THE NAUTILUS. 



VOL. XXVI. JULY, 1912. No. 3 



NOTES ON THE MOLLUSCAN FAUNA OF THE SIERRA ELVIRA, SPAIN. 



BY MAXWELL SMITH. 1 



While staying in Granada, Spain, during April 1910, the writer 

 made several excursions for the day to the Sierra Elvira mountains. 

 This striking range rises from the plain before Granada and may be 

 distinctly seen from the battlements of the Alhambra. 



The Sierra Elvira is a treeless Jurassic range named after the 

 ancient town of Iliberris. It is covered with rocks so sharp in places 

 that shoe leather offers little protection to the feet and climbing is 

 necessarily a slow operation. On a clear day the sun reflected on 

 the rocks makes the place not unlike a furnace. When the day is a 

 cloudy one the biting cold wind from the snow-covered Sierra 

 Nevada constantly keeps up. Nevertheless the splendid view amply 

 repays the climber even if he is not in quest of snails. There are 

 several small caves in a lofty valley several miles from the railway 

 which skirts the base of the Sierra far below. Several species were 

 found near the mouth of one of these caves. The more distant 

 portions of the range no doubt contain other species not taken by 

 the writer. 



One day the ascent of the Sierra Elvira was made from Pinas 

 Puente a quaint old town in an attractive situation on the Cubillas. 

 In the brooks flowing into this stream a species of Melanopsis was 

 noticed in abundance. It was at Pinas-Puente that Columbus was 

 overtaken by the messenger of Queen Isabella in 1492, when in 



1 Read before the Brooklyn Conchological Club, January 29, 1912. 



