140 THE NAUTILUS. 



California : " I have discovered that the sunshine has much to do- 

 with finding shells, as they come up much more readily on a warm 

 day than on a cold cloudy one. Even these little creatures appear 

 to love the sunshine." Is this the experience of other collectors 

 during the winter? 



ALONG THE DAMARISCOTTA. 



[Report of Mrs. E. P. Weutworth. From the Transactions of the Isaac Lea Con- 

 chological Chapter for 1895.] 



The banks of one of the loveliest rivers in Maine have been the 

 principal scene of my "shelling trips" this year, and I shall make 

 these trips the basis of my report. The first warm days in May 

 found me taking advantage of the low tides. I was not sanguine 

 enough to hope to find new species, and the object of my search was 

 merely to lay in a store of Natica heros var. triseriafa, Ntissa obsoleta 

 (large uueroded specimens) and to find, if possible, theSkenea jilnn- 

 orbis which so far, has eluded my diligent search. Armed with a 

 wooden tooth-pick, collecting bottle and tin dish, I advanced upon 

 the unsuspecting mollusks. I found quantities of Naticas under- 

 neath the sea-weed, crawling on the surface of the mud which coated 

 the rocks covered by the sea-weed, and thousands of Nassas crawl- 

 ing on the mud near the low water mark. The Nassa in the water 

 were waving their siphons in the air as if signaling to one another, 

 hut I knew they were only feeding in their own peculiar fashion. 

 On turning over some small flat stones near low water mark my 

 cup of joy ran over, for there, clinging to the edges and under sides 

 of the stones, were the long looked for Skeneas and associated with 

 them many of the graceful little Ri*soa mlimln. 



At this period of my search the wisdom of taking a wooden tooth- 

 pick instead of a larger and more dangerous weapon was impressed 

 upon me, for it was the most convenient instrument imaginable for 

 transferring these tiny mollusks to the collecting bottle. Before the 

 lidr turned I had hundreds of specimens, but, better than the shells 

 was the consciousness that now I knew where to find Skeneas. I 

 also found an Aemiea testudinallx Mull, clinging to an old bone, and 

 although it was only moderate size and so fragile that I broke the 

 edircs in dislodging it, I carried it home in triumph, for it was the 

 first one I had found in this river. 



