ;

Ecuador, . I, 64

Eurystyla Ancey, n. subg., types Helix cerina Mor. ; H.

viridis Desh., .... .II, 39

Gastrodonta multidentata Biuney, var. umbilicaris An-

cey (n. var.), I, 54

Gundlachia ancyliformis Pfr. in Florida, . . II, 96

Goniobasis costifera Hald., . . . . . II, 94

Helicina Durangoana Mouss. . . . . . II, 79

Helicina hanleyana Pfr., ... . . I, 21

Helicina orbiculata Say, 1,8,21,21

Helicina subtropica Jan. [Error tor H. tropica Jan.], I, <S, 26

Helix nemoralis in a new locality (Great Skellig Island), I, 12

Helix conimutanda Ancey (n. name for Triodopsis Har-

fordiana W. G. B., uon Helix Sarfordiana

Cooper), . . . 11,79,113

46 THE NAUTILUS.

IV INDEX TO CONCHOLOGISTS EXCHANGE.

Helix (Polygyra) unguifera Mouss. (H. acutedentata

W. G. Binney), . . II, 79

Helix salmonensis Tryon having priority over H. com-

mutanda Ancey, . .... II, 113

Helix verrilli Ancey, n. sp. ; Mexico, ... II, 63

Helix Levettei Bland, var. Thorasoniana Ancey and

var. orobcena Ancey (n. vars.), . . . . 11,64

Helix armigera Ancey, . . . II, 64

Helix Dschulfensis Dubois, ...... II, 7

Helminthoglypta Aucey, 11. subg., types Helix arrosa

Gld , H. ramentosa Old., etc., .... I, 76

Lejeania Ancey, n. subg., tvpes Helix Darnaudi Pfr.,

H. Isseliana Mor., H. Jickeliana Nevill, etc. ;

Abyssinia, . , I. 7.1

Limntea reflexa Say and L. desidiosa Say, ... II, 103

Limntea zebra Tryon and L. caperata Say, . . II, 104

Limmea humilis Say ; L, parva Lea; L. casta Lea, . II, 110

Liogyrus Lehnerti Ancey, n. sp., Washington, D. C., . II, 79, 113

Lioplax subcariuata Say, . . . . . . II, 66

Lithasia obovata Say, . -I, 56, II, 93

Lyogyrus Gill (L. pupoides GUI), II, 113

Lyonsia hyalina Conrad, ... . . II, 77

Macuma fusca Say, . , . . . . . II, 101

Mactra solidissima ; Mactra lateralis, . . . . II, 78

Margaritaua complanata ; M. rugosa Barnes, . . II, 5

Margaritana confragosa, M. deltoidea, M. marginata, . II, 20

Margaritana Hildrethiaua Lea II, 114

Mastus chion Pfr., M. polygyratus Pfr., etc., . II, 7

Melongena fusiformia Blainv., ..... I, 83

Mesodon dentiferus Binney, ..... I, •>•">

Mesopleura centralis Say, . . II, 46

Mesorhytis, . II, "

Microphysa Ingersolli Bland, var. convexior Ancey

(n. var.), ... . II, 64

Mitra Ferguson! Sby., and Mitra Rivolii Dall, . . II, !'

Modiola tulipa found at Cape May, N. J., . . . I, '2-

Mollendorfia Ancey, n. snbg., types Helix trisinuata

Mart.; H. HensaniensisGredler ; H. Eastlakeana

Mnlhlf. ; China, . I, 64

THE NAUTILUS. 47

INDEX TO CONCHOLOGISTS EXCHANGE. V

JMya arenaria Linne, II, 47

Mytilopsis leucopheata (Jonr., attached to Unios, . I, 27

Natica Fordiana Simpson, n. sp. ; Florida, . . . II, 51

Nesera pellucida Stimp., . . II, 61

Nesobia Ancey, n. subg., type Bulimus Heleiioe Q. et

G. ; St. Helena, . . II, 39

Oligospira Ancey, u. subg., types II. Waltoni Rve. ; H.

Skinneri Rve. ; Ceylon, . . . . . II, 22

Ophiosphila Ancey, n. subg., types Helix Kuhui Pfr. ;

H. andicola Pfr. ; H. catenifera, etc., . . I, 64

Pandora trilineata Say, II, 62

Parmacella valenciennii Webb & Van Ben., var punc-

tulata Cockerell ; var. maculata Cockerell ; and

var. olivacea Cockerell (new varieties),. . . II, 68

Patula strigosa Gld., var. Bruneri Ancey, . . . II, 64

Periploma Leana Conrad, II, 77

Petricola pholadiformis Lam., II, 101

Pholas truncata Say, . . I, 65, II, 19

Pholas costata Linn., ....... II, 19

Physa solida Phil., syn. of P. heterostropha Say, . . I, 20

Physa ("Paludinn,") scalaris Jay a Plauorbis (Heli-

soma), ... . . II, 113

Physa gyrina Say ; P. heterostropha Say, . . . 11,111

Pilsbrya Ancey, n. subg., in place of Poecilostola An-

cey, preoccupied, ...... I, 54

Pisidium compressuni Prime ; P. variabile Prime, . . II, 49

Pisidium wquilaterale Prime, ..... II, 50

Planorbis dilatatus Gld., in England I, 63

Plauorbis lens Lea, ........ I, 63, 76

Planorbis havanensis Pfr. ; P. tumidus, . . I, 20, II, 51

Planorbis esacutus Say, I, 76

Planorbis deflectus Say ; P. dilatatus Gld., ... I, 77

Planorbis hirsutus Gld., ...... I, 78

Planorbis parvus Say ; P. Jenksii H. F. Carpenter

(n.sp.), . " . II, 2

Planorbis umbilicatellus Cockerell new name for P. um-

bilicatus Taylor, non Mu'ller, .... II, 68

Planorbis trivolvis Say, 11,111

Planorbis (Helisoma) scalaris Jay (^Physa scalaris Jay), II, 113

Pleurocera subulare Lea, . . . . , .11,81,94

48 THE NAUTILUS.

vi INDEX TO CONCHOLOGISTS' EXCHANGE.

Pleurocera alveare ; P. undulaturu ; P. moniliferum ;

P. canaliculatuiu ; P. troostii ; P. lewisii ; P. ele-

vatum ; P. neglecturn ...... 11,94

Pleuroxia Ancey, new name for Angasella, which is

preoccupied in marine shells ; type Helix cyrto-

pleura Pfr. ; Australia, . ... II, 38

Pcecilostola Ancey, n. subg., type Helix Farrisi Pfr.,

Andes of Peru, . . ' . . . . I, 20, 26, 54

Polygyrella polygrella Bid. & Cooper, var. moutanensis

Aucey (n. var.), ...... II, 80

Pomatiopsis lapidaria Say ....... II, 91

Pristina Ancey, n. subg., types Hyalina Stearnsi Bid. ;

H. Lansing! Bid. ; North America, ... I, 20, 2<>

Pristiloraa Ancey, n. subg., in place of Pristina Ancey,

and Anceyia Pilsbry, uon Anceya Bourguignat, . I, 54

Pseudiberus Ancey, 11. subg., types Helix tectuui-sinense

Mart. ; H. zenonis Gredler ; H. plectotropis

Mart. ; and H. mataiensis Nevill ; China, . I, 76

Pupa corpulenta Morse, var. parietalis Ancey, var. nov. ;

Utah, . . 11,80

Rhysotina Ancey, u. subg., type Helix Welwitschi Mor.,

and H. hepatizon Gld. ; Island of Sao-Tome, . I, 53

Rhyssotopsis Ancey, n. subg., type Helix Haughtoni

Benson ; Andaman Isls., ..... I, 64

Saxicava rugosa Linn., ...... II, 42

Segmentina Wheatleyi Lea, ..... I, 20

Segmentina armigera Say, ... . , II, 2

Sheldonia Ancey, n. subg., types Helix Trotteriana

Bens.; II. phytostylus Bens. ; H. natalensis Pfr.

and perhaps cotyledonis Benson ; S. Africa, . I, 53

Silii|iia costata Say, and Solecurtus gil)bus Spleng., . II, 35

Somatogyrus subglobosus Say and S. depressus Tryon, . II, 90

Sphrerium sulcatum Lam. ; S. solidulum Pr. ; S. striati-

iiuiu Lam. ; S. Jayanum Pr., . . . . II, 48

Spluerium truncatum Liusley ; S. occidentals Pr. ; S.

transversum Say, ...... II, 49

Sphincterochila Ancey, u. subg., types H. filia, Mouss. ;

H. Boissieri Charp. ; near the Dead Sea and N.

Arabia, . II, 23

( To In' 'i'>i' .•'«,//•,/ /;; S,'ft,'int>,'i- number. )

THE NAUTILUS.

VOL. ix.

SEPTEMBER, 1895.

No. 5

A SORA CAUGHT BY A MUSSEL.1

When hunting in the marshes in this vicinity, September 3, 1894,

Mr. Joseph D. Clark noticed a Sora (Porzana Carolina) hopping

along and trying hard to fly. His dog finally captured the bird. It

had a " fresh-water clam " attached to one toe, being firmly caught

by the bivalve. The poor bird, in its efforts to release itself, had

broken the bone of the toe and nearly severed it from the foot. Mr.

Clark kindly presented me with his rare find, and a photograph,

from which the accompanying cut was made, was taken at once.

The mussel was 2.92 inches long and 1.61 wide. — JNO. H. SAGE,

Portland, Conn., in The Auk, July, 1895.

'We are indebted to the editor of Tlie Auk for the illustration of this

article. This mussel is evidently I'nio complanalus Sol.

50 THE NAUTILUS.

SYNOPSIS OF THE SUBDIVISIONS OF HOLOSP1RA AND SOME RELATED

GENERA.

BY W. H. DALL.

Genus HOLOSPIRA Martens ; type H. pilocerei Pfr.

Subgenus Holospim s. s.

Axis large, with an internal fold in the penultimate whorl and

with a parietal, basal and peripheral lamina projecting into the

lumen of that whorl. Besides the type, this includes H. goldfussi

Menke and H. goniostoma Pfr.

Section Bostrichocentrum Strebel & Pfeffer, 1880.

Axis moderate, with a continuous plait, except in the last part of

the last whorl ; no lamina?. Type H. tryoni Pfr. H. Veracruz i« mix

Dall belongs here.

Section Haplostemma Dall, 1895.

Axis moderate, with, in the penultimate whorl only, a short,

stout axial lamina extending about half a gyration, but no other

laminre. Type H. mearnsii Ball, New Mexico.

Section Eudistemma Dall, 1895.

Penultimate whorl with a parietal and a short axial lamina only,

axis moderate. Type H. arizonensis Stearns.

Section Distomospira Dall, 1895.

Penultimate whorl with a basal and a short, strong axial lamina

only, axis moderate. Type H. bilamellatn Dall, New Mexico.

Subgenus Metattoma Strebel & Pfeffer, 1880.

Axis smooth, without plaits, penultimate whorl without internal

lamina?. Type H. nemeri Pfr. This includes also H. pasonis Dall,

If. coahuilensis Binn., H. semisculpta Stearns, H. pfeifferi Meuke, H,

remondii Gabb., H. crossei Dall, H. pilsbryi Dall.

Subgeuus Ccelostemma Dall, 1895.

Axis vertically ribbed as in Ccclocentntm, shell otherwise as in

JUetastoma. Type H. elizabetlue Pilsbry.

The internal characters of the following species are unknown :

H. gealei A. Ads., H. imbricata Martens, H. cretacea Pfr., H. micro-

stoma Pfr. and H. terete Menke.

THE NAUTILUS. 51

Genus CCELOCENTRUM Crosse & Fiscber, 1872.

Shell decollate, axis pervious.

Subgenus Ccelocentnnn s. s.

Axis vertically ribbed internally. Type C. turris Pfr. This in-

cludes nearly all the known species.

Subgenus Spartocentrum Dall, 1895.

Axis as in Boslrichocentrum, not ribbed. Type C. irregulare

Gabb., Lower California.

Genus EUCALODIUM Crosse & Fischer.

Shell resembling Ccelocentrnm, but large, with a solid axis.

Section Eucalodium s. s. Type E. ghiesbrecJtti Pfr.

Axis sinuous and folded its whole length, except close to the aper-

ture; transverse series of teeth ou the radula long (65'1'65 iu the

type).

Section Oligostylus Pilsbry, 1895.

Axis straight and smooth ; radula narrower (36-1-36 in the type).

Type E. blandianum Crosse and Fischer.

Columna ramentosa J. G. Cooper, which might, from the shell, be

assimilated either to Berendtia, Rhodea, or some of the above-men-

tioned groups, proves, from the anatomy, to be merely a section of

Bulimnlus closely related to Leptobyrsus. The genuine Rhodea very

probably bears an analogous relation to Otostomus. It is vivipar-

ous, but the Lower California!! species is not. If the latter be

deemed worthy of a sectional name, Pseudorhodea might be used for

it. The new species of Holospira mentioned above are described in

& report on the mollusks of the late Mexican Boundary Survey

(1892-4), by the writer, which will appear, properly illustrated, in

the report of the Commissioners of the Survey.

My special thanks are due Mr. H. A. Pilsbry for kind assistance

rendered during the preparation of the report.

The anatomy of a curious cylindrical Austrian land snail, Pupa

vbtusa Drap., has recently been investigated by Mr. A. Protz and

Professor von Martens. It proves to be no Pupa, but a member of

the Helicidce, closely allied to the chalky Helices of Europe known

as Helicella or Xerophila.

52 THE NAUTILUS.

A NEW TEINOSTOMA.

BY HENRY A. PILSBRY.

Teinostoma Hidalgoana n. sp.

Shell orbicular, depressed, solid, bright, bluish-white. Spire very-

low, wide-conic, the apex acute. Whorls 2], hardly convex, the

last large, rounded at periphery, depressed beneath ; on its latter

third the periphery descends toward the base, and immediately

behind the lip is decidedly pinched into a short rounded keel. Sur-

face closely engraved throughout with spiral Hues of close, fine

stippling or puuctation. Aperture oblique, rounded, except for the

straight parietal wall; peristome continuous, the outer lip thick,

blunt, strengthened outside by a heavy rib or collar a short distance

behind the edge; parietal wall bearing a low nodule or tooth near

its upper termination. Parieto-umbilical callus heavy, deeply and

coarsely pitted all over, forming a rounded lobe over the umbilical

tract and a band in front of the parietal edge of peristome proper.

Alt. 2, diam. 3'2 mm.

Singapore (Dr. S. Archer !). This exq uisite species is respectfully

dedicated to Dr. J. G. Hidalgo, of Madrid, author of numerous valu-

able contributions to malacological science.

One specimen of the type lot is much smaller than the others (diam.

2 mm.), but in all other respects exactly resembles them, and has the

lip of a fully mature shell.

NOTES ON THE SMALLER AMERICAN PLANORBES.

BY E. G. VANATTA.

Including the species put in the sub-genera Menetus and Gyraulus

by Binney in " Land and Fresh-water Shells of the United States."

The smaller species of Planorbis are, as a general rule, found on

leaves and sticks in small ponds and springs.

The Western Slope species are centervillensis, operctilaris, opercu-

laris var. oregonensis and culfioglyptiis.

P. alabamensis Pils. has so far been found only in Woodville,

Alabama, and Grove, Cooper River, S. C.

P. sampsoni has been found hitherto only in Pettis and Henry

Co., Mo., and Athens, 111.

THE NAUTILUS. 53

P. umbilicatellus occurs in Manitoba and Montana.

The other species mentioned below are more or less widely dis-

tributed over the United States, except hirsutus, which is restricted

to the northern tier of States.

I think any normal specimen can be identified by the following

key:

I. PERIPHERY ACUTELY KEELED.

a. Shell bi-convex.

b. umbilicus broad, shallow, deflectus Say.

66. umbilicus small, deep.

c. lip simple, aperture extremely oblique, exacutus Say.

cc. lip thickened within, aperture less oblique,

alabamensis I'ils.

aa. Upper surface flat, lower convex.

6. lip thickened within, spiral sculpture distinct,

oreyonensis n. v.

66. lip thin, spiral culture absent, or very indistinct.

c. umbilicus broad, shallow, exacutus Say.

cc. umbilicus small, deep.

d. shell very small, radially ribbed below,

cristatus Drap.

dd. shell rather large, smoothish, opercularis Gld.

II. PERIPHERAL KEEL BLUNT OR ABSENT.

a. Radially ribbed below, rn'*t<ttus Drap.

aa. spiral sculpture distinct.

6. umbilicus broad, shallow ; surface with spiral rows of hairs,

hirsutus Gld.

66. umbilicus small and deep.

c. shell rather large; aperture oblique, broader than

high, keel indistinct, callioglyptus.

cc. aperture small, nearly vertical, of equal width and

height, periphery more angular, sampsoni Ancey.

aaa. Surface smooth or nearly so.

6. umbilicus broad and shallow

c. aperture oval, whorls rounded, parvus Say.

cc. aperture broader than high, whorls angular,

deflectus Say.

54 THE NAUTILUS.

bb. umbilicus small, deep.

c. lip thickened within, centervillensis Tryon.

cc. lip simple, thin.

d. whorls angular above the middle, dilatatus Gld.

dd. whorls rounded or angular below the middle.

e. spire sunken in center, deflect us Say.

ee. spire level, apex not sunken.

umbilicatellus Ckll.

Planorbis callioglyptus n. sp.

Shell thin, yellowish corneous. Upper side flat, only a trifle con-

cave in the middle; lower side convex ; periphery very bluntly in-

distinctly angular, and midway between periphery and suture there

is a slight angle; but both angles are obsolete at aperture; base

often spirally malleated. Surface with a beautiful sculpture of fine

spiral incised lines, crenulated by fine growth-lines. Whorls nearly

4. Umbilicus nearly a third the shell's diameter, deep and funnel-

shaped, its edge bluntly angular. Aperture ovate truncate, mod-

erately oblique. Lip not thickened inside. Alt. 3, diam. 8 mm.

Freeport, Washington, collected by H. Hemphill.

Planorbis opercularis var. oregonensis n. v.

Shell light yellowish, opaque. Upper surface flattened, slightly

convex, the apex sunken ; periphery keeled with a slight groove

above the keel. Surface finely spirally striated. Umbilicus rather

small and deep, its edge slightly angular. Aperture approaching

vertical, lip thiekenad within. Alt. 2, diam. 6 mm.

Salem and Portland, Oregon. This looks very much like typical

opercularis, but may be distinguished by the beautiful spiral sculp-

ture and thickening within the lip. It differs from calliogli/ptus in

having a decided keel around the nearly flat upper surface and a

distinct thickening within the aperture. I have not seen any typical

P. opercularis from Oregon. There are none in the collection of

the Academy of Natural Sciences.

SYNONYM.-;.

/'. lii/lini/.tii Lea =pari'its Say.

P. broif it iartiana Lea — exacutus Say.

P. buclianensis Lea = exu<-nh<* S:iy ( fide Simpson).

P. dreunistriatiis Tryon — pifrrux Sav.

P. co urn i' us Auth.,M. S. — parvtts Say.

/'. fuaintiiK DeTarrit Reecher= /'. mint I /m* var. cn'staiua Drap.

THE NAUTILUS. 55

P. dilatm Hal J. = dilatatw Gld.

P. elevatus Adams = dilatatits Gld.

Paltidina hyalina Lea = exaeutus Say.

P. lens Lea = exaeutus Say.

P. lenticularis Lea = exaeutus Say.

P. obliqitus DeKay = defectus Say.

P. planulatug Cooper = opercularis Gld.

P. umbilicatas Taylor (not Mull.) =wnbilicatellus Cockerell.

P. vermiculnris Gld. =parrus Say.

P. virens Adams — dilatatus Gld.

P. hirsutns Gld. differs from the European albus Miill. in having

the hairs longer and in fewer rows.

P. costatiis DeTarr & Beecher, never having been reported from

any locality hut Michigan, is very likely introduced specimens of

P. nautileus var. cristatm Drap., with which it seems identical.

P. alabamensis Pilsbry shows light spiral striations under a lens.

In P. sampsoni Ancey, the spiral striation is quite distinct.

GENERAL NOTES.

WE have taken advantage of the mid-summer number when

Conchologists, like everybody else, avoid all the desk work they can,

to insert an Index to the Conchologist' 's Exchange. This will afford

malacologists an opportunity of ascertaining the contents of that

periodical, now rare and out of print. We had hoped to reprint the

Exchange in full, but a sufficient number of subscriptions has not

been received to justify us in the outlay.

SEVERAL years ago I collected two young specimens of a delicate

bivalve in a mud bank at Revere, Mass., and put them away labeled

Zirphcm crispata. I lately discovered that they are Pholastruncata>

which shell has not, to my knowledge, been previously reported from

north of Cape Cod. — EDWARD W. ROPER.

MR. A. A. HINKLEY, who has been for some time in Roekford,

111., has returned to DuBois, 111.

THE Chicago Academy of Sciences has recently purchased of Mr.

John Walton, of Rochester, his collection of Oyprcridcs. It has also

purchased one of the collections of California and Mazatlan shells,

prepared by Dr. P. P. Carpenter, and numbering some 3000 species.

56 THE NAUTILUS.

CURIOUS CHINESE USE OF SHELL-FISH. — The Chinese have been

students of the habits of animals for many thousand of years, and

the influences of this study have manifested themselves in their art

and their architecture, so much so, that one can readily recognize

the common form of their animal life through its resemblances to

the objects and pictures with which we are familiar.

One of the most interesting is what is known as the "joss-shell."

Every one has noticed the pearly luster of the bivalves of our rivers

and ponds, fresh-water mussels, they are called. These mussels are

lined throughout with the same kind of material as the pearl-oyster,

and, indeed, pearls of value are often to be found in them. In

China and Japan, these mussels grow to great size, in the latter

country being oftentimes seven to ten inches in length, and in China,

fully as large as a small saucer. The shrewd Chinese are aware

that the pearly nacre is a protection of the animal, which has thus

the smoothest of substances against its sensitive skin, and they know

also that any grain of dirt or roughness will be quickly coated with

pearl if it should lie under the mantle. They therefore catch the

animal, and oblige it to make such designs as they desire. These are

usually little josses, images of some one of the Chinese Gods, which

are formed in clay and slipped between the mantle and the shell of

the mollusk. The latter, as soon as it is put into the water again,

begins to cover the model with a coat of pearl, and at some time,

when the process has been carried far enough, the animal is killed

and the shells preserved with their pearly josses and sold as curiosi-

ties. They are, however, very rare in this country, being on exhi-

bition only in a few of the larger museums. It is said that upwards

of one thousand of the Chinese made their living by this industry,

and that they will, on order, insert in the shells models of the

initals of any one's name, which, after a wait of a year and a half,

will be ready for delivery. — The Happy Thought, July 15, 1895.

PROF. GILBERT D. HARKIS, of Cornell University, has returned

from a geological trip through Mississippi and Alabama, and is now

spending two weeks at the Academy of Natural Sciences, studying

the " Laa Collection " of Eocene fossils.

POLYGYRA CEREOLUS SANCTIJOHANNIS n. var. Shell having the

characters given in Man. Conch. IX, p. 73 for P. cereolus septemvolva^

but periphery pinched out into an excessively acute keel. It is

extremely abundant along the middle St. Johns River, Fla., from

the Lake George region to L. Monroe at Sanford. I have seen

nothing like it from other parts of the State. The shell is very

thin, having very little lime in its composition, never enough to

give a whitish color. — Pikbry.

THE NAUTILUS. 57

INDEX TO CONCHOLOGIST S EXCHANGE. Vll

Succinea lineata W. G. B. in Nebraska, ... I, 65

Succinea obliqua Say, and Succinea totteniana Lea., . II, 23

Tellina tenera Say ; T. modestus Verr. ; T. tenta Say, . II, 90

Teredo, Notes on, . ... 1,19,11,84

Tetrodontina Ancey, n. subg., types Helix yantaiensis,

tetrodon and' Houaiensis ; N. China, . . . I, 6-4

Thompsonia cariuifera Ancey a synonym of Plauorbis

scalaris Jay, ....... II, 113

Thracia Couradi Couthony, ...... II, 62

Thracia triincata Migh. & Adams, ... II, 63

Tottenia gemma Totten II, 109

Trau matophora Ancey, n. subg., type Helix triscalpta

Mart. ; China," I, 5&

Trihelix Ancey, n. subg., type Helix horrida Pfr. ;

Mts. of Laos, I, 64

Triodopsis Harfordiana W. G. B., . II, 79, 113

Triton Swifti Tryon, from the Bermudas, . . . I, 65

Unio parvus and U. gracilis from Texas, ... I, 21

Uuio anodontoides ; U. sesopus ; U. alatus ; U. arctior ;

U. asperrhmis ; U. capax; .... 1,42

Unio coccineus ; U. cornutus ; U. crassidens ; U. dona-

ciformis ; U. Dorfeueilliauus ; U. ebenus; V. el-

lipsis ; U. elegans, I, 43

Unio graniferus ; U. gibbosus ; U. gracilis ; U. Hig-

ginsii ; U. Isevissimus ; U. ligamentinus, . . I, 50

Unio luteolus ; U. lacrymosus ; U. monodontus ; U.

ruetanever ; U. occultus, I, 51

Uuio multiplicatus ; U. mississippiensis ; U. occidens ;

U. pustulosus ; U. pustulatua ; U. plicatus ; U.

parvus I, 62

Unio pressus ; U. rectus, I, 63

Unio rubiginosus ; U. solidus ; U. spatulatus ; U. sub-

ovatus, . I, 74

Unio securis ; U. schoolcraftii, .... I, 75

Unio tuberculatus ; U. trigonus ; U. tenuissimus ; U.

undulatus, ....... II, 4

Unio ventricosus ; U. zigzag, . . . . . II, 5-

Unio anthonyi ; U. aheneus ; U. amygdalum ; U. an-

gustatus ; U. arctatus, 11,67,105-

58 THE NAUTILUS.

viii INDEX TO CONCHOLOGIST'S EXCHANGE.

