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 



