G. NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 345 



Cope has a paper on the subject in the proceedings of the 

 Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences for 1868, and it is 

 frequently referred to in European works, especially one by 

 Max Nowicky," Der Kopaliner Heerwurm" (Briinn, 1 868), orig- 

 inally published in Vol. VI. of Verhandlungen naturforschen- 

 der Verein, at Briinn. This phenomenon belongs to the se- 

 ries of mimetic resemblances so common in the animal king- 

 dom, and has doubtless an important function in preventing 

 attacks upon the defenseless larvae in their movements from 

 place to place ; birds or other enemies being deterred by the 

 apparent presence of a large and dangerous serpent. 



DROWNING OF A CHINAMAN BY A HALI0TIS. 



A recent California journal states that a Chinaman, while 

 attempting to secure a large abalone (a well-known saucer- 

 shaped shell of the genus Hdliotis), was held fast, by its con- 

 traction, to the rock to which it was attached, until he per- 

 ished by being ingulfed by the incoming tide. 



dall's catalogue of the shells of behring's strait. 



For the purpose of bringing together the sum of our knowl- 

 edge on the subject, Mr. William H. Dall has lately pub- 

 lished a catalogue of the shells of Behring's Strait and the 

 Arctic Ocean, partly collected by himself and partly by oth- 

 ers. He indicates one hundred and twenty-one species, of 

 which three obtained by Captain Smith, and one by himself, 

 he considers to be new to science. 



DISCOVERT OF ALEUT MUMMIES. 



Mr. W. H. Dall, in a communication to the California Acad- 

 emy of Sciences, remarks as follows: "I have previously 

 given the Academy some account of the method practiced 

 by the Aleutian Islanders of mummifying their more dis- 

 tinguished dead. Many tales are current among the Aleuts 

 in regard to particular cases of this practice, and among oth- 

 ers one has been frequently related to me in regard to some 

 mummies preserved in a cave on one of the volcanic islands 

 known as the 'Four Craters,' or 'Four Mountains.' When 

 in the vicinity in 1873 we were unable to land and test the 

 truth of this history on account of bad weather and the ab- 

 sence of any harbors. More recently, however, this has been 



P 2 



