Part 4

STUDIES ON AUSTRALIAN MOLLUSCA. PT. XIII. By C. Hedley (Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales, 1916, vol. 41, pt. 4, pp. 680‒719, pls. 46‒52, issued April 4, 1917). The author’s notes under _Tridacna gigantea_ Perry are of such general interest that we quote them in part. “Under the name of _Chama gigas_ the father of Natural History seems to have embraced the whole of the modern genus _Tridacna_. For the name _gigas_, as restricted to a single species, the candidates are the shell subsequently named _squamosa_ by Lamarck and a huge species whose valves in the Ulrica Museum, together weighed 498 pounds.

“After careful examination, Hanley decided that the furbelowed clam, such as Reeve has figured for _T. squamosa_, ought rightly to bear the name _gigas_. He based his verdict on the ground that the actual shell owned by Linné as representing _gigas_, is the Lamarckian _squamosa_, and that to this apply most of the literary references. Linnean contemporaries such as Born, Regenfuss and Chemnitz, while making casual references to the giant, all agree in figuring and describing _squamosa_ as the Linnean _gigas_.

“Discriminating in 1819 between the species his predecessors had confused, Lamarck unlawfully used the name _gigas_ for the largest form, while for the Linnean _gigas_ he proposed _squamosa_. Attentive to the remarks of Hanley, Hidalgo in 1903, renamed the biggest species _T. lamarcki_. But in 1811, Perry had already used the name _Chama gigantea_ for ‘the largest shell at present known.’ As the young of the giant has not yet been traced to the adult, it is still possible that _squamosa_ is a juvenile deeper-water form of the large intertidal and abraded _gigantea_.

“The heaviest known are a pair weighing 550 lbs., which Cuvier and Lamarck relate were presented by the Venetian Republic to Francis I. These still exist, their edges bound with brass, as holy-water basins in the cathedral of St. Sulpice, in Paris.

“The photographs of Saville Kent show the giant clams in their natural position on the Great Barrier Reef, where they occur free and exposed at low tide, standing on their umbones, and showing their brightly colored mantle and so-called eyes as they gape.”

There are many other interesting notes bearing on nomenclature, and the animals of Australian species. Six new species are described and twenty-nine species figured.—C. W. J.

* * * * *

AN ANNOTATED LIST OF SHELLS FROM NORTHERN MICHIGAN. By Mina L. Winslow (Occasional papers, Mus. Zool., Univ. Mich., No. 42, July 1, 1917) a list of sixty-five species from Schoolcraft, Alger and Chippewa counties, also a list from Isle Royale.

NOTES.

THE OLDROYD COLLECTION.—Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Oldroyd have given their collection of shells to the Leland Stanford Jr. University, and are now permanently employed in the Museum, Mrs. Oldroyd being the curator. The collection has been placed in the Department of Geology and Mining. The Stanford alumni purchased the collection and library of the late Henry Hemphill, which, with the Law collection and several others, forms an unusually fine working series. Mr. and Mrs. Oldroyd have spent about eight weeks at Friday Harbor, Puget Sound and British Columbia making large collections for the Stanford University, California Academy of Science and University of California.

* * * * *

NORTH CAROLINA LAND SHELLS.—The following species of land shells were picked from leaf-mold collected at Spruce Pine, Mitchell Co., North Carolina, by Samuel G. Gordon while on a mineralogical excursion. The specimens are in the collection of the Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., _Gastrocopta contracta_ Say, _G. pentodon_ Say, _Circinaria concava_ Say, _Polita indentata_ Say, _Taxeodonta lamellidens_ Pils., _Gastrodonta elliotti_ Redf., _G. guldaris_ Say, _Euconulus sterkii_ Dall., _Punctum pygmæum_ Drap., _Carychium exile_ Lea.—E. G. VANATTA.

