THE NAUTILUS. G7 



The aesthetic taste exhibited by Vallonia pulchella is noteworthy ; 

 from under the Hoses of Shasta county in the north, to the Verbena 

 beds of Los Angeles in the south, and among the marbles of Moun- 

 tain View, in Alameda county, suggests a refinement of discrimina- 

 tion in this " mere atom of humble life," that would furnish a good 

 text for a sermon. 



Mr. Button, in his note to me referring to the cemetery habitat, 

 writes, "Query Brought from the East in plants?'' As to the 

 occurrence of V- pulchella in my grounds, I am wholly at sea, for no 

 plant forms, from the neighborhood or elsewhere, have been intro- 

 duced by me for a long time, and these little snails have appeared in 

 numbers, within six iveeks. 



In considering the hypsometric distribution, the altitude of Donner 

 Lake is, according to Gannett, 1 from whom these various elevations 

 are quoted, G095 feet; Truckee 5820 and Redding 555 feet; Julian 

 4500 and Los Angeles about 300 feet, while the Mountain View 

 Cemetery grounds are probably slightly less than the Los Angeles 

 figure. 



Los Angeles, California, Sept. 12, 1900. 



AN HOUK ON THE GREAT RAFT. 



BT LORRAINE S. FRIERSON. 



While the readers of NAUTILUS are waiting to hear of the results 

 of the exploration of the Great Smokies by Ferriss, Walker & Co., 

 perhaps they would like to hear about a trip to the Great Raft of the 

 Red River. 



This raft of logs was at one time 150 miles long, but it has long 

 since been removed from the main river. There still remains in an 

 arm of the river about five miles of the old raft. This raft is not 

 continuous, but consists of separate pieces from a mile long down to 

 fifty yards. These logs are in some places only one log deep, i. e., 

 the surface of the water is covered by a single layer of logs. 



In other places, however, the river is completely filled with a solid 

 mass of logs from ten to fifteen feet deep. These logs are covered 



Dict. of Altitudes in the U. S., 3d Ed,, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1899. 