Unio Buckley! ; U. Buddiantis ; U. Blaudingianus ; U.

coruscus, . II, 95, 105

Unio cacao Lea ; Unio Cunningham! B. H. Wright (n.

sp.) ; U. floridensis Lea ; U. Jayanus Lea, . II, 105

Uuio grauulatus Lea in Fla., ..... II, 111

Unio Jewettii ; U. Kleiniauus ; U. lepidus ; U. minor ;

U. inodioliformis II, 112

Uuio Liebii in Lake Erie I, 26

Unio papyracea Gould in Lake Ashby, Fla., . . I, 81

Unio monroensis Lea ; U. fuscatus Lea ; U. paludico-

lus Gld. I, 27

Valvata tricarinata Say and V. hicariuata Lea, . . II, SO

Valvata mergella AVesterlund, only a striate varietj' of

V. sincera Say, II, 113

Venus mercenaria Linn II, 102

Yivipara intertexta ; V. subpurpurea ; V. contectoides, II, 65

Yoluta Gonldiana, found in 1 ~>0 to 200 fathoms off Fowey

Rock Light, Fla., . . II, 9, 10

Zirphrea crispata Linn., II, 34

INDEX TO CONTRIBUTORS AND TITLES.

Titles in brackets are the general subjects of notes placed under

" Correspondence."

Ancey, C. F. Diagnoses of a few subgenera in Helici-

dse, . 1,20

Descriptions of new genera or subgenera of Hel-

icidre, I, 53, 64, 75, II, 22, 38

[Notes on new subgenera, and some American

Helices] . . . . I, 54

A Catalogue of the Bulimini found in Central

Asia, II, 5

On the generic name of a remarkable bivalve shell

found in the Congo II, 22

Description of North American shells, . . II, 53, 79

Baker, F. C. [A collecting trip to Onset Bay, Mass.], II, 119

IVaiiclianip, Rev. Wm. M. Erosion of fresh water

shells, . 1,49

Notes on American Shells, .... 11,114

THE NAUTILUS. 59

INDEX TO CONCHOLOGIST S EXCHANGE. JX

Browu, Dr. J. .1. Notes on the niollusca of the Baha-

mas . I, 12

Carpenter, Horace F. The shell-bearing niollusca of

Rhode Island, I, 76, II, 2, 18, 34, 46, 61, 1 7, 89, 101, 109

Cockerel!, T. D. A. The Gibraltar and Tangier forms

of Parmacella II, 67

[Note on Planorbis umbilicatus Taylor], . . II, 68

Cooper, Rev. Ebenezer V. Andrew Garrett (obituary),

Dall, Wm. H. [Notes on some rare West Indian Shells], II, 9

Ford, John. A day among the mollusks, . . . I, 21

Helices in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, . II, 7

The Succinea obliqua Say of Fairmount Park,

Philadelphia, with some remarks regarding the

relationship of Succinea Totteniana Lea, . . 11,23

The fresh water mollusks of Fairmount Park, . 11,39

Some remarks on the migration of mollusks, . II, 71

Hinkley, A. A. Record of a collecting trip in White,

Hard in. and Gallatin Counties, 111., . . . 1, 56

Notes on the Strepomatidfe of 111., . . . 11,93

Jones, J. Matthews. The Conchologist in Bermuda, . II, 118

Keep, Josiah. Cabinet Notes, II, 107

Loofbet, Adam. A suggestion to our young friends, . I, 80

Marsh, Wm. A. Brief Notes on the land and fresh wa-

ter shells of Mercer Co., 111., I, 42, 50, II, 4, 20,

36, 48, 65, 80, 90, 103, 110

Michael Jr., Geo. W. [Shells on the coast of San Luis

Obispo Co., Cal.] II, 68

On collecting and preserving Chitons, . . II, 8

Obituaries and notices of deceased conchologists and

scientists. Prof. Daniel Sylvester Sheldon, . I, 4

Dr. Isaac Lea, . I, 25, 28

Dr. Ezra Michener, II, 11

Prof. Spencer Fullerton Baird, .... II, 26

Dr. J. C. McCormick, II, 54

Prof. Ferdinand Vanderveer Hayden, . . II, 81

60 THE NAUTILUS.

INDEX TO CONCHOLOGIST'S EXCHANGE.

Andrew Garrett, 11,81,92

Geo. W. Tryon, Jr., ... . .11,96,115

Wrn. L. Mactier, II, 103

Pilsbry, H. A. Notes on some New Orleans fresh water

" shells, I, 20

[Notes on Ancey's new subgenera of Helices], . I, 2t>

Lyogyrus Gill, and other American shells . II, 113

Rogers, Thos. Planorbis dilatatus Gould in England, I, 63

Eoper, Edw. W. [Pholas truncata Say at Scarboro,

Me.], I. 6.-,

Rush, Dr. Win. H. [Notes on deep sea dredging], . II, 24

Shimek, B. Margaritana Hildrethiana Lea, . . 11,114

Simpson, Chas. T. Record of a two-days' dredging

cruise in Tampa Bay, Fla., ... I, 44, 52

[Notes on Melongena fusiformis], ... I, 83

Succinea lineata in Nebraska, ... I, 65

On the distribution of land and fresh water shells

in the tropics, II, 37, 50

Blacklist them, II, 10

A new Floridian Natica (N. Fordiana), . II, 51

Shell collecting, II, 52

The dredge . II, 83

Gundlachia ancyliformis Pfr. in Florida, . . II, 96

Singley, J. A. New localities for Unio parvus and U.

gracilis, .... ... 1,21

Sterki, Dr. V. Collecting shells in drift, ... I, 45

[Pupse found in the \Mcinity of New Philadel-

phia, Ohio], . I, 54

How to collect small land shells, ... I, 67

The Faunatic dependence of the Mediterranean upon

the Atlantic, I, 6

The strength of snails (Helix aspersa), . . I, 34

Trombley, Jerome. [Note on Unio Liebii], . I, 26

Vitality of moll usca (Nassa obsoleta) 1,35

Wright, Dr. S. Hart. [New localities for Unionidie], I, 27, 51

Wright, Dr. S. Hart, and Berlin, H. Notes upon the

Unionid;e of Southern Florida, . . II, 67, 95, 104, 111

THE NAUTILUS.

v°i- ix- OCTOBER, 1895. No. 6

ON THE AUSTRALASIAN GUNDL. \CHIA.'

BY C. HEDLEY, F.L.8.,

With note on American forms

BY H. A. PILSBKY.

The eccentric shell of Gundlachia, one part shaped like a knife-

sheath, or rather a spectacle-case, plastered askew upon another

part like the shell of an ordinary fresh-water limpet, the creature's

external likeness and internal unlikeness to Ancylus, and the re-

markable, discontinuous, geographical distribution of the genus,

combine to tempt a naturalist's curiosity. For a chance to satisfy

such curiosity I am indebted to several friends who have liberally

assisted me with all the material and information at their command,

and without whose kindly aid I should have had to relinquish, mi-

profited, the study of the subject. Prof. Tate has kindly loaned me

the actual types of G. petterdi, and given me examples of that

species collected by himself at Mt. Lofty near Adelaide, S. Aus-

tralia. Mr. W. F. Petterd has liberally communicated a large

series of Gundlachia, including the actual type of his species G.

beddomei. Mr. C. E. Beddome has supplied me with a collection

of Gundlachia from various localities. Mr. H. Suter has convinced

- ' From Vol. VIII (Series 2nd) of the " Proceedings of the Linnean Society

of New South Wales " (November 29th, 1893). We have omitted Mr. Hed-

ley's descriptions of the Australian species of Gundlachia and his plate illus-

trating them. — ED.

62 THE NAUTILUS.

me of the method by which the primary shell is transformed into

the adult by presenting me with a series showing the passage from

stage to stage collected by him in New Zealand. To Mr. R. H.

Pulleiue, of the Adelaide University, who guided me to the spot

and procured me several specimens, I am particularly obliged for

the pleasure of viewing Gundlachia alive at Henley Beach near

Adelaide.

The genus Gundlachia was instituted by PfeitFer in the Zeits.

Malak., vii, 1849, p. 98, for the reception of immature specimens of

G. ancyliformis Pfr., sent to him by his correspondent, Dr. J.

Gundlach, from Cardenas in Cuba. Troschel supplemented his

friend's description by an account of an animal which had dried in

the shell. From the dentition he classed the puzzle, not, as Pfeiffer

was inclined to do, with Navicella and Neritina, but with its real

kin the Limnteidre. Though not recognizing it as such, he dis-

tinguished the jaw as a browu, semitransparent arch, convex in

front and extending from eye to eye. Further remittances from

Gundlach enabled Pfeiffer to describe and figure (op. cit. 1852, p.

180, pi. I, ff. 1-16) the adult and immature shells and to add some

information from the collector of its habits and appearance when

alive. From this species Bourguignat carved (Spicil. Malae., 1862,

pp. 82-87) a new genus, Poeyin, type P. gundlachioides, and two

other species, G. adelosia and G. poeyi ' ; all of which, so Crosse tells

us (Journ. de Couch., xxx, 18110, p. 262), are but stages in the de-

velopment of G. ancyliformis.

In Trinidad the genus occurred to (nippy in the form described

by him (Proc. Sci. Assoc. Trinidad, Dec., 1872) as G. crepidulina,

and figured Am. Journ. Conch., vi, 1870, pi. xvii, ft'. 10 and 11.

From Mexico the genus is doubtfully indicated by ( ribbons (Journ.

of Conch., iii, p. 267).

An undetermined species was recorded (Am. Journ. Sci. (3), xxiii,

p. 248) by Cook from the State of New York'

On the banks of the Potomac River Stimpson discovered G.

meekiana, which he figured and described (Proc. Boston Soc. Nat.

Hist., 1863, p. 249). This account, the best of the genus that has

appeared, was transferred by W. G. Binney to the pages of " The

Land and Freshwater Shells of North America," Pt. ii.

In California the genus is represented by G. californica Rowel],

whose description is also reprinted, with additional figures, by Bin-

ney, from the Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1863, iii, p. 21.

THE NAUTILUSi W

As a fossil, Gundlachia occurs in S. Carolina in a quarternary

marl containing mastodon bones (Cook, I.e.).

[In addition to the records of Gundlachia in North America,

compiled by Mr. Hedley, we may instance the finding of numerous

specimens in ponds near Greenport, Long Island, N. Y., by Mr.

Sanderson Smith, recorded in the Annals of the Lyceum of Nat.

Hist, of N. Y., ix, 1870, fig. 6. The specimens differ sufficiently

from G. meekiana to be considered by Smith a distinct species,

which he names G. stimpsoniana.

A Gundlachia, closely allied to, if not identical with, G. meekiana,

Fig. 1- Fig. 2.

Gundlachia from Rock Island.

occurs abundantly in a lily-covered pond near Rock Island, Illinois.

Specimens are drawn in the illustrations here given (figs. 1, 2), fig.

1 representing a shell with small accessory cap, the other figure

showing one with it large. All intermediate sizes occur. With

these, are found numerous specimens of like asymmetrical contour,

but lacking the accessory shell ! These are, as far as the shells are

concerned, merely Ancyltia. They live with the true Gundlachias

on the lower surfaces of the lily-pads, grazing on their watery pas-

ture like little sheep dotting a hillside. Professor B. Shimek has

found something very similar to these near Lincoln, Nebraska (see

NAUTILUS, August, 1890, p. 48).

Still another record of Gundlachia is given by Dr. Victor Sterki,

who found it at New Philadelphia, Ohio (see NAUTILUS, Jan., 1895,

p. 107).— Pilsbry'].

Boettger has ventured to name an immature fossil from the May-

ence Basin — G. francofuriana (Fischer's Manuel, p. 505).

A defective monograph of the genus, by Clessin, appeared in 1882

in the Conchylieu Cabinet, Bd. i, Abth., 6, pp. 1-5.

The existence of this genus in Australasia was first announced by

R. M. Johnston, who, in March, J877, laid before the Royal Society

of Tasmania an account of G. petterdi, from the vicinity of Launces-

64 THE JSAUTILUS.

ton in North Tasmania. In the first of two plates attached to

" Critical Observations on Recent Contributions to our Knowledge

of the Fresh-Water Shells of Tasmania," Pt. i, Proc. Roy. Soc. Tas-

mania, 1888, p. 84, but which Mr. Johnston, perhaps critically omit-

ted to number or explain, are drawings 2a, 2b, 2c, presumably of this

species. Appended to this paper is a table in which, under " Gen-

eral Remarks," a Gundlachia beddomei is mentioned as described

"since 1881" by Petterd, which form is asserted to be " undistin-

guishable from Gundlachia petterdi." I believe that I am correct

in stating that no species has ever been described under this title.

The Quarterly Journal of Conehnlogy contains, in Vol. iv, p. 150, a

notice of a new and nameless mollusc by W. F. Petterd, dated Nov.,

1883, and evidently relating to the form written of by Johnston.

Prof. Tate recorded (Proc. Roy. Soc. Tasmania, 1884, p. 216) G.

petterdi from the hill streams of the Mount Lofty Ranges near

Adelaide.

Finally, in a paper I have had the honor of communicating to

you this evening, Suter declares the existence of an undetermined

and probably new species from New Zealand.

The broken range of Gundlachia has attracted the attention of

several conchologists: Petterd (Jouru. of Conch., i, p. 399), Fischer

(Manuel, p. 251), Tate (Rep. Austr. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 1887, p. 325),

Spencer (oj>. fit. 1<S!>2, p. 96), and Suter (N. Z. Journ. Sci. iii, p. 252)

have each commented thereon. The fiuviatile molluscs, of Southern

Australia have, strange to say, a stronger likeness to those of New

Zealand than to those of the northern part of this continent,. Amphi-

peplea, Potamopyrgu-s and Gundlachia are confined to Tasmania and

to the south-east fringe of Australia ; they all reappear in New

Zealand, but the Viripara and Melanin characteristic of tropical

and subtropical Australia have failed to accompany them there.

The extension of Potamopyrgus, Gundlachia, and, according to Tate,

perhaps Amnicohi, with another Australian genus, Mycetopus, to

America is even more remarkable.

To explain .similar instances, Mr. H. O. Forbes (to whose courtesy

I am indebted for a copy of this very interesting paper) has lately

revived the theory of an Antarctic continent, and supports it by

several weighty arguments, notably the presence in the Patagonian

Eocene of marsupial remains nearest allied to those now existing in

Australia. A. Strip of land, with a mild climate, extending across

the I'oh' from Tasmania to Tierra del Fuego, would have afforded a

THE NAUTILUS. 65

possible route2 for the migration from America to Australia of these

Tertiary marsupials. But such a land could not have been con-

nected with New Zealand, or the marsupials would have wandered

there also. A great southward extension of Tertiary New Zealand,

considered probable by Sir J. Hector,3 would, however, have availed

to people the latter with much of the fauna and flora of the suppo-

sitions Antarctic land, in the way that European plants are

believed to have reached the Azores.

This theory of the origin of Australian marsupials would also

account for the discontinuous distribution of Gundlachia.

The Australasian members of the genus known are G.petterdi

Johnston, G. beddomei Petterd, MS., and G. sp. undetermined, and

probably new, from Xew Zealand.

At present G.petterdi appears to be known, as adult, from only

three localities : a small, shallow, stagnant pool near the First Basin,

South Esk River, Launceston, Tasmania (Johnston and Petterd);

a hill stream at Mt. Lofty, S. A. (Tate), and a chain of shallow,

stagnant ponds behind the sandhills at Henley Beach, near Ade-

laide, S. A. (Adcock, Pulleine and Hedley). In this latter locality

they were associated with Planorbis, Sulinus and Ancylua, the

latter only determined by the shell. Their habit was to cling

to drowned leaves and sticks, or to the submerged leaves and stems

of water plants. So closely do they resemble Ancylus that a careful

observer may, in the field, easily mistake one for another.

The precise mode of the growth of the shell does not seem to have

been related by any writer. Johnston says (Proc. Roy. Soc. Tas-

2 Had the alternative route advocated ("Island Life," 2nd ed. p 497) by

Wallace, "over what is now the Java Sea," been used by the marsupials, then

Timor and the South-Eastern Austro-Malayan Islands should, as Forbes log-

ically remarks, have preserved some remnants of the migrants amid surround-

ings so like Australia (Vol. iii, p. 22, Supplementary Papers, Royal Geo-

graphical Society, 1893). Spencer-has demonstrated (Rep. Aust. Assoc. Adv-

Sci., 1892, p. 118) "that the diprotodonts had their origin in the Euronotian

region," which also seems to me, though not to him, to indicate the south

rather than the north-west as the point of marsupial ingress into Australia.

In liis latest paper Prof. Zittel says (Geol. Mag., Nov , 1893, Vol. x, p. 512} :

" For its [i.e., Australia's] connection at one time with South America, the

abundant occurrence of fossil marsupials in the Santa-Cruz beds of Patagonia

is valid evidence." See also Lydekker, " Nature," May 5, 1892, Vol xlvi,

pp. 11-12.

3 Address to the Geological Section of the Aust. Assoc. Adv. Sci , Adelaide,

1893.

66 THE NAUTILUS.

mania, 1878, p. 24) : " In the young state the shell is simple and re-

sembles the common Ancylus in the same neighborhood."

From the fact that Ancylus it'oodsii (op. cit. p. 23) is omitted by

its author from his last catalogue (op. cit. 1890, p. 145) I infer that

he now considers that name to be a synonym, and further that he

considers it a synonym of G. pelterdi. If so, it is a matter for re-

gret that Mr. Johnston has withdrawn his species in a manner to

confuse a student of his writings.

The published figures of the juvenile shell only represent the

stage at which the septum is completed and the secondary growth

is about to occur. Thanks to a series of specimens collected by

Mr. Suter in New Zealand, which probably represent the fry of an

undescribed species, I am enabled to detail the process. My friend

supposes that in unfavorable circumstances a septum is never

formed, a view which his American experience had already sug-

gested to Gibbons. If this be the case, and Gundlachia sometimes

continues to regularly enlarge the ancyliform shell, then only an

anatomical examination could distinguish between the genera; and,

although several supposed species have been named, and more or

less adequately described as Australian, yet this hypothesis would

require proof of the existence of Ancylus in Australia.

The first deviation shown by young Gundlachia from Anc>/fn.t

consists of a fold appearing at the posterior end of the aperture.

No increase occurs round the rim of the aucyliform shell until

the fold is built into a septum flooring half or two-thirds of the

original shell. This septum is flat and grows asymmetrically, the

right margin advancing before the left. At this stage the shell

has much resemblance to a spectacle-case, aud has been well figured

by Pfeifler. Vigorous growth now occurs; in front, but in an

altered plane, the margin of the ancyliform shell is continued out-

wards, behind, the shell is spread beneath the septum floor to form

the roof of the secondary shell, then leaving the septum it is ab-

ruptly bent downwards. A slight inclination to' spiral growth is

shown by the increase on the right exceeding that on the left

Stimpson suggests " that the Gundlachia commences its life as an

Ancylu*. ... it passes the first summer and autumn of its

existence in this smaller shell, and that the septum, which afterwards

partially closes its aperture, is formed during the period of inaction

which ensues during the winter. This septum would, in some de-

gree, serve as a protection to the mollusc during this period, in the

THE NAUTILUS. 67

same way as the epiphragm of tlie Helices. In the following spring

— the period of greatest activity in growth with all the fresh-water

Pulruonates — the animal throws forth its newer and larger shell,

retaining the older one on its back for the protection of its more

tender viscera."

I regret that I can give but a meagre account of the soft parts.

My only material was some specimens procured at Adelaide, which

died on the voyage to Sydney, and were hastily and badly preserved

on board the steamer. * * * Part of the liver and the herma-

phrodite gland are pinched off into a sort of tail, which occupies

the primary shell. With this exception, as Gundlach and other ob-

servers have remarked, there is no difference from Anci/lnn. The

form and disposal of the stomach and intestines seemed, as well as I

could ascertain, to agree with those of Aneyhts figured by Moquin-

Taiidon.

Jaw extremely minute and frail, about i the length of the radula,

very narrow, composed of a great number of separate imbricating

plates, which appear to be arranged two deep, in contact but un-

attached; each is oblong in shape and serrate at one end, resem-

bling somewhat the scales on some butterflies' wings.

The difficulty of observing this tender and incoherent organ will

account for the uncertainty that prevails regarding it. Troschel

saw it, described it, and then unfortunately concluded that it was a

piece of hardened skin. Stimpson failed to find it. Johnston

noticed it in G. petterdi. In Lutia Huttou asserts (Trans. X. Z.

Inst., XIV, p. 156) that no jaw exists; it has more probably been

overlooked.

Radula a narrow parallelogram, very small, measuring about 3

1 hundredths of an inch. Formula, 70 rows of 8 : 12 : 1 : 12 : 8.

Each half row straight, meeting at a low angle in the centre.

Raehidian with a long, slender basal plate, rounded and slightly

expanded posteriorly; reflection about a fifth of total length, bi-

cuspid. Laterals with broad basal plates, emarginate at the prox-

imal posterior corner, sloping away from the rachidian, reflection

somewhat pyriform, the wide end proximal, set aslant on the basal

plate and armed with a large proximal and two minor distal cups.

Marginals more upright, with reflectiou of same pattern, but extend-

ing almost the length of the basal plate.

CONCLUSION. — The genus Gvndlaehia contains four American —

G. ancyliformis, meekiana, califoniica, crepldulina — and two Aus-

68 THE NAUTILUS.

tralian species' — G. petterdi and beddomei. It is nearly allied to

Aneylus, from which it differs anatomically by a distinct pattern of

radula, and couchologically by its compound shell. The existence,

variously affirmed and denied, of a jaw, is now demonstrated by fig-

ures. It has been suggested, but not proved, that in unfavorable

circumstances the shell never attains its compound development, but

remains simple. From an Aneylus of the same size the subcentral

nucleus and regular elliptical outline distinguish young Gund-

lachia.

A fuller knowledge of the development and structure of the

genus is very desirable.

The nearest, in phylogenetic array, to Gundlachia are probably

the New Zealand Latia and the Tasmanian Ancylastrum. Should

Hutton's Latiidce win acceptance, which seems doubtful, it might

include these.

The distribution of Gundlachia agrees in part with that of the

recent marsupials, and the theory of a Mesozoic or older Tertiary

migration to or from Australia across the south pole, when a lost

land with a mild climate united Tierra del Fuego to Tasmania,

would explain its present position.

A NEW MEXICAN BYTHINELLA.

BY HENRY A. PILSBRY.

Bythinella palomasensis.

Shell small, ovate, rapidly tapering above from the periphery of

body-whorl to a blunt apex ; composed of four very convex whorls,

the last about five-sixths the entire length of the shell, well rounded

out. Surface showing faint growth-wrinkles only. Aperture ovate,

subangular above, its longest axis about half the length of the shell ;

peristnme thin, continuous across the parietal wall and nearly

straight there, although not appressed to the body-whorl. Umbili-

cus minutely perforated. Color whitish corneous and somewhat

translucent.

Alt, 2'75, max. diam. 1'80 mm. Longer axis of aperture r.SH mm.

Two specimens from Lake Palomas, northeastern Mexico, col-

lected by Dr. E. A. Mearns, U.S. A., of the International Boundary

Commission. One of the two specimens has the latter third of a

THE NAUTILUS. 69

whorl free from the body, as in Lyegyrus, a somewhat common

pathologic condition in species of this and allied genera; but in the

other and evidently normal specimen the peristome is quite free from

the adjacent body-whorl, not appressed thereto. Neither example

retains the operculum or dried soft parts, and therefore the generic

reference cannot be verified by examination of the dentition, but the

figure of the shell is that of a Bythinella rather than of an Amnicola.

It is a stumpier species than 1>. binneyi Tryon, and has far less

inflated whorls than B. brevlmma Pils., but these two species are

conchologically its nearest allies among United States species. Of

the short-spired Mexican forms, Amnicola orizabensis C. & F. is totally

diverse, although the figures in Crosse & Fischer's work (pi. 50,

fig. 4, a, 6) look somewhat like this species. A. guatemalensis C.

& F. is larger, with relatively smaller aperture.

ISAAC LEA DEPARTMENT

[Couducted in the interest of the Isaac Lea Conchological Chapter of the Agassiz

Association by its General Secretary, Mrs. M. Burton Williamson.]

Every week the General Secretary receives letters from the mem-

bers of the Chapter telling of the benefits of Chapter membership.

A good rule to follow in exchanging specimens is this : " Give a

little more than you receive." The one who exchanges merely to

add to the number of shells in his own cabinet, loses one nf the

great pleasures in life — the blessedness of giving pleasure to others.

NOTES ON SHELLS.

[Report of Mrs. E. C. Soper. From the Transactions of the Isaac Lea < '<m« •ln'lML;i«>al Chap-

ter of the Agassiz Association for 1894.)

My enjoyment in studying shells is greatly lessened by the fact

that to obtain good specimens I must collect those that are

"alive," and then go through the intensely disagreeable operation

of killing the helpless animals. Though, as we are told, they are

not so sensitive to pain as the higher organisms, yet the poor, writh-

ing, quivering creatures appeal to my pity in a very great degree.

However, men's cruelty, perhaps, does not surpass or equal that of

the winds and the waves, and of the stronger animals that prey upon

70 THE NAUTILUS.

the weaker ; but, until I overcome my repugnance to the killing

and dissecting of molluscs, I shall take more enjoyment in studying

their homes than in getting acquainted with the inmates themselves.

Being a new member of this Society, and also a novice in concho-

logical lore, I can hardly hope to write anything of much interest

to the older members, but, perhaps, the younger ones may care to

hear about some of my most interesting (to me) " finds." * *

I shall never forget an expedition, taken in the early part of this

year ('94), to Long Beach, in company with a friend, when our

enthusiasm for collecting had juet begun. Leaving Long Beach a

short time before noon, we started to walk to Alamitos Bay, neither

of us knowing the distance. We picked up so many shells that, be-

fore we were half way there, we were very tired ; but determined to

reach our destination, we pressed on, were caught in a shower, and

finally reached the bay more dead than alive, judging from our

feelings. We found nothing very valuable, but we fairly staggered

under the load of shells we carried home, which place we did not

reach until after dark. We were told the distance was five miles

each way, and we believed it.

