THE NAUTILUS. 77 



The byssus was attached to the soft parts at about one-fourth dis- 

 tance from the anterior to the posterior end. 



One of the texasensis had a byssus cylindrical in shape, about half 

 the diameter of a human hair laid alongside for comparison. But 

 that of the others and also of the fallaciosus was roughly ribbon- 

 shaped, and resembled a flat piece of '' molasses pulled-candy," both 

 in texture and in contour. While wet they were very elastic, but 

 exceedingly brittle when dry, appearing to be of the same composi- 

 tion as the ligament of the shell. These ribbons were irregularly 

 twisted, now to the right, now to the left, as well as vertically undu- 

 latory. This gave them a sort of spiral spring effect which was 

 quite noticeable. 



The proximal end, when separated from the soft parts by slight 

 traction, was bulb-shaped and attached to a style-like process which 

 occasionally could be drawn from between the valves. My appli- 

 ances were not equal to the task of determining whether this process 

 was an outgrowth of the foot or of the mantle. The distal ends were 

 attached to quite a little raft of heterogeneous material, and 1 believe 

 that this " raft " serves to make a float, analogous to the balloons by 

 which spiders sail through the air in the autumn months. None of 

 them seemed to be directly fastened to any large body such as sticks 

 or old shells, but merely entangled with the moss or algas growing on 

 the sticks, etc. The lengths of these byssi were about three to 

 eight inches. 



Several very small Quadrulas were taken. But no byssus was 

 noted on any of them. Could this feature be a characteristic of 

 Lampsilis and closely allied genera? 



A NEW GUPPYA FROM FLORIDA. 



BY HENRY A. PILSBKY. 



Guppya miamiensis n. sp. 



The shell is perforate, almost exactly like Guppya gundlachi in 

 shape, size and color ; glossy and smooth, with no trace of spiral fines, 

 even under high magnification. Alt. 1.5, diam. 2.3 mm., whorls 3|. 



Miami, Bade Co., Florida. Types no. 77083 A. N. S. P., col- 

 lected by S. N. Rhoads, 1899. 



In Mr. Rhoads' list of Miami shells, published in a former num- 



