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. 