Last summer, during a trip taken with the Chatauqua Assembly

School in Oonchology, 1 picked up a shell near a fisherman's cot-

tage on Tim Point, which proved to be a small specimen of Siphon-

alw b'lletti Fbs. While cleaning it, I noticed, about two inches

from the lip, on the inside, a rusty looking spot, through which the

water trickled. After using quite a quantity of acid to take off the

accumulation of foreign matter on the outside which nearly hid the

form of the shell, I discovered opposite the rusty spot, and imbedded

in the hard shell, a tiny mussel, halt' an inch long. I thought I had

made a discovery ; but, alas! on turning to " West C..:ist Shells," I

found that these little mussels grow sometimes in large shells. I

think it is Adula sty/hia Cpr., but so small and delicate! How

did it carve a home to fit it so perfectly?

I have taken a good deal of pleasure in rude attempts to draw

and paint some of the more simply formed shells, but I find it is

difficult to reproduce them faithfully.

When in San Francisco, I had the privilege of a day in the

Academy of Sciences, of looking at Tryon's magnificent work,

which was beautifully illustrated in colors. I also had the pleasure

of visiting Mill's College and the University at Berkeley, and of

seeino- the collections of shells at both these institutions, and I shall

THE NAUTILUS. 71

always remember the courtesy shown to me, and the kindly interest

taken in my growing desire to know something about conchology

by those who have long made it a study.

MRS. MARY P. DARLING has collected, at the various beaches in

Los Angeles County, and reports " one hundred and eighty-three

species; among them are a live Calliostoma splendens and a dead

Nassa insculpta."

WITH A DREDGE.

[Report of Miss Ida M. Shepard. From the Transactions of the Isaac Lea Concholoirical

Chapter of the Agassiz Association lor 1894.]

I have added a number of specimens to my collection during the

year, and had the pleasure of dredging in the bay, with very good

results. It is with impatience we wait the dredge to fill, after drop-

ping it over the stern of the boat; and when it comes up filled with

mud how we watch and exclaim over some treasure we see as the

mud is being washed out. But often we find nothing, and often

many good and rare specimens. I will tell 'you of what a few

dredges contained. After the dredge is pulled up and the mud

washed out, the contents, if any, are dumped into the tub, and we

look it over, and find nothing but a stone or two and a few Ollvella

boetica, Tornalina culcitella, and young Riclaxis punctocaelatus.

After the dredge was dropped over again, I picked up a small stone

and looked it over, and soon gave an exclamation of delight, for, on

one side, snugly in its nest, was a fine, large Lima orientalis Ad. &

Rve. It did not take long to cut the nest from the stone and put it

into ajar of sea-water, and before we reached the shore the Lima

came out of the nest and swam around the jar. I wish I could give

a good description of what a beauty it was swimming. Will do the

best I can. About j of the length of the shell the tentacles are of a

bright rose color, the rest pure white, and, as it swam around, its

beauty can be imagined. The tentacles are about i inch in length.

It would put out its foot at times to help it along.

Another dredge brought up a fine, large Clidlophora punctata

Cpr., and it gave an exhibition after being put into a cup of sea-

water and sand. Other dredges gave live Dentalium hexagonum

Sby., Seala hindsii Cpr., Eulima micans Cpr., Mangllia varieyata

Turbonilla tridentata, Macoma yoldiformis, and the pretty Tellina

variegata Cpr.

72 THE NAUTILUS.

Besides dredging comes the collecting of fine Lunatia

Fissiiridea agpersa, Acmceapelta var. hybrida, Acmcea pelta var. nacel-

loides, Diplodonia orbella and nests; Lacuna carinata and two finds

of over 150 Terebratella transversa. Then dead specimens, in good

condition, of Cadulus fusiformis, Parthenia armata, Rissoina in-

frequens, Felania sericata, with quantities of rich drift, not yet

sorted, which doubtless contains many rare specimens new to my

cabinet.

GENERAL NOTES.

MR. CHARLES W. JOHNSTON left Philadelphia, September 24, for

an extended geological trip in the Eocene regions of Louisiana and

Texas.

DR. WM. H. DALL has published a resume of the results of his

systematic studies on Mactridct and Mesodesmatidce in the last num-

ber of the Proc. Malacological Society of London.

PROF. GILBERT D. HARRIS has been spending some time in

Philadelphia studying and remounting Lea's type collection of

Claiborne Eocene fossils.

ACANTHOCHITES MATTHEWSI Bednall & Pilsbry, described in THE

NAUTILUS for February, 1894, from "South Australia," was found

by me in St. Vincent's Gulf at Giles' Point, south Yorke's Penin-

sula, at an unusually low tide. — E. H. filatlhcws,

EPIPHRAGMOPHORA CALIFORNIENSIS VAR. CONTRACOSTJE. —

Smaller than var. diabloensis, but of the same depressed form ; light

yellowish straw-colored, with or without a dark band ; surface

rudely striate and cut -by irregular spirals into small granules ; not

malleated or slightly so. Whorls 5« ; outer lip thickened, hardly

expanded, white, basal lip expanded and a trifle impinging on um-

bilicus, which is deep and rather widely open, somewhat as in Poly-

gyra Jciawaensis. Locality, Byron Hot Springs, Contra Costa Co.,

California. — Pilsbry.

EPIPHRAGMOPHORA REMONDI Tryon. — This species is, as Cooper

and von Martens have lately recognized, quite distinct from carpen-

teri. Ancey's H. verrilli (Conch. Exch.) is a synonyn of Tryou's

species, Ancey having been misled by the misidentification of

Remondi, which has prevailed since the publication by Gabb of his

Lower California finds. — Pilsbry.

THE NAUTILUS.

VOL. ix. NOVEMBER, 1895. No. 7

ON DOLABELLA CALIFORNICA STEARNS.

BY HENRY A. PILSBRY.

The genus Dolabella has long been known as an inhabitant of

the Indian Ocean and Polynesia, but it had not been reported from

American waters until Sowerby described the shell of I), guayaquil-

ensis, from Guayaquil, in 1868.

In 1879 Dr. R. E. C. STEARNS described a D. aaliforniea from

Mulege Bay, Gulf of California, but unfortunately the shells only

were available for his study. They were found by Mr. "\V. J. Fisher

"in pools left by the tide" at the locality named.

Part of the specimens collected by Fisher were secured by Mr. W.

N. Lockington, and presented to the Academy, in alcohol ; so I am

enabled to give below a description of the animal of this interesting

addition to the West Coast fauna, which proves to be nearest allied

to A. tony ana and ecaudata, Polynesian species.

The dentition of Dolabella is excessively peculiar, and together

with the unusual position of the genital orifice, necessitates the for-

mation of a new subfamily, Dolabellince, for this genus.

D. californica Stearns.

Description of alcoholic specimens: — Length 12 to 14 cm.

Oblong-ovate, broadly rounded behind, Aplysia-like in front. Buc-

cal tentacles ear-like, short and folded about at the middle, not pro-

duced toward the mouth ; tentacles conic and slit ; the very minute

74 THE .NAUTILUS.

eyes in front of them and more separated. Mouth a vertical slit iu

a papillose disk. Swimming lobes arising at or behind the middle

of the animal's length, contiguous. Posterior subcircular area de-

fined by a groove with smooth, raised anterior edge, and enclosing a

cord. Mantle having a large shell-foramen and a long posterior

siphonal fold. Genital orifice under the back part of the gill.

Color (in alcohol) dark olive, or dull brown with more or less

black maculation. In life it is said to be " a dark brown and the

surface covered with warty papillse."

Shell solid, with a brown cuticle. Apex with a roughened

reflexed callus, continuing along the dorsal margins as a reflexed

border over the cuticle.

In external appearance, this species seems nearest to D. ecuitdata

and tongaiia, but the posterior area is defined by a far less conspic-

uous frill, which does not extend to the edges of the dorsal slit.

Dolabella guayaquilensis, a species known by the shell only, is stated

to have the margins '' scarcely reflected, callus small, narrow, not

continued upon the margins," while in the present species the mar-

gins are bounded by unusually broad reflexed callous bands. Traces

of sparsely scattered wart-like papillse are visible on some specimens,

mainly posteriorly, but these are not very distinct in the alcoholic

examples. Two of the original lot collected by Fisher are before

me, the smaller one being drawn in my figure, and another specimen

of a dark olive color collected by Dr. W. H. Jones on the " \\Vst

coast of Mexico," has also been examined.

DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW PISIDIA

BY DR. V. 8TERKI.

In looking over more than 20,000 specimens of Plsidiitm, during

the last twelve months, the writer came across numerous new forms,

and many of them will prove to be new species. But, as some of those

already published are not fixed beyond a doubt, owing to insufficient

descriptions and figures, and lack of reliable originals, and as new

forms are constantly coming in, it will be advisable not to hurry

with publications. Yet a few of these new species were seen from so

many different places, and come to hand again and again that

it is too unsatisfactory to return them without or only with MS.

THE NAUTILUS. 75

names. Besides, they are not doubtful species, being well defined

and distributed over wide areas. Mr. E. W. Roper having examined

specimens wished the writer to publish these species.

The descriptions will not be exhaustive, especially as to the

hinges, leaving that, as well as figures, for a monograph, but they

will be sufficient for recognition of the species.

P. WALKERI n. sp. Mussel of medium size, elongated, rather in-

flated, resembling P. abditum, but is smaller than good sized exam-

ples of that species ; it is also more elongated, and the smaller and

moderately prominent beaks are more posterior ; thus the anterior

part is comparatively very long, with the end rounded, the posterior

quite short, truncated at the end; scutum and scutellum well

marked. The shell is very thin, translucent, the surface verv finely,

and sharply striated, often somewhat scaly, dullish, or with a silky

gloss; color grayish, along the margin more or less yellowish horn.

Hinge moderately strong, of the same type as in Pi*, abditum; car-

dinal tooth of the right valve moderately curved, its posterior part

thickened and with a deep furrow; below this tooth, there is a deep

groove formed by the inferior edge of the hinge list raised ; and the

same formation is in the left valve below the deep groove between the

two cardinal teeth ; ligament comparatively strong.

Long. 4'5, alt. 3'7, diam. 2'S mill.

In outline, our species has some resemblance with P. virginicum,

by its elongate shape, the beaks situated posteriorly, the long and

below somewhat sacciform anterior part. But it is much smaller,

its shell quite thin, the hinge finer, the striation finer and the beaks

are much smaller.

P. walkeri is quite a characteristic and beautiful species which

cannot be mistaken for any other. It has a wide geographical dis-

tribution but seems to live not in great numbers together, as e. g. P.

abditum, compression and others do. For the first time I found it

in a lot of Pisidiu from Kent County, Michigan, in the collection of

Mr. Byrant Walker — in whose honor it has been named — , and in

another from Utica, Mich. Later it was seen from Grand Rapids,

Mich. (L. H. Streng), Columbia, Pa. (Bryant Walker), Mohawk, N.

Y. (in E. W. Roper's collection, from E. R. Mayo) ; Clearwater and

Mississippi rivers, Minn. (H. E. Sargent).

P. POLITUM n. sp. Mussel of medium size, well inflated, rather

high, beaks slightly posterior, rather high and prominent, not full

but well rounded ; scutum and scutellum slightly marked. Supe-

76 THE NAUTILUS.

rior margin rather short, rather strongly curved ; inferior well

curved, more so in front than behind ; posterior margin distinctly

truncated, with a well marked angle where joining the superior, and

a less marked, rounded angle where joining the inferior margin ;

anterior end forming a slight but distinct angle situated rather high

up. Surface very finely, irregularly striated, polished ; whitish or

straw colored, often leaden-grayish on the beaks, or even all over.

Shell moderately thick, nacre whitish ; muscular insertions not very

distinct; hinge of essentially the same type as that in Pis. abditum.

Long. 4-0, alt. 3'4, diam. 2'4 mill. ; 4'7 : 4'0 :2'9 mill, from another

place.

Pis. politum is rather variable in size, and more so in color as

noted above, but so markedly constant in its several habitats that a

number of different local forms, or varieties could be described. It

has some resemblance with Pi's, abditum Hald. and Pis. rariabile

Pr. ; from the former it is different by its being somewhat smaller,

comparatively shorter and higher, the beaks being less full, the

surface finer striated and more polished ; from the latter it is distin-

guished by its smaller size, the beaks being less full, the antero-

superior margin less straight, and the angle at the anterior end being

situated higher up; the shell is thinner and the hinge less strong,

the coloration different. With all these differences appearing only

gradual, our Plsidium is a good species beyond a doubt and will

always be recognized.

It was found, in May a. c., in the outlet of a small peaty swamp

near New Philadelphia, Ohio, about 200 specimens, in company with

Pis. abditum, varibile and compressiim, all, when fresh, being of a

remarkably uniform color and appearance; Philadelphia, Pa.

(Morris Schick) ; Grand Rapids, Mich. (L. H. Streng) ; Joliet, 111.

(Jas. H. Ferriss); Clearwater River, and Dallas Lake, Minn. (H. E.

Sargent).

P. MILIUM Held. This is not a new species, but new to our

country. A number of specimens from East Twin Lake, at Charle-

voix, Michigan, dead shells but in perfect condition, in the collection

of Mr. Bryant Walker, were, after careful comparison, found to be

congruent, in shape and appearance, as well as in the hinge char-

acters, with one of the larger forms of Pis. milium from England, so

that there can be no doubt in their identity.

New Philadelphia, Ohio, Oct., 1895.

THE NAUTILUS. 77

EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Natchitoches, Louisiana.

October 6, 1895.

My first work was two miles below Mabelvale (12 miles southwest

of Little Rock, Arkansas) along Fourche creek ; an outcrop of

Eocene limestone of the Midway or Clayton stage occurs here, con-

taining Enclimatoceras itlrichi, Ostrea pulaskensis, Cucullea micro-

donta. Cytherea sp., Venericardia planieostn, etc., etc. Most of the

fossils consist of casts only, and are difficult to obtain from the hard

limestone. The situation was very favorable for land shells, how-

ever, and the heavy rain of the day before had caused the snails to

start from their hiding places and I found them very abundant,

crawling over the rocks and leaves. Heliclna orbiculata, Poh/gyra

tlnjroides var. bucculenta, Polygyra inflecta and large fine specimens

of Zonites friabiKs were particularly common, while a search brought

to light Poli/gyra stenotrema, Potygyra divestu, Selenites concavu, and

Pyramid-iila alternata var. mordax. The whole bluff was strewn with

dead shells, and in turning over a log one of the enemies of the

Helices was found, a large beetle of the genus Cychrus.

At White Bluff on the Arkansas River, in Jefferson Co., Arkansas,

is a bed of Upper Claiborne. The principal fossils collected were

Venericardia planiuosta, Nucula ovula, Cytherea discoidalis, Corbula

nasuta, C. oniteus, Turrit e Ha arenicola var. branneri, Turritella

clevelandia, Pseudoliva retusta, Lievifitsus branneri, Volutilithes

petrosus, Solarium bellastriatum, a fine series of Mazzalina inaurata,

and many others, altogether probably 25 or 30 species.

At Vince Bluff on the Saline River in Cleveland Co., Arkansas, is

a small exposure of the Jackson bed from which about thirty species

were obtained. The river was very low and in many places paved

with Unios. As it was getting late, and a drive of eleven miles was

before me I had very little time to collect ; but upon cleaning the

"catch" next morning, found 1 had the following species: Unio

pyramidatus, U. crassidens (.?), U. trigonus, U. camehis, U. tnrgidus,

U. pustulosus, U. near castaneus, U. plicatit*, U. cornutus, U. metan-

ever, U. tnipezoides, U. securis, U. hydeanux, U. aberti, U. tubereula-

tus U. near satur, U. gracilis, U. purpuratm. The first five species

were abundant and many of the others would prove equally so with

more thorough collecting. It is an ideal spot for a " Uniologist.''

Campeloma subsolidum Anth. and Pleurocera elevatnm were also

abundant, and among the former I find one specimen of Vivipara

subpurpurea Say.

78 THE NAUTILUS.

My next collecting was done at Mt. Lebanon, Bienville Parish,

Louisiana. This is the locality discovered by Mr. T. Wayland

Vauglian, and through bis kindness in giving me the exact position

of the bed, I was able to find it, after considerable digging, as the

banks had caved down. I succeeded in getting a very interesting

lot of fossils, including fine specimens of Anomia ephippoides.

While waiting for a train as Shreveport I took a stroll along the

Red River and a small tributary ("Lake") to the north of the city.

Nothing was to be found along the river except quantities of dead

Helices, etc. among the flood-debris, but which have practically no

value, as their habitat may have been Arkansas, Texas, or Indian

Territory. Along the shores of the " Lake " I found some beautiful

specimens of Uirio alutus and U. anodontoides ; and Campeloma snb-

solidum and Vtvipani subpurpitrea were quite plentiful. Although

the Red River was extremely low, the ever-changing bars and the

freshet-swept shores are unfavorable situations for mollusca ;

while in the smaller rivers and tributaries they are abundant.

CHARLES ~\V. JOHNSON.

NOTE ON THE GENUS JOANNISIA.

BY W. H. DA LI,.

In the Transactions of the Wagner Free Institute of Science vol1

III, p. 545, April, 1895, I proposed the name of Joannisia for

Gyrenella oblonga Sowerby and another Philippine island species

which had been referred to Cyrenella (or Cyrenoida Joannis) as the

hinge of these species is quite different from that of the original type

of Cyrenella (or Cyrenoida). The Marquis de Monterosato kindly

calls my attention to the fact that in 1888 he had used the name

Jomiigia for a genus typified by Tylodina eitriua Joannis (Norn.

Gen. Con. Medit., p. 149).

I would therefore modify the name as applied to the Philippine

bivalve to Joannisiella.

ISAAC LEA DEPARTMENT.

[C'nliilui-tril in th.. inti'l-iM "f tin- I-a:ir l.r:l <' -iM.l.'tlial Cli:i|itiT "f tile A gassiz A—

ti'in I iy itn lii-Ti. r:il Sein-tary, Mr>. M. liurl.ui Willi;mi-»n, |

Before the November issue of THE NAUTILUS each member of

Chapter will have received a copy of our new printed list of mem-

bers. A number of new names appear upon the list.

THE NAUTILUS. 79

Please bear in mind that our Chapter reports are due next month

(December). It is expected that our volume of Transactions will

be very large this year. Write only on one side of paper eight by

ten inches in size. Leave a margin of one and one-half inches at

the left. Every member is expected to send in a report. A short

one will be better than none.

The election of officers for the Chapter also occurs in December.

The President and General Secretary, who also acts as Treasurer,

are the officers to be elected. Those who have not paid dues in

advance will please bear them in mind.

RAISING BABY SNAILS.

[From the Transactions of the Isaac Lea Conchological Chapter.]

Prof. Keep once inquired, in the Popular Science News, " Did

any one ever raise baby snails? " I copy from an old note book:

"May 24, 1886, Mesodon thyroides deposited forty -three eggs. All

hatched between 4 P. M., June 8 and noon June 9. June 23 found

fifty-seven eggs." They were in two nests, and I probably removed

the mother before her day's work was done, as I found fourteen

more immediately after, making seventy-one. "July 1 1, sixty-nine.

July 20, forty-seven." Whole number deposited in four days less

than two months by one snail, 230.

Those hatched June 8 show, on July 1, small umbilicus, 2i whorls,

and on July 8, three full whorls. July 23, four whorls, umbilicus

partly covered. Shell so thin it is almost impossible to handle.

The following January, nearly five whorls, lip thickening and

slightly everted. Callous on the body-whorl, but no tooth.

If any one interested in the study of mollusca could raise young,

from any or all species in their vicinity, it would not only be in-

structive, but would save time and patience, when an undeveloped

shell is found, in trying to find out what it is. The tiny youngsters

have sometimes very little resemblance to an old one. I am rarely

without one or two colonies.

80 THE NAUTILUS.

MY FIRST YEAR COLLECTING AND STUDYING SHELLS.

[Report of H. Lowe. From the Transactions of the Isaac Lea Conchological Chapter of the-

Agassiz Association for 1894 ]

My knowledge of collecting shells is quite limited as I have only

studied conchology for about a year. I have collected chiefly at

Long Beach and San Pedro, but prefer the latter place for collect-

ing as it offers a great variety of beach, rocks, sand and mud flats.

At Dead Man's Id. are to be found rock shells in abundance, the

Chlorostoma, Monoceros, and Littorina clinging in dark patches on

the rocks of the breakwater, while among them are bright red star-

fish and Chitons.

The Pomaulax undosiis are also plentiful, for at one time I picked

up thirty-five living specimens in one place. On the great pieces of

kelp which are seen floating in the tide pools, are often found colonies

of the beautiful Norrisia norrisii with their strawberry colored

bodies extended from the shell.

I have found beautiful live specimens of Sernele decisa in sand

between the rocks on the Bay side of Dead Man's Id. and good spec-

imens of the Cordium quadriyenariinn in the mud flats. Olivella

biplicata may be found at low tide between Rattlesnake Id. and

Terminal Id.

Most of the shells of Alamitos Bay are bivalve, while those of San

Pedro and Dead Man's Id. are mostly Gastropods.

This Summer Neverita rechiziana has been quite plentiful for I

found one hundred and twenty-five in one morning at the Douax

beds at Long Beach, and I found it quite true as Prof. Keep says,

that the Natica eat clams for I caught them while boring into

Donaces. * * * * * Among other interesting relics which I found

this Summer was the house which the Oedalina subdiaphana Desh.,

builds. It is made of sand and some substance which holds the

sand together and covers the shell completely except for two tiny

holes left for the siphons. It is about an inch long, and may some-

times be seen lying on the mud flats at Alamitos Bay, and resembles

lumps of sand. The shell of the little inollusk which lives inside is

pure white and very delicate, the lines of growth are distinct and

the ligament is internal.

You mav have wondered in walking along the beach, what the

curious formation of sand, looking like a horse's hoof was. By some

THE NAUTILUS. 81

people they are called " sand dollars." I was greatly puzzled over

them till this summer when I learned, at the Conchology Class of

the Chautanqua Assembly what they were. They are the egg cases

of the Natica and are full of microscopic eggs mixed with the sand.

Sometimes on top of the egg cases are found the eggs of the Nassa

lying in long rows.

NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

ON THE STRUCTURE AND AFFINITIES OF SOME NEW SPECIES OF

MOLLUSCS FROM BORNEO. — By W. E. Collingeand H. H. Godwin-

Austen, P. Z. S., 1895. — This interesting paper gives descriptions

and many figures of three new slugs collected by Mr. Everett in

Borneo. The fact is brought out, that the slugs of Borneo resem-

ble in their anatomy some of the shell-bearing forms of that island,

rather than the Indian slugs to which they show more outward

similarity. The first species is placed in Damayanlia Issel, for all

that it has a shell. The suggestion that Issel was mistaken in sup-

posing that his genus was shell-less is probably correct ; the present

writer had in Ann. Mag. N. H., Jan., 1891, p. 100, suggested a doubt

as to the validity of this character by quoting it within inverted

commas. Some remarks are given as to Tennentia, which is said to

be " probably synonymous with Issel's genus," but immediately be-

low is correctly shown to be equivalent to Mariaella. It is probable

that the authors meant to say that the so-called Tennentia philip-

pinensis is a Damayanlia, but not that Tenitentia=MariaellaiB Dam-

ayantia ! If the latter synonymy held, Muriaella would of course be

the name of the genus, having long priority. The statement that

Dekhania G.-A. is the same as Mariaella and " must be suppressed "

conies rather late in the day, since the present writer had suppressed

it, with all due pomp and solemnity, in 1891 (t. c., p. 103-104),

and again in the check-list of 1893. The other two species are

placed in Mieroparmarion, a genus or subgenus lately instituted by

Simroth for a species from Java. Curiously, in making comparisons,

Africarion pal/ens is said to be from South India, whereas it was really

from Abyssinia, vide Godwin-Austen, Moll, of India, 1883.

Simroth's division of the Javan slugs into Purmarion and Micro-

parmarion may be justified, but a new name is apparently required

82 THE NAVTILTTS.

for what he calls Parmarion. If we admit that the Javan slugs are

ii' i <,'ir<i*i<i nor Ibyciix, then they are assuredly not P'/rmnrinti : for

that genus was founded by Fischer on four slugs, one of which is a

Mm-liielln one a Giiwiu (Indian), one an Ibycus (Indian), and the

other a Jfynlhim.r .'

In conclusion, we may cordially echo the author's wish that fur-

ther Bornean material may he obtained by them, for they have cer-

tainly only obtained a glimpse of the undoubtedly rich slug-fauna

of that region. — T. D. A. COCKEBELL.

REVIEW OF OUK PRESENT KNOWLEDGE <»K THE MOLLUSCAN

FAUNA OF MICHIGAN, by Bryant Walker (address delivered before

the Michigan Acad. Science, Dec. 27, 1*1)4). Michigan has a long

Malacological history, for a Western State, beginning with Dr.

SAGER, in 1839, who had worthy followers in MILES, CURRIER and

Di;( 'AMP, successive historiographers of the rich mollusk-fauna of

that great State. Other Michigan naturalists — McNEiL, STRENG,

LATHROP et al. — have made large additions to our knowledge of the

mollusca, not to mention the Eastern authors Conrad, Anthony, Lea,

Tryon and others, who described material collected by the ardent

and enthusiastic band of Michigan nattualists. All of this is most

interestingly related by Mr. WALKER, in this survey of the history

of Michigan Malacology. In the notes accompanying his tabular

enumeration of all species reported from the State, from all sources,

(284 entries), much valuable information is given, but so condensed

that no useful abstract is possible. A full bibliography of Michigan

conchology concludes the paper. — H. A. P.

A CATALOGUE OF THE MARINE MOLLUSK8 OF JAPAN has been

issued by Messrs. Frederick Stearns and Henry A. Pilsbry. It is

a handsome volume of 204 pp., and 11 plates. Suitable notice of

the contents will be given next mouth.

