26 THE NAUTILUS. 



1,000 or 1,500 feet above the sea. From Poteau, Sugarloaf, a dozen 

 miles away, could be seen, and this knob runs up to 2,000 feet; but 

 a cold wave drove me home before I could make this mountain a 

 visit. 



In three days, at Poteau and Tushkahoma I found Polygyra Bin- 

 neyana Pits., Poly, divesta indlanorum Pils., Poly, dorfeuiliiana per- 

 costata Pils. and Gastrodonta demissa lamellata Pils. These places 

 are about 80 and 40 miles east of Limestone Gap, where Simpson 

 found PoJy. kiowaensis; 50 miles west of Mena, and Mena is 70 

 west of Hot Springs, where Poly, kiowaensis arkansaensis Pils. was 

 found. I never saw either, and I hunted hard. 



But in the winter many shells surely could not be found. It was 

 next to impossible to tind a mature Omphalina fridbilis or a Pyrami- 

 dnla solitaria alive, but their dead shells were common. Perhaps 

 many of these species, as in the Tennessee mountains, are clannish 

 sticklers for locality. 



The P. dorfenilliana, monodon and G. demissa colonize under logs, 

 a pine log sometimes if charred, but the oaks with a rough bark suit 

 them better. The Mesodons were found by digging. In fact nearly 

 all of my new shells were found by quarrying. The first was Poly, 

 cragini, described by Call. This I found on my old farm at Thajt-r, 

 Kansas, while quarrying sandstone in search of fossil plants. Since 

 then I have been a great digger, looking on the well-drained and 

 ventilated rock, dampened only by the soil, as the best locality to find 

 a new species. High up on the mountains is good ground, I have 

 always supposed because it is a poor place for lazy collectors. 



This year a Texas friend, who had a team, wagon and canvas 

 cover, went with me from DeKalh, Texas, to Naples, Texas, on one 

 trip, and then to Mena, Arkansas. I walked, and rolled over the 

 rocks and logs, and he good-naturedly drove the team, and at good 

 places stopped the procession and helped gather the shells. In this 

 journey of over 200 miles I do not think I rode over 15, and I do 

 not think he walked that far, except in our side journeys on foot. At 

 night we made a shed of our wagon sheet, and with a roaring pitcli- 

 pine fire in front and plenty of blankets, got along nicely through 

 snow and rain, or when the thermometer dropped to zero a few times. 



The rivers were high after having been very low, but we could 

 tell by the remains that it was a very rich region in Unionidte for 

 the seasonable comer. From Naples to the mountains, P. dorfeuilh- 