* * * * *

A CORRECTION.—In my little paper, “Descriptions of New West American Marine Mollusks and Notes on Previously Described Forms,” Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. 52, pp. 670‒671, plate 46, figure 2, 1917, I published _Cerithiopsis (Cerithiopsis) helena_ from Panama, type Cat. No. 204128, U. S. N. M. Mr. Vignal, of Paris, has been kind enough to call my attention to the fact that the same combination was used by O. Boettger in 1901 for a fossil in his contribution “Zur Kenntnis der Fauna der mittelmiocänen Schichten von Kostej im Krassò-Szörényer Komitat,” in “Verhandlungen und Mitteilungen des siebenbürgischen Vereins für Naturwissenchaften zu Hermannstadt,” p. 128, 1901. It is therefore necessary to bestow a new designation on my shell, and it may be known as _Cerithiopsis (Cerithiopsis) anaitis_.—PAUL BARTSCH.

* * * * *

ALBINISTIC EPIPHRAGMOPHORA FIDELIS.—A few days ago, I had two hours in Gladstone Park. The Park is wooded, and there are large moss-covered rocks. _E. fidelis_ was out freely. I found one light one. The one sent you some years ago was uniform in color. This one shows two distinct dark narrow bands around the lower whorl, but not showing anywhere else. This is the fourth one I have found in the Park in twenty years or more, though I have been there often.

—J. G. MALONE, _Portland, Ore._

* * * * *

The many friends of DR. HERMANN VON IHERING will hear with deep regret that he has been removed by political intrigue from his position of Director of the MUSEU PAULISTA at Sao Paulo, Brazil. This museum was founded by Dr. von Ihering. His eminence as a zoologist and unceasing activity as an investigator of the South American fauna, had won for it an honorable place among scientific institutions. We understand that his successors are men without knowledge of the biological sciences. As the only scientific assistant, Mr. Rudolph von Ihering has resigned, it appears that the scientific activity of the State Museum of Sao Paulo has come to an end—a real calamity to American zoology and paleontology.

Dr. von Ihering is located at present at Hansa de Joinville, State of Santa Catharina. He is in good health, and is engaged in the preparation of his work: “Die biogeographischen Grundgesetze,” several chapters of which will deal with mollusks.—H. A. P. & C. W. J.

1, 2. PSORONAIAS KUXENSIS FRIERSON.

3. EPIPHRAGMOPHORA CALLISTODERMA PILS. & FERR.

4. UNIO TETRALASMUS SAY.

5, 6. ZACHRYSIA RAMSDENI PILS.

7. Z. EMARGINATA PFR.

Footnote 1:

NAUTILUS, vol. xx, pp. 58‒60.

Footnote 2:

NAUTILUS, xxvi, pp. 51‒55, 1912.

Footnote 3:

In a later work Ortmann classifies both _ventricosa_ and _cohongoronta_ as varieties of _ovata_ Say.

Footnote 4:

The relations of mollusks to fish in Oneida Lake. By Frank Collins Baker. Technical Publication No. 4, New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse University. Pp. 366. Syracuse, N. Y., 1916. We are informed that it may be obtained free by those interested in the study of Mollusca by applying to the dean of the college, Dr. Hugh P. Baker.

Footnote 5:

_Pupa griqualandica_ M. and P., 1893; the specimens used being from Pretoria.

Footnote 6:

Ann. Mag. N. H. (8), i, p. 76, pl. i, 1908.

Footnote 7:

In NAUTILUS, 28, 1914, p. 31, I have described the anatomy of “_Pleurobema fassinans_.” This is a mistake: the shells examined belong to _Pleurobema_ all right, but are the form known as _U. argenteus_ Lea, which belongs to the _oviforme-group_, and should be called: _Pleurobema oviforme argenteum_ (Lea). These will be treated more fully elsewhere.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

1. Silently corrected typographical errors. 2. Retained anachronistic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed. 3. Footnotes have been re-indexed using numbers and collected together at the end of the last chapter. 4. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.