MOLLUSQUES DE LA BASSE CALiFORNiE, recucillis par M. Diguet-

determines par M. Jules Mabille (Bull. Soc. Philomathique de Paris,

(8) vii, pp. 54-76, 1895). This annotated list comprises both mar-

ine and inland mollusks, and many supposed new species. In most

cases exact localities are not given. The forms described or men-

tioned as new are: Octopus digueti Perrier & Kochebr. ; Figswella

(Cremides) pluridentata and digniti. /'<i/>//« oiiigmnticu, (_'rej~>!iln/n

ni'/iii/ittn Mabille; Pleurobr<ux-iii<« ili</in'ti and Doris umbrella

i;<'i-hebr. ; Planorbig mysurus, Heli.r imligeiia, sieganella, invecta,

H. (Polyyyra) solidiit,-<, triangularis ; Bulimulua (Lepto-

THE NAUTILUS.

} lapidivagus, denlijer, suligpififer, dismenipus; B. (Scutahis)

acholit--!, cotiiticii.i, c< trot yens ; B. (Thuuiii'iftu,- •> <!ir/neti; B. (Gloliulus)

recognitus ; Berendtia digueti, miriorina; Barbatia mini, dii/inti;

1'irnti recognita; Anomya[sic] simplex Mabille; Plicntulu f/ioiidy-

/ii/i.i/.i, ostreivaga, Chama parasitica, digueti Rochebrune. The

diagnoses are not accompanied by comparisons with known species,

nor are figures given ; and the work as a whole, instead of adding

to our knowledge of Lower California!) conchology, quite appreciably

darkens the subject. There are unquestionably some misidentitiea-

tions, or possibly mixture of specimens from other localities, among

the marine shells; and numerous typographical errors mar tin-

paper. There should be a petition in the litany of all good con-

chologists against this sort of dilettante trash.

DE L'EXISTENCE DU GENRE BERTHEI.IXIA CKOSSE A L'EPOQTE

ACTUELLE, par Ph. Dautzenberg (Bull. Soc. Zool. France 1895).

In 1875 a peculiar, very small, (.\ijiiilus-\\ke shell was discovered in

the Paris Basin Eocene, and named by Crosse Bei-tlielinln elfgaua.

It was supposed to be a univalve ; but later another was ton ml. and

proved to be a left .valve of the species, which was then transferred

to the bis'alve family Acicii/lda. The genus has also been surmised

to be an embryonic bivalve, analogous to S!nii*i</eru in < Jastropoda.

Now a living representative of Bertltelntin. lias been found, and

named by M. Dautzenberg B. Xehlumbergeri, in honor of the dis-

coverer. It is less than a millimeter long, white, with spiral beaks

like Isocurdla cor ; the interior is not pearly, but mat, si. that (_'nss-

manu is probably right in referring Berthelinia to I'ra*inidn' rather

than to the pearl oyster group. It was dredged in sand at the island

Nossibe, near Madagascar. — //. .4. P.

NOTES AND NEWS.

DR. WM. H. DAI. i., Honorary Curator of the Department of

Mollusks, U. S. Nat. Mus., has returned from a prolonged sojourn in

Alaska, where he has been engaged in an examination of the coal

resources of the country.

MUSSELS IN A CITY RESERVIOR.— During the cleaning of the

East Park Reservoir, 33d St. and Columbia Avenue, Philadelphia,

Mr. J. E. Ives observed numerous Unio eomplanatus in the muddy

sediment in course of removal. Specimens presented to the Academy

of Natural Sciences by him are well-grown and normal. The water

84 THE NAUTILUS.

supply of this reservoir is pumped from the Schuylkill, where this

species is abundant ; and it was doubtless introduced in the state of

free-swimming embryos, which found in the muddy bottom of the

reservoir, a suitable station. — H. A. P.

PYRAMIDULA ALTERNATA AND GASTRODONTA LIGERA, RE-

VERSED.— In the collection of the late ROBERT WALTON, of Rox-

borough, Philadelphia, which was presented by his father to the

Academy of Natural Sciences, a reversed specimen of each of these

species occurs, both taken in the vicinity of Philadelphia. In a

former issue we have announced a reversed Z. cellarius found by

the same ardent conchologist.

Another sinistral specimen of P. alternata has been presented to

the Academy, a finely developed shell of the size of ordinary

adults in this locality. It was found by Mr. JOHN FORD in the

West Park (Fairmouut) some years ago, in a locality now destroyed

so far as snails are concerned.

It would seem that sinistral individuals occur more frequently in

Pyramiduta (Patula) than iu our other groups of American

Helices. Binney records a reversed alternata (Man. Amer. L. Sh.

p. 257) in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. I have seen a

fine reversed specimen of P. strigosa, in the collection of the late

Dr. FR. STEIN, of Indianapolis, Ind. I believe that no sinistral

specimens of American species of this genus other than those men-

tioned above, have been put on record, but it is not unlikely that

others exist in collections, unrecorded. If so, we would be pleased

to hear from their possessors, and to record the occurrence of such

siuistral Helices as may come to our knowledge. — EDS.

THE EDITOR has had the pleasure of very pleasant calls from

Dr. THEODORE GILL and PROF. A. E. VERRILL, whose attendance

at the meeting of the National Academy of Sciences, of which they

are distinguished members, brings them to this City of Brotherly

Love.

CONCHOLOUISTS who do not already possess a copy of Tryon's

" STRUCTURAL AND SYSTEMATIC CONCUOLOGY " should procure it

now. This work is indispensable to the collector who wishes

to gain an intelligent idea of the affinities or structure of shells, or

to classify a collection. The plates illustrate thousands of species

representing all of the genera and subgenera, and the text contains

interesting chapters on geographical and geological distribution,

structure, classification, etc. It is the most complete text book on

the subject in the English language.

THE NAUTILUS.

VOL. ix. DECEMBER, 1895. No. 8

NOTES OF A CONCHOLOGIST IN JAPAN.

BY JOHN B. HENDERSON, WASHINGTON, D. C.

It was ray good fortune to accompany the Hon. John W. Foster

on his diplomatic mission to Japan and China last winter. Official

duties and the disabilities placed upon me by a suspicious military

guard prevented me from doing very much collecting, although I

eagerly seized such few opportunities that came my way to gather

in the tempting array of mollusks that generally seemed near at

hand.

There can be no more delightful country in the world to collect

in than Japan. The natives are always pleasant and courteous and

often show a disposition to assist. Even my solemn escort at times

so far forgot pride and dignity as to remove their swords and wade

in the mudrly rice fields to capture the " dobukai." Land and fresh-

water shells are abundant almost anywhere. The mountain sides

are especially rich iu that variable Helicid group of Eulota (Eu-

hadra) luhuana, its many forms and varieties. Clausilias cluster

together in old stumps, and the rice fields fairly swarm with Corbi-

•cula, Vivipara and Melania. One rainy day at Nikko, a coolie

brought me a branch of mulberry, upon which seventeen fine speci-

mens of Euhadra brandti were crawling.

The only marine collecting I could do was at Shimonoseki, and in

the neighborhood of Nagasaki. Both these localities are delight-

86 THE NAUTILUS.

fully rich in marine forms, especially the latter point, where a larger

number of the true Lido-Pacific species occurs. At Nagasaki crowds

of fisherwives aud their children go out every day at low tide

and gather Tapes philippinarum Rv. for the markets. These are

found in great abundance on the pebbly beaches of the bay, an inch

or so under the surface. At a little fishing village called Mogi, on

the Gulf of Simibara, where a small stream meets the sea, I spent

two days in a conchological paradise. I shall not soon forget the

thrill at my first sight of those splendid Indo-Pacific species alive

and moving along, that I had only seen before in collections and

figured in books. Here at low tide an exposed stretch of rocky reef

was covered with Monodonia labio L., Purpura tumulosa, Chloros-

toma lischkei. Pils., Chi. turbinatum Ad., Chi. rustica Gmel., Turbo

coronatus Gmel., and an occasional Turbo corniitus japoniea Rve.

In the crevices of the larger boulders, hidden from the light, Euthria

ferrea Reeve clings to the rough surfaces of the granite, and Litor-

ina sitchana Phil, must be sacrificed at every step. In the little

pools of clear water left by the receding tide, myriads of Umboniwn

glisten in the sunlight like gems, along with the more dingy Potam-

ides. Under the stones are hidden all manner of nice things — the

usual Tapes and a quantity of small species ; occasionally a pretty

Calliostoma consors Lisch., and now and then a fine, large, spiny

Murex (A/, axicnrnis /)

A sand- and mud-bank at the mouth of the little river is most

interesting. Among a wealth of species and a profusion of speci-

mens I stood dazed and excited. Fusus (two large species), with

their brilliant scarlet-red bodies made furrows in the soft sand, and

Siphonalia kelleitii seemed quite as abundant. The large, fine

Polinices ampla and Eburna japoniea Sowb. thrive in the half mud

half sand. Scattered along the shore and washed in from the deeper

waters of the bay I found good specimens of llemiftistm, Rapana

bezoar, Ranella lumpns, Triton tritoiiis, Fascolaria trapezium, tiipltoit-

alia eassidariaeformis and longirostris, Cassis pyrum Lam., and

Axtrn/ii/m modestum Rve.

Among a number of bivalves I remember, in particular, Soletellina

boeddinghausi Lisch., Tellinapraetexta M.&rte.,Arcasubcrenata Lisch.,

Cytherea litsorta, Gaeoella chinensis Desh., Dosinea japoniea, Muctra,

r< itrriformis Peeten japonicus and laqueattis.

While collecting at this charming spot, I was assisted by a swarm

of naked children, who vied with each other in finding specimens,

THE NAUTILUS. 87

and whose little, black, oblique eyes could almost see around corners.

The market places usually offer a number of the more common

species, among which one can often pick out rarer and more desir-

able forms. Eburna japonica and a large Cardium seemed the most

favored as articles of diet.

ANNOTATED LIST OF THE MOLLTTSCA FOUND IN THE VICINITY OF

CLEARWATER, WRIGHT CO., MINNESOTA.

BY H. E. SARGENT, WOODVILLE, ALA.

PART FIRST— LAND SHELLS.

Having the past summer at our disposal, and needing rest, our

plans were laid gastronomically to enjoy the fruits of the old home-

stead garden, the pride of our octogenarian parent ; socially, to re-

new the acquaintance of relatives and friends of former years, and,

scientifically, for our own gratification and perhaps that of our

fellow conchologists, to work up as fully as possible the molluscan

fauna of the immediate vicinity of our sojourn. The two first de-

siderata; of the vacation were a pre-eminent success, and our friends

may be our judges as to the latter.

Clearwater, Wright Co., Minnesota, is situated on the Clear/water

River, at its junction with the Mississippi, some 60 miles above the

famous Falls of St. Anthony.

The Mississippi, at this point is, at times, deep, rapid and filled

with loose logs for the Minneapolis saw-mills. At the time of our

investigations it was shallow, quiet and free from logs, thus greatly

aiding in our search. Its bed being in the glacial drift, contains but

little, if any, lime-rock.

Fine granite is quarried from the outcropping of the Archaean

rocks at St. Cloud, only 15 miles above.

The several islands which occur at this point are low and densely

overgrown with willows, elms, vines and rank weeds.

Being protected from fires, the undergrowth is a perfect tangle of

dead limbs and living weeds. The portions which are overflowed in

high water are cleared and more open.

The Clearwater River, a small stream easily crossed dry shod in

summer, is from 8-10 miles long, and the outlet of Clearwater Lake.

Except in the most rapid portions, it is muddy under its hanks, with

an occasional muddy slough connected.

88 THE NAUTILUS.

Clearwater Lake is a beautiful sheet of water. It is 10 or 12'

miles long, from a few rods to 3 or 4 miles wide, and very irregular

in outline. Over most of its bed it is pebbly or rocky and quite

shallow, many acres in its centre being less than two feet deep. The

surrounding timber is quite heavy, and furnishes good retreats for

land mollusks, while the maples, elms and oaks, by their abundant

shade, keep the soil somewhat moist.

Belle and Heath Lakes, situated two miles west from Clearwater,

are small, deep, weedy and muddy, and are typical of several other

lakes visited, of which no further mention will be made.

Their floors, at margin, are covered with fine, marly mud deposit,

and are heavily overgrown with rushes and white lillies. Beyond

the water's edge, the shores are boggy and overgrown with rank

grass. The surrounding country is rolling and sandy; timber,

scrub-oak, poplar, birch, and other small shrubby trees — and to still

further render it unfit for molluscan habitation, it is frequently

overrun by forest fires. No shells were found away from the imme-

diate vicinity of the lakes.

Land species were collected at the following stations:

Station B. Belle Lake. Among grass roots on crowns of bogs,

unless otherwise designated.

Station C. Clearwater Lake. Sifted from leaf-mould taken from

banks of small spring rill.

Station I. Islands in Mississippi River at Clearwater.

Station R. Rockford, Minn., 20 miles south of Clearwater.

Station D. Drift in Mississippi River at Bellevue, la.

Station E. Vicinity of Bellevue, la.

Valuable assistance has been rendered in verifying and identify-

ing by Dr. Sterki.

1 . Selenites concava Say. D.

2. Pseudohyalina milium Morse. C.

3. Pseudohyo/iiiii mintiscul.a Binn. It, under chips at water's

edge of Crow Creek. B, D.

4. Zonitoides nitida Mull. C, under boards among the reeds at

lake margin. I, very abundant under fine bark chips at water's

edge. E, crawling among weeds near creek.

5. Vitrea radiatula Aid. Common at 15 and C.

6. Vitrea, radiatula Aid. (albino), very closely resembling H.

binneyana. A beautiful variety found at both B and C, together

with the typical specimens.

THE NAUTILUS. 89

7. Vitrea arborea Say. C, B, I, R.

8. Conulus fulvus Drap. Very plentiful at B and C under de-

, cay ing logs. I, R.

9. Strobilops virgo Pils. C, specimens perfectly colorless. D, R-

10. Strobilops virgo Pils. (dark brown variety). At C, in com-

pany with, and at B, without typical specimens.

11. Punctum pygmaeum Drap. C, B.

12. Pyramidula striatella Anth. B, C, I, R.

12«. Pyramidula striatella catskillensis Pils. Cleanvater Lake.

13. Pyramidula a/ternata Say. Under decaying logs at C, I, D.

14. Uelicodixftii lineatus Say. Very numerous and rather under-

sized at C, D.

15. Polygyra (Triodopgis) multilineata Say. I, E, island in

Mississippi River near Bellevue, la. At both stations mature shells

were very thin and delicate.

16. Polygyra (Tridopsis) clausa Say. D.

17. Polygyra (Stenolrema) hirsuta Say. D.

18. Polygyra (Stenotrema) letii Ward. I, under drift ; E, bogs on

banks of creek ; B.

19. Vallonia perspectiva Sterki. I and R.

20. Ferussacia subcylindrica L. C, B, I, R.

21. Pupa pentodon Say. B, D.

22. Pupa edentula Drap. C.

23. Pupa contraeta Say. B, C, D.

24. Pupa holzingeri Sterki. C, D, I.

25. Pupa curvidens (41(1. C, D.

26. Pupa corticariaSay. C, under bark of decaying log.

27. Pupa armlfera Say. B, on sandy hillside ; D.

28. Pupa procera Gld. D.

29. Vertigo ovata Say. B, C.

30. Vertigo vent.ricosa Morse var. elatior Sterki. B.

31. Vertigo tridentata Wolf (1 example, 4-dentate) D.

32. Vertigo milium Gld. D.

33. Succinea ovalis Gld. C, B, R. Crawling on slough grass.

34. Succinea obliqi/a Say. I, very fine specimens among under-

brush and weeds ; C, E, on island in Mississippi River.

35. Succinea avara Say. I, very abundant under pine bark chips

at water's edge.

36. Carychium exiguum Say. C, B.

37. Carychium exiguum Say. var. R, C.

90 THE NAUTILUS.

38. Carychium exile H. C. Lea. D, C.

The aquatic species will be enumerated in a second paper.

DESCRIPTION OF A NEW AUSTRiLIAN CHITON.

BY H. A. PILSBRY.

Chiton Bednalli n. sp.

Oblong, strongly elevated, with acute dorsal keel and straight side-

slopes. Cream-white, with a small flesh-pink spot at each beak, and

a sparce mottling of same on lateral areas, the central areas clouded

with green. Girdle flesh-tinted with green bars.

Median valves acutely beaked, the beaks hardly projecting on

the straight or concave posterior margins of valves, which, at the

sides, are regularly serrated. Central areas with a narrow, smooth

band along the ridge (wider and triangular in valve ii), the pleura

•with 12 narrow, strong, rounded, longitudinal ribs on each side,

separated by flat grooves wider than the ribs ; inner one or two ribs

not reaching to anterior margin of valve. Lateral areas well raised,

divided by a median groove (doubled on some valves), which .u'i<le»s

at intervals, forming a series of triangular pits ; traces of somewhat

similar pits appear along the diagonal slope, and the posterior border

has a series of transverse undulations corresponding to the denticles

of the sutural margin. Valve i with about 20 radial narrow grooveSj

also pitted ; and, like the grooves of lateral areas, these do not extend

to the beak, which is surrounded by a smooth area. Valve viii with

central projecting mucro, the slope behind it very concave ; anterior

area ribbed, posterior area with pitted radial grooves.

Interior white, blue on the valve callus. Girdle clothed with

convex imbricating scales, rounded in contour, and measuring about

two-fifths of a millimeter in width, faintly striated toward inner

edge of girdle, blunter and smoother toward outer edge.

Length 25, breadth 11 mm. ; angle of divergence 98°.

Yorke's Peninsula (W. T. Bednall).

This species resembles C. Coxi somewhat, but differs in the pecu-

liar pit sculpture of the lateral areas. Its nearest ally is a still un-

described South Australian species collected by Mr. Bednall. The

coloration described will probably be found subject to variation, as

usual.

THE NAUTILUS. 91

•SOME NOTES ON THE GENITAL ORGANS OF UNIONIDJE, WITH REFER-

ENCE TO SYSTEMATICS.

BY DR. V. STERKI.

It is generally known that in a group of Uniones comprising a

great part of our species, such as ligamentinua Lam., rectus Lam.,

subovatus Lea, parvus Barnes, itasutus Say, raiigianus Lea, alatw

Say, etc., the females have the posterior part of their outer branchiae

peculiarly transformed into "branchial uteri, '' and also that in con-

sequence of this, in almost all instances the shells of the female

specimens are distinctly and decidedly dilated downward at the

posterior end, so as to be distinguished from the males at first glance.

The degree of difference between the sexes is, however, very differ-

ent among the several species, but it is constant. For convenient

reference in the following, this group is designated as A. There is

another group, say B, in which all four branchial are charged in

their totality with embryones, as already shown by Lea for some

species,1 but do not show such marked transformation and change

in colors as those of the former group, and cause also no such strik-

ing differences in the shape of the mussel, according to the sexes.

Examples of this group are: U. subrotundu* Lea, pustulosus Lea,

aesopus Green, undulatus Barnes.

There are some facts of peculiar interest in connection with this

grouping. The first is that the animals are propagating at certain

seasons quite different for the two groups, as the writer has ascer-

tained by examining thousands of specimens during the last four or

five years. In group A the branchial uteri are charged with embry-

ones from late summer to the beginning of winter, and probably in

most through the winter, while in early summer they are empty, the

embryones having been discharged. At that time the ovaries of the

females are charged with ova, and the testes of the males with sper-

matozoa, while the latter are missing, or quite scarce, in the time

from late summer to winter, in which time the embryones attain

their maturity in the branchiae.

In group B, just the reverse is true. During the fall, i.e., about

from August, and probably winter, the branchiie are empty, con-

taining no embryones, while the ovaries are filled with ova, and the

'Yet Huxley, in his valuable "Man. Anat. of luv. An.," says: "In Unio

and Anodonta the young are hatched in the outer gill pouches of the parent

92 THE NAUTILUS.

testes with the white, creamy sperma (rarely of a different color.)

During early summer, the branchise will be found filled first with

developing ova and then with embryones, which are discharged

about in July ; at that season the ovaries and testes are sterile.

There are slight variations as to the time, but the general rule is as

stated.

This radical difference in the season of producing ova and sperma^

and maturing the embryones, coincident with the differences of the

location and formation of the uterus sacs is highly interesting, the

more so as they are in harmony with the differences in the shells,

and thus seem to furnish systematic characters of a high order. In

group A the mussels are generally more or less elongated, or at least

longitudinal, that means with a small angle of torsion of the axis,2

the hinge-teeth are moderately strong, and the epiconch is of a

vivid color, as a rule, with numerous rays. In B, the mussels are,

as a rule, shorter, the axis-torsion is more considerable, the hinge

and hinge-teeth are stronger and of a different shape, and the epi-

conch is generally of a more uniform, dusky color.

Yet there seem to be some real or apparent exceptions, and dissi-

dent members of both groups. In U. lev* Lea and ellipsis Lea the

propagating organs are of exactly the same type as in group A, and

also bound to the same season. In the former, which has often been

mistaken for U. circu/us Lea, the male and female mussels are very

different, the latter being strongly dilated downward posteriorly —

Lea's figure represents a female specimen well ; the shell is also not

heavy. In U. ellipsis the female mussel is also dilated and more

full posteriorly, though not so marked, yet, as a rule, recognizable ;

the lighter color and green rays of the younger approaches it to

group A, and more so, in the writer's opinion, the formation of the

posterior mantle edge, which is of the same appearance as in the

other species ranging under A.

On the other hand, two species, with an elongated mussel, U.

cuneatus Barn, (niger Rat., erassidens v. C. Lam.) and gibbosus

Barn, range with group B, as to their generative organs, and also in

the season, while they at least show no downward dilatation of the

female shell (in runeatus it seems to be decidedly higher in general)

and their shells are comparatively heavy, the epiconch is of a uni-

form deep brown or black, though having some green rays when

young, as do also U. subrotundus, c<i<vi>i<'un etc. ; the shell is very

2 More about this foatiire will be said in another place.

THE NAUTILUS. 93

heavy in crassideng, and the teetli very strong and of the same type

with the other species of group B, while the decided downward

curvature at the posterior end in old specimens approaches both

species to the same, and removes them decidedly from A.

In U. multiplicalus the female was found November 1, with evi-

dently mature embryones filling the uterus sacs, which are of rather

the same appearance as those of U. alaius, and occupying the most

posterior part of the outer branchiae. Also, otherwise this species is

quite different from U. undulatus Barn., in spite of the similar ap-

pearance of the old mussels, as already pointed out by Say.

A few words about U. alatus Say, laevissimus Lea and gracilis

Barn, may be added. Of all three the branchial uteri were found

filled late in October, in the former evidently discharging the em-

bryones, and of a rather different formation from that in the two

others, while the young mussels of the two former species are very

much alike. It is known that in U. alatus the female mussel is

markedly produced downward, and more so in giaeilis, while in

laevissimus it is scarcely distinct from the male.

Besides these two main, and, as it seems, most numerous groups,

there are some species of quite different types. In order not to let

this article become too lengthy, they, together with Murgnrifuna and

An.odonta will be considered later.

It is probably known to most conchologisls that during the first

two or three vears of life, the genital glands are not developed at

all. Yet the specimens are still rather small and young when they

begin producing ova and spernia.and the assertion that the presence

of embryones is a criterion of maturity of the parent is as far from

truth here as it is for the Cyeladidce. In group A the filled uterus-

or embryo-sacs increase in numbers as well as in size with advancing

age of the mother animal. In U. subovatus Lea, e.g., 18, 25,28, 40

have been counted on a side, in specimens of different sizes, and

these are probably not the lowest and highest numbers to be found,

and correspondingly so in other species. For every one of them

there is, however, an average number the rule for an adult, and

these numbers are very different for the different species.

The embryones, or glochidia, of many species have been exam-

ined and figured long ago, especially by Lea, and they prove to be

of rather different forms. Very probably they would be found more

or less uniform in the several groups, and with the latter show

differences which may also be of value for systematic^. Although

94 THE NAUTILUS.

having examined some of them, and their development, the writer

is not prepared, as yet, to speak in a general way about them.

New Philadelphia, Ohio, Nov., 1895.

NOTES AND NEWS.

NEW RECORDS OF REVERSED AMERICAN HELICES. — I have my-

self found three reversed Helices. First, reversed tlii/roides. This

specimen I sent to the late John G. Anthony for the Cambridge

Collection. Second, reversed muUiline.ala. This also I sent to

Anthony. I now have another reversed thyroides in my collection.

I also know of a third one, collected near Cincinnati, by the late

Mr. Stannage, and also of a reversed mitchelliana collected by Prof.

F. W. Bryant near Cincianati.

This makes a list of six reversed specimens of Mesodun, which I

have seen. Dr. Lewis had a reversed albolulris in his collection.

This does not indicate that Patnla has much the start.

— A. G. WETHERBY, Magnetic City, N. C.

VlTRINA LIMPIDA IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. The last time

I saw you I promised to send you some living Vitrina HmpidaGld.

if my " colony" had not died out, so I send you a dozen and trust

they will reach you in good shape.

Last year I only found 12 alive, so feared the " colony " had died

out, and, up to to-day, had not found a single specimen this year.

It has been exceedingly dry this season, the deficit in rain fall being

iii'urfy 11 inches up to November 1, but yesterday we had a steady,

soaking rain ; so to-day I started out for Vitrina and collected 95

in two hours, so you see, the " colony " is still flourishing in spite of

the drought, and burning off the "drift" under which they lived.

I think I told you that this " colony" came down the river in the

flood of February, 1891, as that was the time the drift lodged in the

hollow where they are found, and the Signal Service records show

that the '91 flood came from the headwaters of the Allegheny. This

is a good example of " dispersal by water," and one that has prac-

tically been proved.

To-day was cold and raw, with slight snow-spits (Signal Service

record for November 10 show maximum temperature 39° F., mini-

mum 36° F.), so V. limpida has the same habits as its European

THE NAUTILUS. 95

cousin pelliichlu, i. e., out in cold weather. I noticed one or two

eggs among the rotten leaves.

As to the habits of Vitrina limpida, they were very hard to find

yesterday [Nov. 17], as it was much dryer than a week ago, and

most of the shells had crawled into the curled-up leaves. One

specimen was busily engaged in making a meal off of the shell of a

deceased brother or sister, eating right through the shell as is the

habit of the Zonites. — GEO. H. CLAPP, Pittsburi/, Pa., in letters.

THE STEARNS LOAN COLLECTION IN THE DETROIT MUSEUM OF

ART. — The citizens of Detroit, Michigan, are to be congratulated

upon the addition to their facilities for scientific and (esthetic edu-

cation, of the great collection of archreological and ethnological

material of MR. FREDERICK STEARNS. We quote the following

from the Detroit Evening News, of November 1 :

" The occasion which last night emphasized the significance of the

gathering at the Detroit Museum of Art is one which the whole

Detroit public ought to recognize. It was the formal dedication to

the public use of the additional gifts lately made to the museum by

Frederick Stearns. The archaeological and ethnological collection

which Mr. Stearns placed in the museum last night is in itself valu-

able enough to entitle the donor to public gratitude, but when it is

con.-idered that the presentation of last night's collection was but an

incident in Mr. Stearns' past relations to the institution, the event

places Mr. Stearns among the foremost of Detroit's public benefac-

tors. The very presence in a community of a goodly number of

persons of Mr. Stearns' tastes and artistic discrimination is a refin-

ing influence, but when such a man is willing to contribute not

only his technical acquirements and skill, but his pecuniary sub-

stance for the common good, the fact goes a long way to negative

the current notions about the crime of being rich and refined in

taste. The reception of last evening was a recognition in part of

the public's appreciation of its indebtedness to Mr. Stearns' munifi-

cence, but the best and real recognition will be given from day to

day by the individuals who are edified and profited by their visits

to the museum. The News tenders its acknowledgements to Mr.

Stearns of all the benefits which he has conferred upon Detroit

through his generosity to the Museum."

We understand that Mr. Stearns is preparing a series of Mollusca

for exhibition in a special hall of the Museum of Art.

96 THE NAUTILUS.

NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

DESCRIPTION D'UNE NOUV. ESPECE DE MODIOLA (Feuille des

Jeunes Naturalistee, May-June, 1895), M. gallica, Dautzenberg, from

the ocean coast of France.

ON THE VALIDITY OF THE GENUS MARGAEITANA. By Charles

T. Simpson (Amer. Nat., April, 1895). The author maintains that

Margaritana is not a natural genus, but is of polyphyletic origin,

the species having arisen from various diverse groups of Uniones.

SCIENTIFIC RESULTS OF EXPLORATIONS BY THE U. S. FISH

COMMISSION STEAMER ALBATROSS. Report on Mollusca and Brach-

iopoda dredged in deep water chiefly near the Hawaiian Islands, with

illustrations of hitherto unfigured species from Northwest America.

By William Healey Dall. Eight hauls of the dredge were made

by the A Ibatross in between 300 and 400 fms., on approaching Hon-

olulu, securing a number of very interesting new forms of the genera

Scaphander, Pleurotoma, Mangilia, Spergo (a new group) Polinices,

Solariella, Emarginula, Dentalium, Euciroa, Lyousiella and Pectun-

culus. The anatomy of Euciroa, Halicardia and a new Lyonsiella

is discussed by Dall at some length, and the important point that

the foliobranch type of gill exists in certain members of groups in

which most genera have the reticulate type, is brought forward and

amply fortified by figures. Moreover, the branchial septum is shown

to be of diverse origin in some allied genera, being made up in part

of a reflected nephridial lamina in Halicardia and Lyonsiella. The

facts developed tend strongly to break down the primary division

of Lamellibranchiata based upon the modifications of the gill, as in

the classification of Pelseneer. Euciroa is shown to be different

from Yerticordia, of which it had formerly been considered a sub-

genus, and a new family, Euciroidce, is formed for it. In gill struc-

ture it seems to be intermediate between the foliobranchiate and the

reticulate types. " The discovery of this type may be said to prac-

tically complete the series uniting the foliobranch with the reticu-

late gill, and give the quietus to the classification based solely on

the divergencies of the ctenidia."

The examination of the soft parts of Mytilimerin fle.rnosa shows

that form to constitute a new genus now described as Halicardia.

The second part of the paper gives additional information on

Northwest American species of Buceinum, Chrysodomus, Trophon,

etc., described in Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1891, with good figures

of many interesting forms. A valuable essay on the north Pacific

Brachiopods concludes the article.

THE NAUTILUS.

Voi. ix. JANUARY, 1896. No. 9

TO CONCHOLOGISTS.

We regret the necessity which compels us to start the new year

with an editorial of this nature ; but it is nothing new to hear that

the NAUTILUS must struggle for existence. This struggle has con-

tinued since the Jura, until now we have but a few species, three or

four in the Indo-Pacific and one in the United States. Do you in-

tend that the only recent NAUTILUS in North America shall be-

come extinct? We are willing to supply the care, but not the en-

tire environment. It needs feeding once a month in order to add

another septum. You are asked to assist in this important function

once a year ; and when you see a slip of paper which reads, " Inclosed!

please find $1.00," it means that it has come your turn to " chip in."

We hope that you will no longer neglect these little reminders.

They mean that your subscription is due. We cannot wait until the

end of the year — we must have it in advance.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year.

H. A. P. & C. W. J.

NOTES ON THE WASHINGTON SPHJERIA AND PISIDIA, WITH DE-

SCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES.

BY EDWARD W. ROPER.

The great State of Washington has been lightly tone-lied by col-

lectors of freshwater shells, but enough is known to indicate that

when its hundreds of lakes and rivers are scientifically explored,

large and interesting collections will be made. The researches of

98 THE NAUTILUS.

Mr. P. B. Randolph at Seattle, and Mr. Henry Heninhi 11 in several

localities, have brought to light a goodly array of Sphaeria and

Pisidia, and regarding these the following notes may he of interest.

Sphcerium primeanum Clessin. This shell, described in the Mon-

ograph of the Cyclades, is so little known to collectors that a brief

description will he useful. Shell large, equilateral, dark brown or

black with lighter beaks, shining. Outline rhomboidal, a little

more elongated and the ends more rounded than Kph. rlwmboideum

Say, but the dorsal aspect very much like that of the species. The

full, rounded beaks make the vertical section broadly cordate. One

specimen, chestnut colored and with yellow border, is so close to

Sph. rhomboideum as to be held in doubt. That species has been

found in northern Idaho, and may naturally be expected from

Washington. S. primeautnn was found in Lake Washington, Seattle.

S. dentatum Hald. Handsome, bright green shells, differing only

in color from brownish Oregon specimens, are doubtfully referred

to this species. Collected at Spokane Falls by Mrs. Mary P. Olney.

iS'p/i. nubile Gould. Identified by Dr. J. G. Cooper. It is a large,

shining, dark brown shell, resembling fyilt. tlciitntum Hald., but less

inflated. The young shells are thin and smooth, while in S. den-

tiihuii they are more heavily striated than the adult. Abundant in

small streams, Seattle.

Sph. occidental Prime. Found at Spokane Falls by Hemphill.

.Vy///. riii/iiiiinili .1. < >. Cooper. Small specimens abundant in

streams at. Seattle. Larger ones in Lake Washington. Beautiful

specimens from Spokane Falls and Chehalis River (Hemphill).

Also found in Idaho ami Vancouver's Island. The species was

found orii;inallv by Mr. Wm. J. Raymond in Tuolumne Co., Cal.,

at an altitude of 8700 feet, in 1889.

1'ixiiliinn Idn/iiii 'nxe Roper. First found by Mr. Henry Hemphill

at Old Mission, Idaho, in 18!)0. Found abundantly in streams at

Seattle by Mr. Randolph, and much larger than the types. One

fine specimen has the following dimensions: Long. 0'4~> inch; lat.

0'39 inch ; diam. <)•">() inch. This is certainly the largest known

specie.- nf I'isidiiui).

/'. r,ii-inhilc Prime. Streams at Seattle. Unusually large.

/'. i;,iii/,ri:xxit»t Prime. Green Lake, Seattle.

/'. nlxlihnii Hald. Common in water courses at Seattle.

/'. iilti-iuii<iiil"iiinii Prime. Unusually robust specimens from Seat-

tle. As nearly everv Pisidiuiu found mi the Pacific Slope has been

THE NAUTILUS. 99

sent out under this name, it may be well to say that this shell is

somewhat triangular with rounded margins, nearly as large and

solid as the average P. variabile, horn colored shading to yellow at

the borders, some specimens with dark blotches or stripes near the

basal margin. The California types were described as having

" valves shallow in the cavity," but the northern shells are more full

and rounded.

P. randolphii n. sp. Shell rounded oval, moderately inflated;

anterior end elongated and perfectly rounded, no angle indicating

the junction of the anterior and basal margins; posterior margin

sloping abruptly from the very short hinge margin ; beaks decidedly

posterior, fairly prominent ; surface very finely and evenly striated,

polished, of a most peculiar greenish-yellow color, different from

other Pisidia, but much like some Corbiculas. This of itself makes

it easy to separate from P. abilltum and P. variabile, associated spe-

cies. Long. 0'18 inch ; lat. 0'14 inch ; diam. O10 inch. Found at

Seattle. Dr. J. G. Cooper says the shell most nearly resembling

this is P. harfordianum Pr., a species practically unknown to collect-

ors, and of which he has only a young specimen.

P. - — ? n. sp. A rotund, orbiculate, dull yellow Pisidium,

with prominent beaks and projecting scutellum, was collected by

Mr. Hemphill in Patten Lake, Whatcom County. Dr. Sterki con-

siders it identical with a species apparently common in the region

of the Great Lakes, to which he has applied the name P. scutellatum

(in letters). A deep water form is supposed to be P. abyssonim Stimp.,

but as Dr. Stimpson's manuscript was destroyed by fire, and his

types mixed, this can never be certainly known. Figures and more

minute descriptions of this -and P. randolphii may be expected in

Dr. Sterki's coming monograph. Additional specimens are urgently

desired of this and other species of the Pacific Slope, which are, at

present, deplorably scarce.

I believe it is safe to say that P.insigne Gabb., P. harfordianum

Prime and P. angelicnm Rowell are unknown, except from the

original lots. P. occidentals Newcomb seems to be only a form of

P. abditum Hald. Additional specimens may confirm that view or

prove the contrary. The most experienced collectors disagree re-

garding the identity of the Sphseria. This tangle need not long

remain if sufficient material can pass under the eye of a competent

conchologist. Pacific coast collectors have generally given their

attention to marine and land shells, and it would seem that a field

for discovery is open among the freshwater species.

100 THE NAUTILUS.

NOTES ON COLLECTING SHELLS IN CHINA.

BY JOHN B. HENDERSON.

When I saw Mr. Schmacker's splendid collection of Chinese

mollusks in Shanghai, and looked over Pi-re Heude's Unios at Sic-

t» way, I was laying the foundation for a bitter disappointment when

I took to the field myself. The great alluvial plains extending from

Peking and the Gulf of Pechelli on the north to Shanghai and the

lower Yangtsze on the south, are not particularly rich in species.

My good friend, Mr. Schmacker assured me that "the hills" fairly

trembled with molluscan life; but the hills were far away, the sea-

son unfavorable, so I continued my search along the muddy banks of

the rivers and the slimy waters of the canals near Shanghai, with from

fair to poor success, it being then too cold (January) for land shells.

The bulk of Chinese Unios that so closely resemble our Missis-

sippi forms, live almost entirely in the upper waters of the great

rivers and their tributaries that flow through the high lands of the

interior provinces. In the neighborhood of Shanghai, Unio mur-

i-Iiixoniiiiuix and Anodonta woodiana were the only naiads I met

with, but these were generally abundant. Corbiculas and the two

Viviparas, chinenxis Bens, and qitadrata Bens, are plentiful in the

canals. I secured the services of one, Ah Sin, a bland and suave

celestial, to collect for me. Ah Sin brought me. day by day, num-

bers of Cyelina ^'//r».v/,s wrapped in endless papers, that lie assured

me were rare and highly desirable Unios from the inaccessible

Thibetan frontier. So Ah Sin proved a failure.

Upon a three days' journey iu a house-boat from Tientsin to

Tuugchow (on the Pei-Ho River), I did not observe a single shell

of any kind. From Tungchow to Peking, about 15 miles, I

gathered quantities of Viripara, Unio and Corbwula in the canal,

and in the dried pools by the roadside many l.iminnt. The walls of

Peking swarm with Cathaica pyrrhozona ; 1 even gathered a number

of them in my bed-room, where they clung to the ceiling. This

species has a wide distribution throughout China, as well as Bith-

inia striaiula Bens, which I gathered in the canals about Tientsin.

Unfortunately, I had no opportunity to try the good marine col-

lecting of the southern China coast, my only attempts for marines

being in the immediate vicinity of Shanghai and at Che Foo and

Taku on the (iulf'of Pechelli in the north. The fauna of this

region is not particularly interesting, consisting only of a limited

THE NAUTILUS. 101

number of boreal forms, some of which can be traced along the

Aleutians to Alaska and down as far as Vancouver.

These northern waters of the Yellow Sea on the Chinese side and

the Gulf of Pechelli are not conducive to molluscan life on ac-

count of the immense quantities of mud poured in by the Yangtsze

and the Hwang Ho Rivers. The amount of this deposit is almost

incredible. The shore line from the mouth of the Yangtsze, several

hundred miles north, is a great mud bank that is rapidly extending

out and filling up the shallow sea. The few Pelecypods that rejoice

in such surroundings must keep awake to avoid being " snowed

under." They are exceedingly difficult to obtain, and especially

when the icy winter winds blow as they do in that inhospitable re-

gion. From such stations I secured an Area, a Solecurtiis, Cni'liim

sinensis and a Solen.

At Che Foo, where the shore is more bold and rocky, a few Mon-

odonta labio and L'Morina sitehana rewarded a diligent search at low

tide.

I made a desperate attempt to take advantage of the excellent

collecting in the island of Formosa, but the circumstances of my

visit to that most beautiful spot was such that I found it dangerous

to venture out. Some natives, however, brought me quantities of

beach worn shells, out of the lot of which I selected a few fairly

good specimens of Chlorostoma argyroxtom-um, Patella testudinaria,

two Haliotis, and (.'ypraea Isabella.

The collector in China must be of a patient and amiable disposi-

tion to endure the throng of gaping fools that follow and ply him

with a thousand questions. The quick tempered man is sure to get

into trouble and get no shells.

SHELLS OF SEATTLE, KING CO., WASHINGTON.

BY P. B. RANDOLPH.

The following species I have collected within the city limits dur-

ing the past year :

Selenites vancouverensis Lea. j Zonites arboreus Say.

Selenites sportella Gld. Zonites pugetensis Dall.

Selenites sportella hybridaAnc. ! Zonites johnsonii Dall.

Zonites lucidus Drap. (intro- j Conulus fulvus Drap.

duced). ! Pristiloma lansingi Bid.

102

THE NAUTILUS.

Pristiloma stearnsi Bid.

Punctum conspectum Bid.

Pnnctura randolphi Ball.

Epiphragmophora fidelis Gray.

Epiphragmophora fidelis minor.

Epiphragmophora fidelis albino.

Polygyra (Mesodon) towusendi-

ana Lea.

Polygyra (Mesodon) columbiana

Lea.

Polygyra (Mesodon) devia Gld.

Polygyra (Stenotrema) germana

Gld.

Vertigo simplex Gld.

Vertigo binneyana Sterki.

Succinea oregonensis Lea.

Succinea nuttalliana Lea.

Carychium occidentalis Pilsbry.

Anodonta californiensis Lea.

Anodouta oregonensis Lea.

Margaritana margaritifera Linm-

Spbaerium nobile Gld.

Sphaerium raymoudi J. G. C.

Sphaerium primeanum Cless.

Pisidiuui compressum Prime.

Pisidium idalioense Roper.

Pisidium ultramontanum Prime.

Pisidium variabile Prime.

Pisidium abditium Hald.

Pisidium randolphii Roper.

Physa gabbi Tryon.

Limnsea tryoni Lea.

Limuwa palustris Linn.

Limneea humilis (introduced)

Say.

Planorbis trivolvis binneyi Try.

Planorbis callioglyptus Vanatta.

Planorbis vermicularis Gld.

AiH-ylus fragilis Trynn.

Valvata sincera Say.

ISAAC LEA DEPARTMENT.

[Concluded in the interest of the Isaac Lea fonchologieal Chapter of the Agassiz Associa-

tion by its General Secretary, Mrs. M.Burinu Williamson. 1

Next month we will be able to announce the result of the annual

election of officers for the Chapter.

This has been a year of activity along couchological lines in our

chapter, and plenty of good reports are sure to follow enthusiastic

work.

The fraternal spirit expressed by the members of our Chapter

reveals the goodwill of each member, and is a pleasant feature in

work of the Association.

COLLE TING IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

[Report of Mrs. G. \V. \Vhiu-. From the Transactions of Isaac Lea Conchological

Chapter of the Agassiz Association for 1894.]

My interest in the science of conchology dates from the summer

of 1893, when Prof. Josiah Keep, of Mills College, taught this sub-

THE NAUTILUS. 103

ject during the Chautauqua Assembly at Long Bench, Cal. Though

unfortunately, not a member of his class, some of my friends were

enthusiastic students under him, and through them, the enthusiasm

or " craze," as we somtimes call it, was communicated to me, and I

very shortly became as eager a student and collector as my circum-

stances would allow. Happily for me, my husband shared my in-

interest, and most of our collecting has been done together, and

many of my choicest treasures were found by him in places I could

not venture — in places where the waves dashed too high for my

courage, or under rocks too heavy for my strength to lift. So this

report must be understood as a record of our joint work.

In the winter of '93 and '94, we made a number of visits to Long

Beach and San Pedro, going as far as Alamitos Bay in one direc-

tion and nearly to the old wharf beyond Times' Point at San Pedro.

We collected quantities of shells, but as it would be impossible and

unprofitable to mention them all, I will speak only of the rarer ones.

Under the rocks at Dead Man's Island, we found, on our first

trip, a number of specimens of each of the following varieties :

Volvuriiiu I'lina, Tert'bratelln traiixn-rxu, and Luzaria subquadrata.

We also dug a number of fine fossil pectens out of the bank. One

of the choicest shells found by us that day has never been fully iden-

tified by me. By some it is called Cerostumn fn/intum, by others

Mwex triulatm? At any rate it is a rare and interesting shell, and I

have never seen another like it. On another trip up the beach above

San Pedro we found, by digging in the sand with a trowel, some

fine specimens of Stenoradsia magdalenensis, the largest Chiton on

this part of the coast.

We also found several Hinnites gigmitens Gray, Gumingia Califor-

nia Conr., Lucapina crenulata Sby., and a fine old Mitra iinnu-n

Swains., two inches in length, of which we are justly proud. In the

spring of '94 we were on a visit in Ventura County, and when our

friends proposed a trip to the beach, we interposed no objections.

They drove to Punta Gorda, meaning Point of Rocks, most ap-

propriately named, for I have seldom seen such a bed of rocks jut-

ting out so boldly into the sea. They were literally covered with

the largest species of mussels, many of them being nearly, if not, six

inches in length. In the sheltered places in these rocks we found

quantities of Purpura saxicola Val. and Monoeero* lapilloides Conr.

Our patient search in the rock pools was rewarded by our finding

Opalia crenatoides Cpr.

'The shell proved to be Pterorhytis trialatus Sby.

104 THE NAUTILUS.

In the summer of '!)4, while attending the class in conchology at

Long Beach, our teacher, Mrs. M. Burton Williamson, kindly

planned an excursion to Dead Man's Island, and took eighteen

members of her class to 8:111 Pedro the evening before we were to do

our collecting. We spent the night at an old seaman's hotel on Timm's

Point, and at ?, o'clock A.M., rose to take advantage of the first

beams of the sun and the tide, which was to be at the lowest point

at about 4.30 A. M. There happened to be a dense fog, and as our

ghostly boatman took one boat load after another of our compan-

ions away from us across the bay, we were strongly reminded of that

other boatman, the Charon of our early studies and the River .Styx.

However, by the time we were safely landed on our hunting

grounds, the mist had risen and we could see to begin work. The

most that we found of value was on the mud flats uncovered by the

low tide. There we found, under the grass which lay flat on the

mud, thus concealing thousand of mollusks which lay below, Ham-

inea virescens Sby., and Humi.nea veyicnln Gld. We also found,

partly covered with mud, Cardium quadrigenarium Conr., and

altogether covered with mud except some tiny points of a < 7/un/x

belcher i Hds. What a shout went around when some one called

out, " Mrs. White has found a ('horn*," and how eagerly the mud

in that vicinity was scanned to see if another could not be discov-

ered. But no, I bore off my trophy in triumph alone, for not

another one was found.

On our way home, while walking along the beach, some one, I think

Mrs. Williamson, called our attention to some narrow slits in the

sand, where, upon digging carefully, we found a dozen Linguli

, 1 111,1,1 Hds.

Later, on a walk to Alamitos Bay, I found Pe.riploma arge>itn-i<i

Conr., Petricola carditoides Conr., Lubiosu inuliiluiu Gld., }V<//</

cooper/ and Clidiophorn punctata (?) C'pr. And now

this account brings us up to the year of our Lord, lcS95, and finds

us still enthusiasts in conchology, only waiting for a favorable tide

to go again in search of treasures of the sea. We are of those who

believe that nature has secrets which she reveals only to those who

love her, and we feel that in this kind of communion with her she

has fully rewarded us.

THE NAUTILUS. 105

NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE TERTIARY FAUNA OF FLORIDA. TRANS-

ACTIONS OF THE WAGNER FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE. — Vol.

Ill, part 3. By Wni. H. Dall, A. M. This forms an introductory

chapter to Prof. Dall's work on the Tertiary Pelecypoda of Florida,

and contains a new classification of the Pelecypoda, with an enum-

eration of the differential characters of the Orders, Suborders, Super-

families and Families, a statement of their range in geological time

o o o

and tin enumeration under each family of the chief generic groups

believed to be referable to it. The paper is prefaced by a brief dis-

cussion of the features of the Pelecypod organization chiefly avail-

able as diagnostic characters. Continued .-tudv of this group has

confirmed the author in the opinion that in its general features the

classification which he proposed in 1889 (founded largely on the

characters of the hinge, see Amer. Jour. Sci.. XXXVIII, 445), and

has now revised, comes nearer to meeting the requirements of the m>e

than any other which has fallen under his notice. In describing

the ligamental characters the term "resilium" i.< proposed for the

so-called " cartilage '' or " internal ligament." The Steinmann

Formula, based on the teeth, sockets and resilium, is thoroughly ex-

plained. The Pelecypoda are divided into three orders— Prionodes-

inacea, Anomalodesmacea and Tf/eodesmacea. The first order con-

tains thirty-four families, leading factors being So/emj/id/r, Xiini-

lidce, Arcidce, Pteriidce, Osfreidtr, Unionidce, Tr/i/oniiJir, Pecteitidoe,

Anniniidcr and Mytilidce. Each of the above and of the following

families being the typical representatives of a Superfamily. The

second Order contains fifteen families, typical ones being Anntini/iir,

Clavagellidce, Pornmyidce. The third contains forty-seven families,

such as Plenro/ihoridoe f, Astartidce, Cyreuidce, Cm-iiifidn-, Chamidce,

HippuritidcB, LucinidoK, Leptonidte, Cardiidw, Tridacnidce, Isocar-

diidcE, Veneridce, Tellinidce, Solenidce, Mactridte, Myacidai and

Pholadidce. The paper is concluded with some timely notes on

nomenclature. — 0. W. J.

CATALOGUE OF THE MARINE MOLLUSKS OF JAPAN, COLLECTED

BY FREDERICK STEARNS. By H. A. Pilsbry. Detroit: F. Stearns,

1895. 8 vo, 214pp. and 11 plates.

Every one interested in geographical distribution, or in the fauna

of eastern Asia, will be grateful for the liberality of Mr. Stearns,

who obtained, and the care of Mr. Pilsbry, who has enumerated and

identified, the large collection here treated of.

106 THE NAUTILI'S.

Not content with the labor of naming and cataloging Mr. Stearns'

shells, Mr. Pilsbry has searched the literature and made a catalogue,

not only of the shells collected by Mr. Stearns, but of all the species

described from or assigned to Japan by earlier authors, thereby pro-

ducing a most handy list which no student of mollusks can afford to

be without. Notwithstanding the care with which the Monographs

of Dunker and Lischke were made, the present catalogue enumerates

about 20 per cent, more species than the latest of them. In addition

to the list of marine mollusks and brachiopods, the hind and fresh"

water shells collected by Mr. Stearns are catalogued, and also a

supplementary series of Loo Choo Island species, obtained by a

native collector in Mr. Stearns employ. The plates and presswork

are excellent, aud the work, as a whole, is creditable to all concerned

in its production, and cannot fail to be useful to students.

- JJ* H. D.

PRELIMINARY CATALOGUE OF THE MARINE MOLLUSKS OF THE

PACIFIC COAST OF CANADA, with notes on their distribution. By

Rev. Geo. W. Taylor, Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada,

Vol. 1 (2d series), pages 17 to 100. This catalogue is very complete

and full (if interesting notes on distribution, etc. The number of

species recorded is 284, to which is added a list of 67 land and fresh-

water species, making the total number of British Columbian Mol-

lusca at present known, 351.

BULLETINS OF AMERK-AN PALEONTOLOGY, Vol. I, No. 3. NEO-

CKNTK MOLLUSCA OF TEXAS, OR FOSSILS FROM THE DEEP WlvLL AT

( IALVESTON. By G. D. Harris. In this Bulletin, 19 new species

and f> new varieties are described and figured, together with notes

and figures of other species. Most of the specimens were obtained

from a depth ranging from 2100 to 2920 feet. Up to this date no

other marine Neocene fossils are known from the Gulf slope west of

the Mississippi. The Bulletin contains 32 pages and 4 well executed

plates.

MoLI.rsi,H'l> Ki:rUEILLIS SUR LES COTES DE LA TuNESIE ET DE

L'ALUKRII:, par Ph. Dautzenberg (Mi? ID. Soc. Zool. de France,

1895, p. 363). List, with descriptions of some new varieties of

Mediterranean shells, and full information on the occurrence of

ii iii the Mediterranean Sea.

ON SOME PLIOCENE FRESH-WATER FOSSILS OF CALIFORNIA.

ON LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS OK LOWER CALIFORNIA,

No. 5.

THE NAUTILUS. 107

ON WEST MEXICAN LAND AND FRESH-WATER MOLLUSCA.

( 'ATALOGUE OF MARINE SHELLS * * * LOWER CALIFOR-

NIA. By J. G. Cooper (Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., IV, V).

In the first of these papers, Margaritana subangulata is described

and figured as new, and the following species are figured: Anodonta

decurtata Conr., Ano. nuttaUiana var. tiynitim Coop., Limncea con-

tracostce Coop., Plnnorbis pabloanua Coop, and Amnicola yatesiana

Coop.

In the second, land shells collected about 25 miles north of Cape

St. Lucas are considered. Bulimulus decipiens being described as

new. The generic name Plicoliimna is proposed for Rhodea var.

ramentosa Coop. ; it is therefore equivalent to Dull's Pseudorhordea

(Nautilus, Sept., 1895). The Melaniella ei&eniana J. G. Coop, is

referred to Strebel's genus Pseudoiubulina, a group of Glcmdinidce,

on evidence of the dentition, which has been worked out by Dall.

In his paper on West Mexican Land Shells, Cooper announces

the presence of the northern forms Conulus fulvus, Hyaliuiu inde,n-

tata, Limncea columella, Sphcfrium partumeiitnivar. tmneatum,from

Tepee, south of Mazatlan, as well as other species belonging to the

Mexican fauna.

The last paper enumerates marine shells collected mainly by Mr.

W. E. Bryant, including; some interesting forms, but no new species.

NOTES AND NEWS.

PLOVER CAUGHT BY A PINNA — The article in the September

number, "A Sora Caught by a Mussel," recalls a similar incident

which I observed at New Pass, Sarasota Key, Fla. It was after a

heavy storm, and there was a large number of Pinna muricata

washed ashore. On my return to the boat after collecting some

shells, I observed a Killdeer Plover that seemed very tame, but on

a closer examination I found that it was caught by a Pinna. In

this case it was caught by the bill. Its tongue was bleeding and

the bill was indented by the sharp edges of the shell. It was with

some difficulty that I removed the shell and let the Plover go re-

joicing on its way. — E. J. Post.

MR. CHAS. LERov WHEELER has been appointed Curator of the

Lackawanna Institute of History and Science, Scranton, Pa. They

desire to obtain more material in all branches of natural history,

108 THE NAUTILUS.

and any assistance from older institutions or their members will be

sincerely appreciated.

LEPIDOPLEUKUS IN NEW ZEALAND. — Pome months ago we re-

ceived numerous specimens of a Lepidopleurm from Mr. H Suter;

collected by him in Auckland Harbor. The species seemed to us

to be a new one; but on requesting Mr. E. R. Sykes of London to

compare with the types of certain forms in the British Museum, he

found it to be identical with Reeve's Chiton inquinatus — a result

wholly unexpected. The species was described from Tasmania, but

South Australian specimens we have seen (collected by Mr. Bed-

nail) agree in all respects with those found by Mr. Suter in New

Zealand.— if. .1. P.

THE EARLIEST PUBLICATION OF Dorcasia GRAY. — In examining

the appendix of James Edward Alexander's Expedition of Discov-

ery into the Interior of Africa (London, 1838), I find on p. 268 of

volume II, a description by Gray of the genus Dorcasia and the

species D. ah'.candri. This group has hitherto been dated from its

publication in the Zeitschrift fur Malakozoologie, 1845. Helicodonta

sculpturiitii Gray (== Sculptaria senljilin-ntii') is also described, with

(on p. 269) two alleged Bulimi, B. hutfeiitota and B. eulimoide. All

were collected by the expedition about the Great Fish River in

Great Namaqualand. B. eulimoiile apparently belongs to theSteno-

gyra group. This publication seems to have been unknown to

Pfeiff'er and other writers on African land snails. — Pilsbry.

ON THE NAMES OF CERTAIN SUBGENERA OF Helicostyla. — For

some inscrutable reason, the writer, when considering these groups in

the Manual of Conchology, neglected to ascertain the fact that the

names Prochilm and Endoxus of Albers have long been preoccupied.

They may stand in future as follows :

Dolichostyla n. n. (—Prochihis Alb., I860, not of Illiger, 1811,

Mammalia, nor of Brulle, 1835, Orthoptera, nor of Cuvier, 1817,

Pisces).

0]Mfl!fixt</l<t n. n. (= Eudo.rns Alb., 1850, not of Kirby, 1837,

Coleoptera). The types and limits of the groups remain as stated

in Man. Conch. (2), ix, pp. 229, 231.— Pilsbry.

SINISTRAL PATULA STRIGOSA. — My brother, L. M. Cockerel 1,

took a sinistral P. ttrigosa at Norwood, Colorado. It was in my

possession for a long while, but is now in the British Museum.

— T. D. A. Cockerell.

THE NAUTILUS.

VOL. ix. FEBRUARY, 1896. No. 10

THE ATJLACOPODA: A PRIMARY DIVISION OF THE MONOTREMATE

LAND PULMONATA.

BY HENRY A. PILSBRY.

If the foot of a living or properly preserved Helix or Polygyra

be compared with that of a Zonites, Pyramidula (Patula) or Arlo-

Umax, a conspicuous point of difference becomes apparent. In the

latter three genera a groove or furrow may be seen running the

whole length of the foot, a short distance above and parallel to its

edges ; while no such structure is present in the first named genera.

These furrows are the pedal grooves. They rise slightly at the

tail, and meet above it ; and at this point there is often a local

deepening of the groove, and a greater development of the mucus-

secreting cells lining it. This is the " caudal mucus pore," conspic-

uous in Zonites, Ariofi/iia.r, etc. There is vast variation in the

degree of development of this pore, — from a barely visible widening

of the united pedal grooves, to a deep slit or a triangular pit sur-

mounted by a fleshy horn ; and in some forms it is extremely difficult

to say whether a pore exists or not, so nicely graduated are the stages

of its development. Consequently, we find genera very closely

allied in other characters, differing in this one. Such are Pcecilo-

zonites, without pore, Gastrodonta with it; Ariolimax with pore,

Prophysaon without it ; and many similar cases.1 In spite of all the

instances of this kind, the tail pore has been a great bugaboo to the

systeraatists, while the pedal grooves, of which this pore is merely an

1 Compare also, in this connection, Cockerell's remarks in Journal of Malacol-

ogy (The Conc/iologist), Vol. ii, p. ll'V

110 THE .NAUTILUS.

occasional extra development, have been very generally ignored.2

Even "families" have been based on the presence or absence of the

caudal pore; but it need hardly be said that such groups are

violently unnatural.

It is now proposed to unite all of the groups having the pedal

grooves developed, into a superfamily to be called AULACOPODA,

equivalent in value to the AGNATHA (so-called, including Seleni-

tidce), or to the group composed of Helieidie, Bulimulidce, Oylindrel-

liihe, Pupidce and Achatinid(e, which may be called HOLOPODA.

The American Atilacopoda may be tabulated as follows:

I. Marginal teeth with narrow, lengthened basal-plates, either uni-

cuspid and thorn-like, or bicuspid by elevation of outer on

middle cusp.

a. Foot-margin wide; shell more or less spiral; ovotestis

imbedded in liver, ZOSITIDJE.

mi. Foot-margin narrow ; shell a flat internal plate, not

spiral; ovotestis free from liver ; slugs, LIMACIDJE.

II. Marginal teeth with short, wide and squarish basal-plates with

one or several casps, the outer cusp never elevated on middle

cusp.

a. Shell spiral, usually wholly external, ENIJODONTID.E

int. Shell non-spiral, internal, more or less obsolete or want-

ing; slugs.

b. A vestigial shell present . ; mantle small, anterior,

AKIONID.E.

lil/. No shell ; mantle covering the whole upper sur-

face, PHILOMYCID.K.

Most of these families contain genera with, and genera without a

caudal mucus pore. The Limacidie and Arionidce are degenerate

so far as the shell is concerned, and have doubtless descended from

the ancestral Zonitidve and Endodontidee respectively.

Xortk American Genera.

ZONITID.T-: comprises Omplialinn, \ritrinLtmH<v, Vifrc<i,Gtinti-oiliiiiln.

Poecilozonites, Guppya, Conulus, Pristiloma and Vitrina. See NAU-

TILUS, June, 1895, p. 18.

2 Exceptions need not be noted here; but 1 cannot refrain from mentioning

that the importance of the pedal grooves has been fully recognized by a bril-

liant Australian malacologist in dealing with the Charopa group.

THE NAUTILUS. Ill

LIMACIDJB, Limax only.

EXDODONTID,*:, Pyramiditln (alternata, perspectiva, etc.), Punc-

turn.

ARIONIDJE, Arion (imported), Ariolima.r, Prophi/saon, Hemp Ml-

Ha and their immediate allies.

PHILOMYCIDJE, Philomycu* (Tebennophorus), Pallifera.

The systematic position of the Selenitiilce, with a revised catalogue

of the species and varieties, will be considered in a future article.

ON SOME NEW SPECIES OF SCALA.

BY \V. H. DALL.

Scala (Sthenorhytis) Mazyokii Dull.

Shell solid, stout, rapidly enlarging, with (on the last whorl six)

stout rather carinate varices which increase in size successively, the

last being very heavy, its anterior face sloping backward from the

nearly circular aperture; outer margin of the varix even, rounded,

slightly winged on the axial side ; whorls smooth except for a single

faint revolving rib encircling the base at about the level of the top

of the aperture of the succeeding whorl ; specimen decollate, prob-

ably with four or five whorls when complete, the spire probably

short and acute. Height 31 -5, diameter 28 mm. in the decollate

shell.

Miocene, Cainhoy, South Carolina, W. G. Mazyck.

This fine species differs from S. pernobilis, S. Stearnsii and others

of the group by its small number of distant rapidly enlarging

varices. The type is in the collection of Mr. W. G. Mazyck, of

Charleston, who collected it, and to whom it is respectfully dedicated.

Soala ranellina Dull.

Shell of five or more whorls, rather rapidly increasing, spirally

ribbed with ten or twelve rather feeble flattish ridges which are ob-

solete or absent above the shoulder ; basal area projecting, strongly

marked, overrun by the varices which are angulated and prominent

over the keel ; varices of two sorts, one set large, thin, wide set at

the half whorl, continuous up the spire on each side like the varices

of Ranella pulchra, their profiles rounded, the aperture circular,

112 THE NAUTILUS.

the axial edge narrower, not perceptibly angular; the other varices

are much smaller and les? prominent, about seven to twelve on each

half whorl between the larger series, sharp edged and subequal.

Height of ( decollate) shell 33, max. diameter 23 mm.

Zeuglodon bed of the Jacksoniaa, near Cocoa P. O., Alabama,

Burns and Schuchert.

This fine species is related to S. octolineata Conrad, which is found

in the same horizon, but has the large varices less conspicuous and

irregularly distributed. S. octolineata is also a smaller, more cylin-

drical shell. The present species is readily recognized by its pecu-

liar flattened aspect recalling Ranella.

Scala Mitchell! Dull.

Shell rather large for the genus, thin, with rounded rather com-

pact whorls, well marked suture and elongated spire ; the color is

yellowish white, the basal area and a band somewhat above the

periphery dark reddish brown ; surface with numerous low spiral

ridges with wider interspaces covering the whorl, crossed by about 18

distant rather irregular low varical threads, slightly angulated just

in front of the suture ; the young whorls show a tendency to periph-

eral angulation ; basal area well marked, bordered by a low keel,

its spiral sculpture feeble but the varical ridges unchanged ; axis

imperforate ; aperture higher than wide, the peristome interrupted

over the body, the pillar lip strongly reflected, the outer lip narrow,

inconspicuously reflexed ; shell decollate but showing eight whorls,

and originally supplied with three or four more at least; height of

(decollate) shell 36, max. diameter 14, apical diameter at the decol-

lation 1'5 mm.

Found on the beach of Matagorda Island on the Texas coast by

Hon. J. G. Mitchell, to whom it is respectfully dedicated ; the type

is in his collection. This is the finest recent species from shallow

water yet reported from the Gulf coast, and needs no comparison

with any other, as no American or exotic species has been figured

which is at all closely related to it. In a general way it is somewhat

like S. acuminata Sby. from Japan.

SCULPTURE OF THE APICAL WHORLS, A NEW CHARACTER FOR DIS-

TINGUISHING GROUPS OF BULIMULI.

BY HENRY A. PILSBRY.

The classification of the American Bulimoid snails has been an

extremely intricate problem, but much has been done by Binni-y,

THE NAUTILUS. 113

Strebel and Pfefter, von Martens and Crosse and Fischer, toward a

better understanding of it.

With all of this good work, there has remained a vast amount of

confusion. Thus authors almost universally separate Orthalieus as

a family distinct from Bulimulidce ; but, in reality, it constitutes

merely a generic group of that family. No anatomical or shell

character can be shown, of greater than generic value, between

Orthalieus and Drymceua.

Again, the genus "Bulimus" of all authors contains forms belong-

ing to two families — Helicida- and Bulimnlidfc.

The forms generally grouped under the name Bidimulus have

been shown by von Martens to fall into two groups, based on the

character of the jaw: Bulimulus and Otostomus. Crosse and

Fischer have made the same division, calling the two groups Ortho-

tomiiim and Goniognathmus. These correspond to the two Martens-

ian groups, the first having a vertically plaited jaw, the second has

the plates angularly converging toward the middle.

Binney has shown that there exist two styles of teeth, and these

correspond to the two forms of jaw, and constitute a far more useful

character, as the jaw forms intergrade prettv completely.

It has not hitherto been noticed that there are certain characters

in the shells, and especially in the sculpture of the apices, by which

the two groups, or genera, may be distinguished.1

In the following synopsis, the leading sections are enumerated,

arranged as they fall into groups according to the sculpture of the

apices. Of course it is not proposed to base a classification on this

single character.

Certain rectifications and substitutions demanded by the law of

priority, and by the proper restriction of the subgenera to species

allied to their types, have been made.

Genus Bulimulus Leach, 1814.

The species of Bulimulus are terrestrial snails, sestivating or hy-

bernating in the ground, crawling on the ground or on plants in

damp weather. There are three distinct types of apical sculpture,

as follows:

'The only especial notices of the apical sculpture of Bnlimuli which I have

noticed are by the writer, Nautilus, viii, 1894, p. 35, and by Dall, Proc. U. S.

Nat. Mus., xvi, 1893. Martens also figures a few apices on the last plates of

the " Biologia."

114 THE NAUTILUS.

A. — Apex irregularly wrinkled or wrinkles dislocated, broken into

granules. Subgeuus BULIMULUS s. sir.

All the species are South American and West Indian.

Bulimulm s. str., type B. exilis — guadeloupensis.

Lejitomerus Alb., type B. limnseoides.

Rhi)ius Alb., type B. heterotrichus.

Plectostylus Beck, type B. peruvianus.

Sffutalm Beck, type B. proteus.

Nesiotes Alb., type B. nux.

B. — Apex with vertical regular riblets. Subgenus ORTHOTOMIUM.

Species of Lower California and Northern Mexico, extending

into U. S.

Sonorina Pils., type B. spirifer (Leptobyrsus C. & F., 1875, not

Leptobyrsa Stal., 1 873).

Ortliotomiitm C. & F., type B. sufflatus (Rabdotitg part, Alb.,

not Rnbdota Dej., 1833 ;" Glohilimts C. & F., 1875, not Olobu-

tiiw Orb., 1826. Thaumastus Auct. not Alb.)

Plicolumna Coop., type B rameutosa.

C. — Apex smooth, rather mamillar. Subgenus BOSTRYX.

Species South American, mainly of Ecuador, Peru and Chili.

Lissoacme Pils., type B. erythrostomus.

Ataxiis Alb., type B. umbilicaris.

Hostryx Trosch., type B. solutus.

PeroncRUS Alb., type B. pupiformis.

Geopyrgus Pils., type B. turritus (Pyrgus Alb. not Hubner).

The only group of Bulimulus extending into the United States is

Orthotomium. This includes schiedeanus, dealbatus, baileyi, monte-

-mini, sufflahis, pihtla, alternates and their allies. It is very char-

acteristic of the Sonoran life-area, as originally limited by Merriam.

It is somewhat remarkable that in each of the three subgenera of

Jiiilimulus, narrow, pupiform species have been independently de-

veloped.

( iemis Drymanis Alb., 1850.

(= Goniognalhmus Cr. &. FUch. ; Otostomus Martens).

Arboreal snails, never found on the ground when living. Apical

sculpture an extremely fine grating formed of vertical and spiral

strue intersecting at right angles. Radula peculiar.

THE NAUTILI s. 115

.4. — Lip expanded or flaring.

Zaplagius Pils., type D. navicula (=0tostomv,s Martens not

Beck & Gray ; Navicttfu Spix not Blainv.).

Semielavsaria Pfr., type D. semiclausus.

Drymteug s. str., types I), xanthostoma and hygrohylseus Orb.

Neopetneus Mts., type D. altoperuvianus.

B. — Lip simple, arcuate.

Mesembrinus Alb., type D. virgulatus Fer.

Eudioptus Alb., type D. pseudosuccineus.

('. — Apical sculpture not distinctly grated.

Leiustracus Alb., type D. v Hiatus (not Liostraca Burm.).

The genus Dryuueus is represented within our limits by D. serper-

astrus in Texas, belonging to the restricted section Diijmmis, and in

Florida D. dormani and marielinut represent a section perhaps re-

quiring a new name. D.multilineatiis belongs to Mesembrinus.

A certain number of Brazilian and Venezuelan forms, of which

D. vittatus, the type of Albers' group Leiostracus, is an example,

have superficial vermiculate wrinkles on the upper portion, exces-

sively fine, often indistinct, spirals on the lower portion of the second

apical whorl. This is quite different from the usual evenly grated

sculpture. It is often very indistinct.

THE SIZE OF MUSSELS.

BY W. S. STRODK, M. D., LEWI8TOWN, ILL.

Some time since, in conversation with an aged naturalist, I in-

formed him that I had found a valve of Unio alatus Say, in Spoon

River, 111., that was nine inches long. He expressed surprise and

said that he never saw a mussel of any kind over six inches in

length, and, old as he was, he would walk five miles and go into

water up to his neck to get a specimen above that size. Feeling a

little taken back by his assertion, I determined to go home and make

some measurements of my largest species of Spoon River Uniones.

I was certain that I had several varieties that were above six inches

in length. The following is the result of my measurements:

U. anodontoldes Lea, length 7 in., circumference 9 in.

U. ligamentinus Lam., length 7 in., circumference 10'. in.

11(5 THE NAUTILUS.

U. multiplicatus Lea, length 8-] in., circumference IL'l in.

U. rectus Lam., length 7 in., circumference 8 in.

U. tubereulatus Barnes, length 7i in., circumference 9:] in.

l~. plicatus Les., length 6j in., circumference 9» in.

U. graeilis Bar., length 7 in., circumference 11 in.

Ano. grandis Say, length 8 in., circumference 12 in.

Munj. rugosa Bar., length 7 in, circumference 8 in.

Marg. complanata Bar., length 82 in., circumference 13 in.

These were all from Spoon River, 111.

Ano. stewartiana Lea, Ripley's Lake, Tex., 7! x 9.

U. rotundatus Lam., Ask Bayou, Tex., 51 x8i.

SMALL LAND MOLLUSCA FROM NEW MEXICO.

BY DR. V. STERKI.

A few days ago, Mr. Theo. D. A. Cockerell kindly forwarded me

some small and minute shells of Mollnsca collected in drift on the

Rio Grande, at S. Marcial, N. M., with the request to publish a list

of them with notes. The species were the following :

Hyalinia minuscula Binu.

Helicodizcus lineatus Say. One example.

Vallonia costata Mull. One example ; this find is of peculiar in-

terest.

Vallonia cyclop horella Anc. Rather small form ; a few examples.

Pupa fa/lax Say.

Pupa arizonensis (Gabb.) W. G. Binney.

Pupa hordeacea Gabb. Rather small ; variable in size and color.

Pupa procera Gould. One example, light colored.

Pupa hordeacellit Pilsb. Light colored to glassy transparent.

Pupa pilsbryana Sterki. One example; slightly more striated

than those previously seen.

Pupa blaitdi Morse. A few ; light color to colorless.

Vertigo ovata Say. Two specimens, rather typical.

Besides these, there were a few examples of Limnrea and Plan-

orbis.

New Philadelphia, Ohio, December, 1895.

THE NAUTILUS. 117

THE GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF PLANORBIS UMBILICATELLUS.

BY E. G. VANATTA.

This species was first described by Mr. J. AV. Taylor in the Jour-

nal of Conchology, 1883-85, Vol. IV, p. 351, uuder the name P.

umbilicatus; but since Miiller had previously described a P. tanbili-

catus in 1774, Cockerell renamed Taylor's shell P. umbilicatellus in

the Conchologist's Exchange, November, 1887, p. 68.

It is now known from the following localities :

Manitoba : Brandon and Birtle, R. M. Christy ! Original locality.

Minnesota: Dallas Lake, Wright Co. II. E. Sargent! Coll. A. X. S. i'.

St. Michael's, H. E. Sargent! Coll. A. N. S. IV

Iowa: Near Davenport, H. A. Pilsbry ! Coll. A. X. S. P.

Montana: Mingusville, H. Squyer ! Naut. VIII, p. 65.

Colorado : Davidson's Ranch, Boulder Co., J. D. Putnam ! Coll. A. N. S. P.

From these localities it seems to have a wide range through the

northwestern States, the extreme points being Birtle, Manitoba ;

Mingusville, Montana; Davenport, Iowa, and Boulder Co., Col-

orado.

The shell is grayish-white, with a flat spire and a deep umbilicus.

It may be easily distinguished from P.parvus Say by its deeper and

narrower umbilicus and fewer whorls, and from P. deflectus Say by

the flat spire, lack of blunt keel at periphery and the heart-shape of

the aperture ; deflectus having a rounded aperture.

No doubt this species will be found well represented in the col-

lections of many western conchologists, unidentified or under the

name " deflectus."

TRANSACTIONS OF THE ISAAC LEA CHAPTER.

[Conducted in the interest of the Isaac Lea Conehological Chapter of the Agassiz Associa-

tion by its General Secretary, Mrs. M. Burton Williamson.]

The annual election for officers occurs on the last Wednesday in

December, and as Christmas for 1895 occurred on the same day, our

election was postponed for one day. All the members of our Chap-

ter residing in California were invited to be present at the home of

the General Secretary on Thursday, December 26, to elect officers,

as provided for in Article V of our Constitution. As our Pre-ident,

Professor Keep, lives five hundred miles from Los Angeles, he was

118 THE NAUTILUS.

not able to be present, much to the regret of those present on that

day. The Honorable Delos Arnold presided. A letter from the

President was read, also one from Dr. M. L. Leach, one of the

founders of our Chapter. It was hoped that Dr. R. E. C. Stearns,

of the National Museum who is at present in Los Angeles, could

meet with us, but his health would uot permit him to be present.

Mr. Arnold exhibited a fine Pecten (Janira) floridus Hinds from

Santa Catalina Island, also, Zonites milium Morse from his own

garden. They are the first reported from Los Angeles County.

The Secretary canvassed the votes sent in by mail, as well as those

cast by the attending members. The result was as follows:

For President, Professor Josiah Keep, Mills College, California.

For General Secretary, Mrs. M. Burton Williamson, University,

Los Angeles Co., California.

Before this number of THE NAUTILUS shall have been received,

the volume of Transactions will be on its annual round to the mem-

bers of our Chapter. Excerpts will, however, be published monthly

in THE NAUTILUS, our Chapter organ.

Rules for the identification of shells were published in THE NAU-

TILUS some years ago, but many of the members of our Chapter may

not have seen them. The following are the rules in substance : 1st.

The number of species in one sending is limited to 12. 2d. The

sender is to pay all expenses of transportation, and the specimens are

to become the property of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phil-

adelphia. 3d. Each species must be numbered, so that identifica-

tion may be given by number.

These same rules apply when identification is made elsewhere than

at the Academy, only in this case they become the property of the

one who names them. In sending shells for identification to the

Secretaries of the various Sections, please bear these rules in mind.

Label two sets of shells with the same numbers, retaining the dupli-

cate set for reference when those sent for determination are reported

to you.

We hope to have the best volume of transactions this year that

the Chapter has compiled. A number of fine manuscripts are

promised. The Chapter is in excellent condition as a working

Chapter. This is the case because each member is in earnest, and

because each one feels an interest in the welfare of the Chapter.

THE NAUTILUS. 119

DREDGING IN LONG ISLAND SOUND.

[Report of Mr. A. H. Gardner. From the Transactions of Isaac Lea Conchological

Chapter of the Agassiz Association for 1893.]

Of the species of bivalve mollusca given as dredged in Long

Island Sound, all are common to the waters of New York Bay with

the exception of Pecten irradians and Modiola modiolus. Nueula.

proxima has so far only been found by the writer in the curve of

Sandy Hook Bay, the remaining species are more abundant in the

bay than in the sound.

It must be remembered that the portion of the sound dredged in

only constitutes a small section of it contiguous to New York City.

The Odostomia given as bisuturalis and trifida are probably one

and the same thing; the distinguishing character being insignificant.

The specimens dredged in Lloyd's Harbor are rather smaller than

others, and apparently have a few more revolving lines. The calmer

waters of the sound seem to favor the growth of many small species

of univalve shells, uncommon in New York Bay, where their place

is probably supplied by the larger species of Nat'u-a and Fulgur,

which species are taken in almost every haul of the dredge in the

bay, and are not found commonly in the sound.

List of localities and Mollusca dredged in Long Island Sound

July 15 to 22.

Hempstead Harbor, 2 to 4 fathoms, mud :

Eupleura candata Say, 3; Pandora trilineata Say, 2; Midiniu

lateralis Say, 9 ; Area transversa Say, 1 ; Nueula pr<i:cim« Sav, 12 :

Yoldia limatula Say •">.

Matinicock Point, 3 fathoms, mud :

Axtyris lunata Say, 3 ; Tritia trivtitata Say, 1 ; Pandora trilineata,

3 ; Nueula proxima, 34.

Plum Point, Oyster Bay Harbor, 3 to 4 fathoms ; oyster beds :

Tornatina eanaliculata Say 2 ; Astyrix lunata, 8 ; Urosalpinx

cinereus Say, 4; Fulgur eanalieulatum Say (young), Eupleura cau-

data 7 ; Solen americana Gould (young), Pandora trilineata, 4 ;

Area transversa, 7 ; Nueula proxima 21 ; Pecten irradians, 1.

Lloyd's Harbor, 2 fathoms; mud and eel grass:

Tornatina eanaliculata, 35 ; Bittium nigrum, 29 ; Odostomia trifida,

36; Turbonilla elegans, 1 ; Anachis avara Say. 7; Astyris lunata,

abundant ; Nassa obsoleta, abundant ; N. vibff, 2 ; Urosalpinx <-iu-

ereus 1; Eupleura caudata, 15; Pandora trilineata, 1; Mulinia

lateralis, 12 ; Lyonsia hyalinia Say, 2 ; Tellina tenera, 1 ; Area

transversa, 3 ; Nueula proxima, 34 ; Yoldia limatula, 1 ; Pecten ir-

radians, 2.

120 THE NAUTILUS.

Huntington Harbor ; shore :

Littorinella minuta,1; Litorina nulls, abundant; Odostomia bi-

suturalis, 46.

Lloyd's Point, 5 fathoms, sand :

Lunatia triseriata, 1 ; Tritia trivittata, 2 (young) ; Pandora tri-

lineitii, 8 ; Mulinia lateralis, 4 ; Area transversa (young), Nucula

proximo, 56; Yoldia limalula, 5.

Portchester Harbor, shore :

Area pexata, 1 ; Modiolus modiolus, 1 ; Orepidula convexa, 2 ;

Littorinella minuta, 1 ; Odostomia bisuturalis, abundant ; Urosalpinx

cinereit*, abundant.

NOTES AND NEWS.

TROCHOMORPHA FUSCATA Pease. This species was listed in

Man. Conch. (2), IX, but, so far as I know, no description has ap-

peared. It is allied to nigritella and contigua, but the umbilicus is

smaller than either (one-eleventh to one-twelfth diam. of base) ;

spire slightly-convex conic, the apex much more pointed than in

contiyiiu; base flattened ns in contigua. Alt. 8-1, diam. 11] mm.

Color uniform blackish-brown, or clear honey-yellow. It is from

Pomipe, or Ascension Island, near the Caroline group.

CALIFORNIA SLUGS. — Mr. Edw. M. Ehrhorn has lately sent me

sonir slugs from California, which may as well be put on record. A

box from Mountain View contained a number of Amalia gdi/utes

(syn. hewstoni) and one Agriolimax eampestris, both, in my opinion,

native species. A lot from San Jose, Sia. Clara Co., consisted

wholly of introduced species, namely, Agriolimax ay rest is, heavily

motiled forms, and Li max imurimus, young and old. The three

adult L. maxima* in the box were all different, one being of the

form iiiii,-mnr<itii.<< C'kll., one mm/Hiiii Ckll., and the other an ill-

defined form nearest to czernaevii Kal. These forms are like those

which occur commonly in the southeast of England.

— T. D. A. COCKERELL.

SHELLS OF THUNDERHEAD Mr., N. C. — I went to Thunderhead

again last June, and I found two more specimens of Gaxtmlaiitu

/nitiiliiides Pils., and more of the other new furins I had taken the

year before [see NAUTILUS, p. 14]. I found, this time, what I think

is a banded form o{ Mesodon andrewsi W. (•. B. I have never seen

this variety before. A few of the long-looked for Me*, rhristiji were

found also, but they are very rare.

— MRS. GEO. AN* D HEWS, in / filer.

THE NAUTILUS.

VOL. ix. MAECH, 1896. No. 11

NEW FLORIDA UNIOS.

BY BERLIN H. WRIGHT, PENN YAN, N. Y.

Unio Hartwrightii *t,. nov. PI. II, %s. 4, 5, 6.

Shell smooth, elliptical, inflated, pointed or subbiangulated pos-

teriorly, well rounded anteriorly, inequilateral ; rather thin and

hard, slightly thicker in front; beaks very prominent, with two or

three obscure wide undulations in one series ; epidermis dark chest-

nut-brown with faint green rays, more or less disposed in fascicles

over the entire disk; growth lines barely distinct; umbonial slope

raised into an abrupt high ridge on the upper half, and rounded

and flattened below; dorsal area wide, carinate, nearly cordate and

usually with numerous heavy wrinkles or sharp folds; cardinal

teeth double in the left and simple in the right valve, divergent,

crested, rather short and subcompressed ; lateral teeth long, striate

and thin ; nacre pinkish-purple and in concentric zones towards the

margins, highly iridescent, and especially so on the posterior half;

cavity of the umbones rather deep ; posterior cicatrices confluent,

anterior ones distinct, and the dorsal ones few and in a short line

under the hinge plate.

Hah., Lake Beresford, Florida.

Types in the collection of the author, cabinet of Mrs. Geo. An-

drews, Knoxville, Tenn. and Museum Acad. Nat. Sciences, Phila.

122 THE NAUTILUS.

REMAKKS. — Sorae fifteen specimens of this shell were taken in

1887, showing quite a disposition to variability, the sharp umbonial

angle being more or less depressed, and the wrinkles less numerous

and prominent. It does not group well with any species, but has

some characters which, perhaps, suggest an affinity with U.Antlioni/i

Lea, under which name it has been sparingly distributed, but differs

in being more rounded behind, rayed, in thecolor of epidermis, loca-

tion of point of greatest diameter, prominence of umbones, elevation

of umbonial ridge, and in the greater cavity of the shell and beak.

The specimen in the cabinet of Mrs. Geo. Andrews is a magnifi-

cent one, and was collected in Florida by the late Mr. F. Rugel. I

dedicate this rare and beautiful species to my father, Dr. Samuel

Hart Wright, A. M., Ph. D., who shared the delights of rny Florida

collecting tour, and whose counsel in the study of the Book of

Nature, has always been an inspiration.

Another Florida Unio was given this name by the late Dr. Wes-

ley Newcomb, but it was never published, its specific value being

doubted.

Unio Oscari B. H. Wright. PI. II. tigs. 1. 2. :t.

The original description of this species maybe found in NAUTILUS

March, 1W2, p. 124.

Habitat : A creek from Lake Osceola, at Winter Park, Florida.

Collections of G. W. and O. B. Webster, B. H. and Dr. S. H.

Wright, Museum Academy Natural Sciences, Phila., and National

Museum.

Over 100 specimens of all ages of this well marked and beautiful

species were taken by the Messrs. Webster and submitted for exam-

ination. They are remarkably uniform in character and most

nearly related to f '. u/ienai* Lea, from which it differs in having a

smoother and nearly polisheil epidermis, cavity of the shell very

much deeper and the lateral teeth shorter, heavier and wider. This

shell lias been needlessly confounded with U. Hazelhurstianus Lea

of the Satilla River, Ga., from which it differs in being more

roughly furrowed (sides deeply grooved near the umbonial ridge

with ninri'iih-ii- roiiiidtt! fin-run-*) more inflated, thinner, more pointed

behind and more sharply angled on the posterior umbonial angle

and in having a reddish-brown epidermis instead of black, and the

teeth are much slenderer.

This species is here figured for the lirst time.

THE NAUTILUS, IX.

PL. II.

.

K

WRIGHT— New Unionist.

THE NAUTILUS. 123

A NEW VARIETY OF LIMNJEA.

BY L. H. STRENG.

Limnaea desidiosa viir. De Campi.

Shell oblong, subconic, pale horn color, subdiaphanous, very finely

striated. Whorls about 5, rapidly enlarging, very convex and flat-

tened ; suture very deeply impressed, forming a considerable shoul-

der. Aperture about equal in length to the spire, not dilated,

elliptical; subumbilicate. Labium but a small portion appressed to

the body whorl, and the callus very light ; sinus of the fold not very

prominent. Length 5 mm., breadth 2-} mm.

Inhabits Brook's Lake, Newaygo Co., Mich.

Remarks: The shell is rather slender in

appearance, its main features being the rapid

enlarging of the whorls and the shoulder. It

is most closely allied to L. doddioxa Say, ex-

cept in the prominent shoulder, and it is a great

deal smaller shell. It was discovered by Dr

De Camp several years ago, and has lain in our

collection ever since. I name it after my

friend Dr. DeCamp, who has done so much for the furtherance

of our knowledge of the Molluscan fauna of Michigan, especially

the western part of the State.

Nov. 22, 1895.

DESCRIPTION OF A NEW GASTRODONTA.

BY H. A. PILSBRY.

Gastrodonta collisella n. sp.

Shell rather solid, minutely perforate, above elevated and some-

what dome-shaped, below rather flattened, the periphery rounded.

Surface glossy, especially beneath, the base being radially finely

wrinkled, and with faint traces of spiral striation in the slightly ex-

cavated umbilical region ; upper surface sculptured with irregular,

arcuate wrinkle-riblets in the direction of growth-lines, and stronger

toward the sutures. Whorls 7-j, slightly convex, separated by very

shallow sutures, which, under the lens, seemed margined below by

the partial transparence of the shell.

124 THE NAUTILUS.

Aperture mainly basal, lunate, with a lining of white callus a

short distance within, heavier and bearing a small tooth on the

coluruellar slope, and a rather short white lamella toward the outer

part of the base. Lip-edge thin and acute, suddenly expanded at

the eolumellar insertion, half covering the umbilical perforation.

Alt. 7, diam. 8J mm.

Alt. 5j, diam. 8J mm.

Described from thirty-four specimens, from Knoxville, Tenu. ;

Citico, Monroe Co., Tenn. (A. G. Wetherby) ; Knox Co., Tenn.

(Mrs. Geo. Andrews), and Nashville, Tenn. (G. A. Lathrop).

Variation is observed in the height of spire and the degree of de-

velopment and length of the basal lamella. It is most nearly allied

to G. ligera and G. cerinoidea, being smaller than the former, with

different aperture armature, and larger, duller and more elevated

than the latter.

My attention was first called to this form by Mr. A. G. Weth-

erby, although specimens from Nashville had long been in the collec-

tion of the Academy of Natural Sciences. It seems to be a fairly

common species, probably confined to the " Cumberland Subregion "

of Binney.

In describing this form, it is a pleasure to add that so competent

an observer as Mr. Wetherby agrees with me that it is a new spe-

cies; for I suppose no living naturalist is more experienced than he

in dealing with the shells of the beautiful mountain region it in-

habits.

NEW NORTH AMERICAN PISIDIA.

BY DR. V. STEKKI.

Pis. trapezoideum n. sp.

Mussel of moderate size, rather much inflated, irregularly quad-

rangular in outline; beaks slightly posterior, rather large and prom-

inent, more or less distinctly flattened on top; superior margin little

curved, with the scutum and scutellum well developed and marked

by distinct angles where joining the posterior and anterior margins;

the former truncated perpendicularly, and with an obtuse, rounded

angle where passing into the moderately curved and comparatively

long inferior margin ; antero superior margin little curved or

straight and meeting the inferior in a well marked somewhat

THE NAUTILUS. 125

rounded angle situated rather inferior. Surface with irregular,

rather fine stride, slightly shining; color of epicouch pale or grayish

horn ; shell moderately thick ; nacre whitish-glassy ; hinge rather

stout; cardinal teeth lamellar, the right moderately curved, not

reaching the inferior edge of the hinge plate, with a rather deep

groove below ; the left anterior cardinal tooth moderately or rather

strongly curved, the posterior oblique, moderately curved, with a

deep groove between them ; lateral teeth rather strong, finely crenu-

lated or rugulose, those of the left valve strongly, those of the right

valve slightly projecting over the valve edge, and the latter also

into the cavity of the mussel ; ligament strong.

Size : long. 4-2— i'7, alt. 2'5-3'0, diain. 2-5-3 mill.

Habitat. The species has a wide geographical distribution ;

Michigan, many places in the Upper and Lower Peninsula ; south-

ern Minnesota; Pedan River, Canada; Philadelphia, Pa.; Adams-

ville, N. J. ; Couial Co., Texas.

It is surprising that such a well characterized Pisidium has not

been noticed before this. Careful comparison with the earlier de-

scriptions of T. Prime shows that it cannot be identical with any of

those species.

Pis. trapezoideuni is somewhat variable in size and shape ; the

angles at the scutum and scutellum are more rounded in some forms,

o

and so the superior margin is more curved, the beaks are more or

less flattened on top, sometimes almost imperceptibly.

New Philadelphia, Ohio, February, 1896.

(To be Continued.')

ANNOTATED LIST OF THE MOLLUSCA FOUND IN THE VICINITY OF

CLEARWATER, WRIGHT CO., MINNESOTA.

BY H. E. SARGENT, WOODVILLE, ALA.

Part Kecond — Aquatic Species.

In searching for aquatic specimens a ten quart tin pail and a wire

gauze dip net were the implements made use of. Sediment and

specimens were dipped into the pail and washed by repeated stirring

and decantation. By this means the most minute specimens were

retained for future sifting and sorting.

126 THE NAUTILUS.

The stations searched have been fully described and located in

the first part of this article. They will be hereafter referred to by

letter as follows :

Station B. Belle Lake.

Station C. Clearwater Lake.

Station D. Mississippi River at Bellevue, la.

Station F. Clearwater River.

Station H. Heath Lake.

Station M. Mississippi River at Clearwater, Minn.

Station R. Crow River, Rockford, Minn.

Station S. A dry meadow at St. Michaels, Minn.

Station T. Among damp moss in tamarack swamp at Clearwater,

Minn.

39. Plenroccra subulare Lea. M.

40. Bythinella obtusa Lea. M.

41. Anmicola Instrica Pils. B, C, H, in all cases feeding upon

weeds.

42. Amnicola limosa Say. B, C, F, R, M, H.

43. Ainnieola limosa Say var. porata Say. M.

44. Amnicola cincmnaiiensix A nth. R.

45. Vali-ata tricarinata Say. B, F, M, H, R, T, C.

46. Valvata tricarinata Say var. bicarinata Lea. B, F, H, R, T,

C.

47. Vnlrnta tricarinata Say var. simplex Gld. C.

Notes. — Typical specimens occurred alone in the Mississippi River

only. Of 132 specimens taken from there, none show any tendency

toward the varieties. The cariuse are very prominent ; specimens

mostly large and dark colored. At all the other stations, specimens

were much smaller, light in color and only in exceptional cases hav-

ing three distinct carinre. In most cases the middle one is entirely

wanting. The few specimens taken at Clearwater Lake are about

equally divided among the three forms.

48. Li/ogyrux browne! H. F. Carpenter. B, F, in muddy bot-

tom.

49. Campeloma rufum Hald. F, M. 3 sinistral specimens of

this species were taken.

50. Campeloma si<b*oli<1uni Anth. D. Adult specimens are

curiously depressed, closely resembling ]'iiijtm-a eubpurpwrea Say

with which it is found.

51. rii'i/nirii .tiili/iiirjiiii-rti Say. D.

THE NAUTILUS. 127

52. Vivipara intertexta Say. D.

53. Limncea megasoma Say. The only station for this species in

this vicinity, so far as known, is a small lily-pond in the bed of the

Mississippi River just below St. Cloud. Is was discovered here a few

years ago by Prof. Hublmrd of the St. Cloud State Normal School.

The snails are to be seen floating on the surface or feeding upon the

lily-leaves. They are shy, sinking almost instantly when alarmed.

54. Limnwa stagnalix L. C, H, B, feeding upon weeds. R,

found putrifying at the roots of grass in slough near the river.

55. Limncsa emarginataS&y. C. Two quite distinct varieties of

texture were taken. One corneous, translucent and rather thin in

both young and adult specimens; the other nearly white, opaque

and heavier, with much thickened margin. Both forms were plen-

tiful and near together. One was found on the pebbles, the other on

the sandy bottom.

56. Limmra gradlis Jay. After finding dead specimens of this

beautiful species in Belle Lake, I was told by Prof. Hubbard that

he took it alive in Heath Lake the previous fall upon the under

side of lily-leaves. Later a thorough search was made for them in

the same original locality, but only two dead specimens were found.

Query — where do they keep themselves in summer?

57. Limncea reflexa Say. C, B, S.

58. Limiuca refie.ra zebra Tryon. B.

59. Limncea columella Say. R.

60. Limmra catascopium Say. M.

01. Lim iKi'n rttjierata Say. S.

62. Limnaea palwtris Mull. R, on slough grass ; D.

63. Liiunii'ii liiniiilis Say. C, B, M, F.

64. Limn /fa desidiosa Say. C, B, M, F.

65. Aplf.cn hyjtnornni L. R, T, S.

66. Physa gyrina Say. D, F, B, M.

67. Physa Integra Hald. St. Cloud, Minn. ; I).

68. Phi/sa olracea Tryon. D.

69. Phi/sa ri iiosa Gld. F.

70. Plunorbix ramjjanulatus Say. Abundant everywhere.

71. Pfnnorbix blr-nriiiatua Say. Abundant everywhere.

72. Planorbis trii-olris Say. Abundant everywhere.

73. Planorbix f.r<irntnx Say. C, B, R, F, H.

74. Planorbix Jurxiitus Gld. C, B, T, F, H.

75. Planorbis umbilicateUits dull B.

128 THE NAUTILTTS.

76. Plunorbix parrns Say. B, T, F, D.

77. Segmentinn uriiiiyrnt Say. Everywhere abundant.

78. Jney/«x(sp.?). M, D.

79. Sjihirrinm fnileaium Lain. B, F, H. Mississippi River at

St. Cloud. Specimens extra large and fine.

80. Sphcerium 4riati»iun Lain. R, F, D, M.

81. Sjihn riii in fi-iiHxi'ei'xinii Say. I>.

82. Sphcerium triinc/ttiint Linsley. R, F, S, B, F.

83. Sjihieriiiin rhomboideum Say. B, H. Mississippi River at

St. Cloud.

84. SpJioerium solidulum Prime. M, F.

85. Sphcerium Jiiynnum Prime. Marshes near Cleanvater.

86. Sphcerium srrurlx Prime. H.

87. Pisidium virginwum Gmel. F.

88. Pixldhnit fiMltum Hald. F, H, B, T, C. Spring at Belle-

vne, Iowa.

89. Pixidium Wilkeri Sterki. F, M.

90. Pisidium jiolltum Sterki. F, B.

91. J'ixidiinii I'lirinbile Prime. F, C, H.

92. Pistdlmn cniiijirexxttiii Prime. F, M, C.

93. Pisidium ferrugineum Prime. F, M, II.

94. PificJiinn rotundatum Prime. B. T.

95. Unio occidens Lea. ' M.

96. Unio mins Lam. C, M, F. Red River of the North, Fargo,

N. D.

97. Unio luteolti* Lam. C.

98. Unio ligamentinus Lam. M.

99. Anodonta footiana Lea.

The l'i*i<lin enumerated above are certified to by Dr. Sterki ; the

X/i/tii't'iiiiii by Mr. E. W. Roper; and such other species as there

was any doubt concerning by Prof. H. A. Pilsbry.

TRANSACTIONS OF THE ISAAC LEA CHAPTER.

[Coiuliirtril iii the interest of tin- Isaac Lea Cnnchologicnl Chapter of the Agassiz

tion by its ' ..'tirral Secretary, Mrv M. lUu Ion Williain.son.

Owing to the delay of some of our reports the volume of Trans-

actions was not started promptly on its annual round, but we hope

our members will make allowance for the delay. The volume will

THE NAUTILUS. 129

be found interesting and suggestive. Extracts from the Transac-

tions will be found in this department of THE NAUTILUS each

month.

A member who has joined our Chapter during the year, writes

the following when forwarding her report for 1895; "I did it

only because I understood that was the one thing that would insure

me the privilege of reading the ' Transactions ' for the year. I have

read those of 1889 and 1891, and am willing to do anything in my

power for the pleasure and profit of reading another volume."

Please bear in mind that one week is the limit of time allowed for

the retention of the volume of Transactions.

The Secretaries of Sections for our Chapter have been appointed,

as provided for in Section 1, of our By-Laws, and are as follows :

Section A. — Marine shells of the West Coast, Prof. Keep, Mills

College, Cal.

Section B. — Mrs. E. P. Wentworth, Portland, Maine.

Section C. — Land shells east of the Rocky Mts. (Secretary not

yet chosen).

Section IX— Fresh water shells east of Rocky Mts., Dr. W. S.

Strode, Lewistown, 111.

Section E. — Land and fresh water shells west of Rocky Mts.

(Secretary not yet chosen).

Section F. — Fossil shells, Hon. Delos Arnold, Pasadena, Cal.

Section G.- — Juvenile Section, Mrs. Mary P. Olney, Spokane,

Wash.

Section H. — Microscopic shells, Mrs. T. S. Oldroyd, Los Angeles,

Cal.

Section I. — Marine shells of the S.-Eastern Coast, Mr. J. .1.

White, Rockledge, Florida.

The Executive Committee consists of the " President, General

Secretary and one other member " (Art. IV). The Honorable

Delos Arnold has been appointed a member of the Executive Com-

mittee.

WEST COAST SPECIES OF HiLIOTIS.

[Report of the President, Professor Josiah Keep. From the Transactions of Isaac

Lea Chapter for 1895].

The recent revision of the genus Halintts and the changes of some

specific names since the publication of my little book on West Coast

130 THE MAUTILUS.

Shells, make it proper to place the matter anew before the members

of our Chapter. Those who have the opportunity of consulting

Vol. XII of the " Manual of Conchology," will find a full discus-

sion of the subject ; but as there are some who cannot consult that

excellent authority, I propose to use some of the statements of Prof.

Pilsbry in connection with this report.

There are six species of the genus in question to be found upon

our Western Coast, only three of which, however, are sufficiently

abundant to be called common. The first of these species, and

probably the best represented in respect to the number of specimens,

is Haliolis Cracherodii Leach. This is the common "black aba-

lone," so called on account of the dark color of the outer layer of

its shell. The " Manual " gives the limits of locality as " Fallarones

Is. to San Diego." Probably the Faralloues Is. ofF San Francisco

are meant, a natural mistake having been made in the spelling, but

I think the species reaches much farther to the northward than the

latitude of these islands. I should like to have my suspicions con-

firmed or refuted by those who have made northern observations.

One morning during (he last summer I took advantage of the low

tide and explored the granite rocks that form the promentory be-

yond the Point Pinos lighthouse near Moutery. The waves have

been breaking for ages over those venerable cliffs, and the results of

their work are distinctly seen. Out in the water, quite far from

land, you get glimpses of sunken rocks, the very bones of the ancient

cape. Nearer are a series of small and precipitous islands, most of

which you can reach at low tide. Strewn all over the bases of the

cliffs are masses of granite, some of them loose boulders, while others

are the seamed and weather-worn outcroppinga of the underlying

ledges. Many of the rocks are covered with a thick mat of sea-

weed, but others are gray and bare.

Venturing out as far as safety would allow, I was amazed to find

the available roosting on some of the cliffs almost literally covered

by young specimens of the species under consideration. The shells

averaged, perhaps, three inches in length ; a few were twice that

size, but many were much smaller. Their keen instinct teaches these

animals to seek the least exposed positions, a deep and narrow cleft

in the rock being the favorite retreat, and there, away from danger,

they congregate in great numbers. As the tide came in I was ob-

liged to leave them, and so could not continue my observations, but

I fancy that when they were well covered with water they loosened

THE NAUTILUS. 131

their firm hold upon the surface of the rock and began to move

around in search of food. It is evident that this species is very

prolific, and though large specimens are not so common as formerly,

there seems to be no danger that the species will soon become ex-

tinct.

The next species is the red abalone, H. rufescens Swainson. This

animal has a much larger shell than the last, some of them reaching

the length of nine or ten inches, possibly more. They were for-

merly very common about Pacific Grove, but they have been so

persistently collected that adult specimens are rarely found. They

live at a somewhat lower level than their black brothers, and are

not often seen on the rocks above the water, even at low tide. The

Chinese fishermen cruise around in their boats at such times armed

with a hook on the arm of a long pole, with which they secure the

coveted prize. The large shells are mostly collected from the more

unsettled parts of the coast, and there is danger that the supply will

soon become seriously diminished. La^t summer I saw a two-horse

wagon loaded with these shells, which had been drawn up to Pacific

Grove from a point some thirty miles down the coast.

The third species, named from its beautiful internal color the

" green abaloue," has generally been known to scientific circles as

Haliotis splendens. It was given ihat very appropriate name by

Reeve in 1846, but it has been found that in 1845 it was named by

Philippi H. fulgeiis, and so the latter name must stand. This

beautiful shell abounds in southern waters, but as I have never bad

an opportunity to study its habitat, I cannot report upon its pros-

pective decrease. The only live one I ever saw was an aged speci-

men which was found upon the rocks near Cypress Point. Monterey

Bay seems to mark its extreme northern location, and even then I

have never found a specimen in the Indian shell-heaps, though

rujeacens and Crcu-kerodii are found by the thousands in all stages

of decomposition.

H. corrugata Gray, does not come so far north as the last species.

A fine specimen before me from San Pedro, Cal., measures 6* in. in

length, 5£ in breadth, and 21 in convexity. The shell has strong

ridges upon its back, and there are four large open holes. I have

never seen a living specimen, and know very little concerning its

habits.

H. assimilis Dall, is now considered to be a distinct species. The

Manual reports it from " Monterey to San Diego in deep water." A

132 THE NAUTILUS.

specimen before me from San Diego is 4 inches long and 3J inches

wide. It has seven open holes. The exterior of the shell is marked

by many threads like Brussels carpeting, and the spire is short but

distinct. The interior is smooth, silvery, and without visible muscle-

scar. The shell is tolerably thick, and appears very compact and

solid.

The last species to be noticed is Hu/inti* r/lgnntea Cheni. var.

Kinnt.ti-liiitkiniu Jonas. The large typical form of this species be-

longs essentially to Japan, but the variety seems to have come

around with the warm current past the Aleutian Is., and down the

coast, at least as far as the middle of California. My best speci-

mens I purchased in Victoria, B. C., where I was told that they

were gathered on the west coast of Vancouver Island. My largest

specimen is 5 inches long, 02 inches wide, and li inches high. In

shape it appears long and narrow when compared with other spe-

cies. The shell is thin, the edge sharp, the spire quite prominent,

the surface uneven, and the open holes are four in number, large

and surrounded by high walls. A deep channel runs under the

line of holes. The interior is very iridescent, light color prevailing,

The muscle-scar is not distinct.

Concerning at least half of our species there is need of further

information respecting the habit? of the living animals, as well as

observations concerning localities where specimens are to be found.

In the gathering of information of this kind, even about our more

common species, I believe the members of our Chapter may be able

to do much good work. While a few great men may do the import-

ant work of determining the correct names and classification of the

species, each one of us in our more humble sphere may make obser-

vations and collect information which will help to swell the total

amount of knowledge concerning the molluscan world. I shall per-

sonally be grateful for any further information concerning any of

our species of the genus Haliotis.

IIo\\ TII I'Ack srioriMENS FOR MAILING. — Three times within the

last few days I have received small sendings in which the specimens

were crushed to powder. It is too unsafe to send shells in a letter,

simply packed up in paper or a paper tube, or weak quill. Strong

turkey quills are better, especially when double, i. e. one tightly

stuck into another, and fastened in the bottom of the envelope.

Also a piece of thick pasteboard, or a slice of cork is suitable, with

a hole in the middle, and paper pasted on both sides. — It is a pity

how often valuable and even unique specimens are lost by careless-

ness in packing. — Dn. V. STKRKI.

THE NAUTILUS.

VOL. ix. APRIL, 1896. No. 12

NEW AMERICAN UNIONIDJE.

BY BERLIN H. WEIGHT, PENN YAM, N. Y.

TJnio bursa-pastoris sp. nov. PI. Ill, figs, above and below.

Shell rough, disposed to be both nodulose and pitted, very inequi-

lateral, rounded evenly in front, urnbouial ridge nearly obsolete,

dorsal margin arcuate, ligament long, thick and much elevated,

epidermis reddish-black, rayless, except when very young; sub-

stance of shell thick ; cavity of shell shallow and uneven, with a

wide flattened area extending from beak cavities to the posterior

angle ; cavity of the beaks very deep, compressed and very wide ;

pallial impression very rough and deep ; greatest diameter of shell

over the anterior edge of the cardinals ; cardinal teeth low, thick

and rather smooth ; lateral teeth short, thick and widely separated

from the cardinals ; dorsal plate long, wide and usually notched

near the cardinals. Terminal cicatrices distinct ; dorsal cicatrices

numerous, shallow and under the posterior cardinal. Nacre white

and usually much blotched with smoky spots; occasionally with a

shade of pink in the center of the cavity.

Size, length 2-5 inches, width o'6, diameter .1-25.

Hab. Powell River, Virginia.

My Cabinet, National Museum ami Mus. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila.

Remarks. — This species belongs to the group of which U. argen-

teus Lea is typical. It differs from that species in having a darker

] 34 THE NAUTILUS.

epidermis, an obsolete umbonial ridge and deep, compressed beak-

cavities. It differs iu much the same manner from U. Lesleyi, which

has greater shell cavity. Compared with U. abacw Hald., it is pro-

portionally much wider, deeper and with more compressed beak-

cavities, and has not the checker-board markings of that species.

Old specimens resemble U. Pilxlryi Marsh, interiorly, but without

alation or undulations. In old specimens the base becomes emargin-

ate, and there is more or less biaugulation behind, and the teeth be-

come almost obsolete, and of a dull smoky tinge. Thirty specimens

were received.

TTnio Friersoni sp. nov. PL III, figs, right and left.

Shell smooth, triangular, inflated, nearly equilateral, obtusely

pointed behind ; sides swollen not constricted, rayless or obscurely

radiate when very young; substance of the shell uniformly rather

thick and solid. Beaks angular to the tips and with three or four

close undulations which form parallel V-shaped ridges with the

angle pointing down the umbonial angle, and the long straight arms

of which extend diagonally across the beaks. Ligament very short,

thin and of a lighter red than the epidermis, which is a dark-chest-

nut color, with minute strue and with coarse growth-lines. Um-

bonial slope obtusely angular. Posterior slope rounded on the

margin and with a raised ridge line from beak to posterior end,

forming there, generally, a slight biangulation. Dorsal area wide,

cordate. Cardinal teeth large, erect, with furrowed sides, the ante-

rior branch in the left valve being very thin and broad and with a

long striate edge. Lateral teeth short, slightly curved, the outer

one being the thinner. Anterior cicatrices distinct with a secondary

cicatrix above, aud running under the cardinal tooth. Posterior

cicatrices distinct. Dorsal cicatrices few and under the posterior

cardinal. Cavity of the shell very deep, and quite uniformly hol-

lowed out. Cavity of the beaks broad, roomy, the apex within

being nearly a right angle. Nacre usually white, with a tint of

blue, and iridescent at posterior end ; sometimes the nacre is entirely

pink.

Animal always white. Size, width 2 inches, length 1'75, diameter

1-38.

Habitat Bayou Pierre, an arm of the Red River in De Soto

Parish, Louisiana.

My Cabinet, U. S. National Museum, Academy of Natural

Sciences, Pliila. and cabinet of L. S. Frier.-on.

THE NAUTILUS, IX.

PLATE

Unio bursapastoris Wright.

Unio Friersoni. Unio Friersoni Wright.

Unio bursapastoris Wright.

THE NAUTILUS. 135

Remarks. — This species belongs to the group of which U. trigonus

Lea, may be considered the type, although differing much from that

species in outline, beaks and in the uniform roundness of the sides.

It also has certain characters indicating a relationship with U.

Ride/Hi Lea, U. Chunii Lea and U. cuneus Con. It differs from the

first in having the posterior apex lower and more or less biangul-

ated ; the posterior margin rounded, instead of straight; posterior

margin without the hip peculiar to T. Ri<lellii; the cardinal teeth

are heavier and not pyramidal ; and differs most remarkably in the

character of the beak undulations. From U. Chunii Lea, it differs

in having a greater depth of cavity ; more massive and higher urn-

bones and swollen sides without depressions ; much shorter poste-

rior extension; base not emarginate; entire absence of rays and

the same difference in beak undulations that distinguishes it from

U. Ridellii Lea. It differs from U. cuneus Con. in being smoother ;

lighter colored epidermis ; much larger opening to the umbonial

cavity ; cavity of the shell much deeper and more uniformly rounded ;

lateral teeth more slender and the species never attains the extreme

size of U. cuneus, the declivity of the posterior slope is much steeper ;

the ligament shorter ; without the anterior subtruncation, and it is

never cuneiform.

The peculiar undulations of the beaks amply distinguish it from

any other known species.

Some twenty-five specimens have been critically examined which

maintain a remarkable constancy in all the characters.

It is named in honor of Mr. Lorraine S. Frierson of Frierson

, La. who is a zealous student and collector of Unionidse.

ON CERTAIN ABNORMAL SPHJERIA.

BY BRYANT WALKER, DETROIT, MICH.

The peculiar characteristics of the hinge-teeth of the American

species of Sphserium and Pisidium have been almost totally ignored

by Prime and the earlier writers in their descriptions of the various

species which they established. With the exception of some of the

descriptions of the more recently described species, nothing but the

most general remarks upon the subject are to be found in the Amer-

ican literature upon these genera. Among the European concholog-

136 THE .NAUTILUS.

ists, however, more attention has beeii given in this direction, and

while perhaps some have gone to the other extreme and have

accorded too great importance to the hinge characters, there can be

no doubt, but that a careful and conservative study of our Amer-

ican species in this regard would be in many cases a valuable assist-

ance to the determination of the relations and specific validity of

many of the at present poorly defined and ill-understood forms.

In examining some specimens of the common Sphaerium striatln inn

Lam. recently, I was struck in several instances with the occurrence

of an abnormal arrangement of the hinge teeth, and was thereby

induced to go further and ascertain if possible to what extent such

irregularities were present.

My observations thus far have been confined to two species,

Sphcerium striatinum Lam., and S. simile Say. Of the former

species one hundred specimens from twenty-four localities, were

chosen at haphazard, the number from each locality varying from

one to eleven. Of these, all the specimens from sixteen local-

ities, forty-six in number, were normal. Of the remaining fifty-four

specimens from eight localities, ten were abnormal. In only one

instance, did more than a single abnormal individual occur in any

one locality, and in that, three out of nine specimens were abnormal

and all in the same particular.

Of Spluerium simile Say, sixty-four specimens from nineteen

localities were examined, the number from each locality varying

from one to six. Of these, ten individuals out of thirty from eight

different localities were abnormal. While in those from eleven

localities, represented by thirty-four specimens, no variation occurred

In both species the number of abnormal specimens seems surprisingly

large, amounting to ten per cent in S. striatinum and to nearly

sixteen per cent in S. ximilc. In no case was any attempt made to

pick out unusual specimens and, indeed, no external variation in ap-

pearance was noticed as being coincident with the abnormal arrange-

ment of the hinge.

The normal arrangement of the hinge-teeth of a Sphserium is as

follows :

Right valve Cardinal 1 Ant. laterals 2 Post. Intends 2.

Left valve Cardinals 2 Ant. lateral 1 Post, lateral 1.

The variations noticed consisted in the reversing of the position of

one or more pairs of these teeth.

THE NAUTILUS. 137

Of the seven possible variations from the normal arrangement,

but four were noticed. In no case were the cardinals alone reversed,'

but invariably a reversal of these teeth was accompanied by a

reversal of either one or both pairs of laterals. Neither were'the

cardinals and posterior laterals alone, nor both pairs of laterals

alone reversed in any case. The following table gives the details of

the different variations observed and their relative frequency.

Normal Sphferium— cardinals .1 Ant. Lat. j Post. Lat. j.

Abnormal S. striatiimm Lam.

No. of specimens 22: Cardinals i Ant. Lat i Post. Lat. }.

No. of specimens 32: Cardinals f Ant. Lat. i Post. Lat. f.

No. of specimens 2'2: Cardinals f Ant. Lat. J Post. Lat. i.

No. of specimens 32 : Cardinals \ Ant. Lat. f Post. Lat. \.

Abnormal .S'. simile Say.

No. of specimens 52 : Cardinals f Ant. Lat. 3 Post. Lat. f

No. of specimens 32: Cardinals f Ant. Lat. j Post. Lat. J.

No. of specimens 22 : Cardinals J Ant. Lat. \ Post. Lat. J.

NEW AMERICAN ANCYLIDJE.

BY HENRY A. PILSBRY.

Owing doubtless to the difficulty of distinguishing species in this

group, but little work has been done upon the United States forms

since the publication of Haldenmn's monograph in 1842. Clessin,

in the "Conchylien Cabinet," has added nothing of value to our

knowledge of United States species, his A. oregouensis from Salem,

Oregon, of which I have " topotypes," being doubtfully distinct from

Tryon's A.fragilis. A. caurinus is also, as Tryon states, a synonym

vffragilis.

In naming a series of Illinois mollusks for the Illinois State Lab-

oratory of Natural History, my attention was directed to this genus.

The species of Ancylm fall into two groups, not, I suppose, of

much importance systematically, but of considerable interest in a

broad view of the conditions of mollusk life. One group, which

may be termed the " petrophilous " Ancyli, live on rocks and shells

in rivers, and usually have a rather highly conic shell. The other

group, " phytophilous " Ancyli, live on water plants ; some deeply

submerged, as on the " leaves of grass " (to use a Walt, Whitman-

ism), streaming upward from the bottom ; others inhabit the round

138 THE NAUTILUS.

under-world of floating lily-pads ; sometimes they are found on dead

leaves in the water. The species of this group are mainly more

fragile and depressed than those of the first group, aud sometimes

they are modified to correspond with their stations, as A. parallehis,

living on narrow stems. It is evident that this difference of station

menus also more or less difference of food ; and it will be interesting

to find whether there exists any corresponding divergence in the

dentition. The importance of full information on the station of

every lot of Ancylus collected, will be evident from the foregoing.

Nearly all specimens when collected, are more or less coated with

foreign matter, sometimes calcareous, but generally ferruginous.

This must be removed before the color aud finer sculpture can be

observed. By floating the shell a short time on the surface of a

weak solution of oxalic acid, rinsing it in water and then brushing,

it may readily be cleansed. Nearly all North American species

are then seen to be a clear corneous-white tint ; most of them have

growth-lines only, a few have radial strife. Most of those species

which have been described as dark colored, such as A. obscurns

Hald., owe their color entirely to foreign matter, the shell itself

being very pale.

Exhaustive comparisons with specimens of all North American

species, and the types or author's examples of most of them, con-

vince me of the novelty of the following species.

Ancylus peninsula; 1'ilsbry &. • Johnson, n. sp.

Shell thin and fragile, with much depressed, broadly oval contour,

the obtuse, rounded summit somewhat to the right of and behind

the middle. Anterior, posterior and right slopes of the low cone

nearly straight; left slope slightly convex. Color light horny

brown, with a suggestion of olive when cleaned, usually with a very

light brownish coating in a state of nature. Surface with slight,

fine growth-lines and close, fine and conspicuous radial stria-.

Length 7, width 5, alt. 1'7 mill., often larger.

St. John's River and other localities in Florida, usually in creeks,

living on the foliage of aquatic plants.

Somewhat like the northeastern A. fiifim, but readily known from

all other species of the United States by its large size, broadly oval

aud depressed form, blunt apex, and the dense radial striation.

Several Antillean and South American species are somewhat similar

to this, but these large and depressed forms have the apex far more

excenlric.

THE NAUTILUS. 139

This is by no means rare in collections of fresh-water shells from

Florida, but is generally labelled "A.filosus Conrad," probably on

account of the conspicuous radial sculpture. Conrad's filosws, how-

ever, is a stout, very steeply conical species with coarser radial rib-

lets than auy other known American form, and totally different from

the low and delicate A. peninsula. It is from the Alabama River,

where it is found living on Melanians. This fact, together with the

texture and form of the shell, indicate that, ftlnsux is a typical rock

Ancylus, like rivularis ; while the form from Florida is a true weed

dweller.

The types of A. peninsiik? were collected by the editors of this

journal in Salt Creek, one of those sparkling streams of "sulphur

water" so characteristic of Florida, arising from great brimming

springs and feeding the St. John's and other rivers. Salt Creek is

the northernmost stream flowing into Lake George on the west side.

The Ancylus lives on long water-grass, and is abundant.

Ancylus eugraptus Pilsbry, n. sp.

Shell ratber fragile, oval, the right side less arcuate than the left ;

rather elevated, the apex slightly behind and to the right of the

middle, somewhat obtuse, with an indistinct apical depression or

scar, posterior and right slopes straight, anterior and left feebly

convex. Translucent horn colored and glossy when cleaned, with

a blackish coating when collected. Surface with faint growth-lines

and very fine, somewhat irregular radial striae, more distinct toward

the periphery. Length 6, breadth 4, alt. 1'S mm.

Illinois River at Havana, 111.

Types are no. 67791, coll. A. N. S, Phila, from lot no. 13542,

coll. III. State Lab. Nat. Hist.

This species, while resembling A. obscurus and A. fuscus some-

what, differs from both in the sculpture. The apex is far more ex-

centric than in A. borealis or A. avails, both of which are very small

species. A. filosus is far rounder, more steeply conic, and has

stronger radial riblets. In A. rivularis the apex is much more

strongly recurved, and the slope behind it notably concave.

ISAAC LEA DEPARTMENT

[Conducted in the interest of the Isaac Lea Conchological Chapter of the Agassiz Associa-

tion by its General Secretary, Mrs. M. Burton Williamson.]

One of our new members in a letter to the General Secretary

writes as follows in reference to collecting Mollusks in Winter in

140 THE NAUTILUS.

California : " I have discovered that the sunshine has much to do-

with finding shells, as they come up much more readily on a warm

day than on a cold cloudy one. Even these little creatures appear

to love the sunshine." Is this the experience of other collectors

during the winter?

ALONG THE DAMARISCOTTA.

[Report of Mrs. E. P. Weutworth. From the Transactions of the Isaac Lea Con-

chological Chapter for 1895.]

The banks of one of the loveliest rivers in Maine have been the

principal scene of my "shelling trips" this year, and I shall make

these trips the basis of my report. The first warm days in May

found me taking advantage of the low tides. I was not sanguine

enough to hope to find new species, and the object of my search was

merely to lay in a store of Natica heros var. triseriafa, Ntissa obsoleta

(large uueroded specimens) and to find, if possible, theSkenea jilnn-

orbis which so far, has eluded my diligent search. Armed with a

wooden tooth-pick, collecting bottle and tin dish, I advanced upon

the unsuspecting mollusks. I found quantities of Naticas under-

neath the sea-weed, crawling on the surface of the mud which coated

the rocks covered by the sea-weed, and thousands of Nassas crawl-

ing on the mud near the low water mark. The Nassa in the water

were waving their siphons in the air as if signaling to one another,

hut I knew they were only feeding in their own peculiar fashion.

On turning over some small flat stones near low water mark my

cup of joy ran over, for there, clinging to the edges and under sides

of the stones, were the long looked for Skeneas and associated with

them many of the graceful little Ri*soa mlimln.

At this period of my search the wisdom of taking a wooden tooth-

pick instead of a larger and more dangerous weapon was impressed

upon me, for it was the most convenient instrument imaginable for

transferring these tiny mollusks to the collecting bottle. Before the

lidr turned I had hundreds of specimens, but, better than the shells

was the consciousness that now I knew where to find Skeneas. I

also found an Aemiea testudinallx Mull, clinging to an old bone, and

although it was only moderate size and so fragile that I broke the

edircs in dislodging it, I carried it home in triumph, for it was the

first one I had found in this river.

THE NAUTILUS. 141

In July, my husband (who shares my studies with me) and I

went up the river to a rocky point a short distance beyond the place

where I found the Skeneas and here we tried our hand-net. Our

efforts were rewarded by a live Lyonsia hyalina Conr. Our surprise

and delight were unbounded. Never before had we even thought

of Lyonsia as living so far from the sea (15 miles or more), and on

a muddy bottom. This added another species to the many we had

already found in this river. Repeated dredgings with the hand-net

brought us no more Lyonsias, but on a careful examination of a

small patch of mud at low water mark, covered with a hairy green

sea-weed we discovered the hiding place of the fragile Haminen

solitaria Say, and our diligent search resulted in our finding six of

these transparent dainty shells. These the first we ever found alive,

although in the bay at the headwaters of the river two miles away, I

have found quantities of the deed shells. I am not aware that

Haminea solitaria has ever before been found in Maine. It is a

southern species and is not found in boreal waters. Its presence

here along with several other distinctively southern species is

regarded as evidence that the water bathing the coast of Maine was

once much warmer than now, and these mollusks are the survivors

of a fauna now nearly extinct in Maine.

On another trip, a short distance down the river, our net brought

up a dead shell of Nassa trivittata Say.

As a result of this Summer's work along the salt water I have

added four species to my list of Damariscotta River shells : Lyonsia

hyalina Conr., Aemcea testudinalis Miill, Skenea planorbis Fabr. and

Nassa trivittata Say.

But the river banks are not the only localities in this vicinity rich

in molltiscan treasures. On a trip to a brook in South Newcastle

we found forty-one specimens of Manjaritana urcuata Barnes. A

second visit to the same locality gave more Margaritanas, tijilia-rium

partumeium Say, Ancyltis rivularis Say, and one Limncea which

I have not yet determined. While waiting for our train we found

a number of fossil shells in clay which had been unearthed by men

who had been getting gravel for the railroads. The shells found in

this clay were all bivalves, and did not seem to be at all like the

shells common to this period or locality. One shell somewhat re-

sembled Lyonsia hyalina but it had numerous teeth in the hinge

like the Area.

142 THE NAUTILI'S.

Picture to yourselves a vide, shallow brook bordered on either side

with tall, beautiful flowering grasses, the brilliant cardinal flower

and delicate lavender flowered mints, and you will have some idea

of the scene of loveliness which awaited us, after our nine mile drive

to South Jefferson, one fine day in August. The brook, which is called

Dyer's River, is rich in Molluscan life, and quantities of Unio com-

planatus were to be found there. The dead shells of Mun/u ritmiu

aretuifa were strewn along the banks, where they had been left by the

pearl hunters. After collecting all the Uitio complanatus we desired

we used our hand-net with good success and the following shells

were the result of the dredging : Campeloma <l?<-i.*iun Say, I'luiiUmn

ii'ijiiiliitcrnle Pr., P. rotiindatum Prime, var. torqtiatum Sterki, P. abdi-

tinn Hald., Amnicola limosa Say.

My best hunting ground for land shells this Summer has been

the crevices of an old ledge, and an old cellar where trees grow out

of the cellar floor. In the cellar and on and near the ledge I found

Pupas, Vallonias, Succineas, Patulas and Zonites. Under some

bricks near a building on my own place I have for several seasons

found Vertigo pyymcea Drap. but the find in land shells which I value

most is Vallonia eostata, which I found under rocks near our old sea-

wall. These I have found in quantities since the tenth of November,

finding some as late as the 27th of December. I believe this is the

first time Vallona eostata has been found in Maine.

The report of the year's effort and pleasure in the conchological

line would not be complete it I did not mention our trip to Old

Orchard Beach and Saco, Maine, one day last October. After

reaching the beach it took us but a short time to realize that our

find would be small that day, and, after three hours gleaning, we

had a dozen or two Siliqun eostata, one Axtarte <-/ixl<tin:<i, three Peri-

/i/nmn rix'/i/iiclratiiii and a few other common shells; so, after eating

our lunch and giving a few parting glances to the beach, we decided

to take the electric car for Saco, and call on the Rev. Henry W.

Winkley, whose interesting articles we have read in THE NAU-

TILUS. We had never met the gentleman, but our faith in the

kind-heartedness of all true lovers of Nature gave us confidence,

and surely this confidence was not misplaced. Mr. Winkley wel-

comed us most cordially and inviting us into his library gave us the

exquisite pleasure of closely examining the finest collecting of New

Kn^land shells we had ever seen. Mr. Winkley has been dredging

for several seasons and the many rare deep water shells in his

THE NAUTILUS. 143

cabinet testify to his success. We gazed with admiration upon the

many rare and beautiful shells we had many times read about, but

never seen, and were allowed the pleasure — not granted except to

members of the guild, I suspect, — of actually handling these spec-

imens.

After carefully examining the New England marine shells we were

shown a fine collection of land shells, gathered from every country

and every clime, and their various colors, forms and markings were

of the deepest interest to us. But all things come to an end all

too soon, we had to bid our good friend adieu and hurry to the

railroad station (we were to return home by the steam cars). As

we reluctantly took our departure from Mr. Wiukley's home, where

the latch string always hangs out invitingly to every conehologist,

we felt that better than the grand collection of shells we had just

seen, was the simple, generous, kindly spirit which Nature inspires

in all her true disciples.

NOTES AND NEWS.

A SECTION OF CONCHOLOGY has recently been formed in connec-

tion with the Michigan Academy of Science, the following gentle-

men being members : W. H. Sherzer, YpsiUuiti ; A. H. Boies, Hud-

son ; C. A. Whittemore, R, J. Kirkland, M. D., W. Miller, Charles

Miller, Jr., and L. H. Streng, Grand Rapids ; F. E. Wood, Bay

City ; L. T. Schurrer, M. D., Lakeport ; C. D. McLouth, Muskegon ;

Chas. A. Davis, Alma; Jerome Trombly, Petersburg; John M.

Miller, Escanaba ; Bryant Walker, Detroit.

The formal organization will not take place until the next regu-

lar meeting of the Academy, but an interesting programme of work

has been planned, which will doubtless lead to substantial additions

to the knowledge of Michigan conchology.

PRESERVATION OF MARINE MOLLUSCA. — Those who were inter-

ested in Mr. Hornell's paper on formalin (Nat. Sci., vol. VII, p.

416), may like to learn that this fluid has been tried for the preserva-

tion of A-plysia and PleUTobranohus. In both cases, however, a con-

siderable amount of coloring matter was dissolved out of the integu-

ment. Dr. J. D. F. Gilchrist, who contributes this observation to

Professor Herdman's report, also records a method of killing Aplysia

in an expanded condition, which he says is the only one that can be

144 THE NAUTILUS.

depended upon with certainty. " A few drops of a 5 per cent, solu-

tion of cocain were mixed with the water in which the Aplysias

were. After a time they expanded fully. They were then left in

the solution (twelve hours or more) till no contraction took place

when removed and put into weak alcohol. If contraction took place,

they would be put back into the cocain solution when they again

expanded. This was repeated till no contraction took place, when

they could, after a time, be put into stronger alcohol." — -Natural

Srience, March, 1896.

NEW PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

A LIST OF THE SPECIES OF AMPHIDROMUS ALBERS, WITH CRIT-

ICAL NOTES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME HITHERTO UNDESCRIBEU

SPECIES AND VARIETIES. By Hugh Fulton (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.,

January, 1896). The species of this difficult genus of Bulimi are

arranged according to their affinities in groups; the synonymy is

thoroughly overhauled, and several new forms are described. Mr.

Fulton has done good service in reducing to varietal rank a large

number of nominal species, which have caused collectors endless

pains and confusion ; his treatment of the perversus group being espe-

cially commendable. Three excellent lithographic plates illustrate

new or previously unfigured species and varieties.

RECOLTE DBS MOLLUSQUES ; CONSEILS AUX VOYAGEURS, par A.

Bavay. Instructions for collecting mollusks, land, fresh-water and

marine, with quite full information on where to find them.

CATALOGUE OF THE SPECIES OF CORBICULID.T; IN THE COLLEC-

TION OF TEMPLE PRIME NOW FORMING PART OF THE COLLECTION

OF THE MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY AT CAMBRIDGE, MASS.

—By Temple Prime, 1895. — The species are arranged geographic-

ally and under each species are arranged by letters, the synonymy

and the various localities represented. Of the genus Corbiculu there

are 58 species ; Batistx 8 ; Velorila 3 ; Ci/rcim 42 recent, and 23

fossil; Rjrficerium 23 recent and 2 fossil; Limos'uni 10; PlsliliiimSl

recent and 2 fossil.

BULLETIN OF THE CHICAGO ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, Vol. II, No.

11, 1895. — Preliminary Outline of a New Classification of the

Family Muricidn-, by F. ('. Baker.