THE NAUTILUS. 71 



entirely or most of the body, and divided into right and left halves, 

 and hinged together on the dorsal line, thus giving the appearance 

 of a bivalve mollusk. 



Some of the insects also afford interesting examples. The larvae 

 of several species of caddice-flies, including the genus Helicopsyche, 

 make spiral cases in which they live clinging to the rocks and 

 stones in rapidly flowing streams. The little spiral cases composed of 

 grains of sand, fastened together with silken threads resemble so 

 closely the form of a Trochus or Valvata that Swainson (Treatise on 

 Malacology, p. 353, f. 113, 1840), described one as the Thelidomus 

 braziliensis, placing it in the family Trochidae, sub-family Rotellina. 

 Dr. Isaac Lea (Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc., iv, 104, pi. xv, f. 33, 1830), 

 described a similar larva case as Valvata arenifera. 



In the Entomologist's Monthly Magazine, xxi, p. 1, 1884, Robert 

 McLachlan describes and figures an " extraordinary heliciform 

 lepidopterous larva case from East Africa." These closely resem- 

 ble a high-spired Helix or Vivipara, both sinistral and dextral. 

 The larva case of an allied species of Southern Europe, Psyche 

 (Cochloplanes) helix is also figured, having the form of a small 

 irregular helicoid shell. Larvae of the genus Microdon of the dip- 

 terous family Syrphidce have twice been described as land mollusks. 



Numerous worm tubes of the family Serpulidce formed by 

 species of Ditrupa and Pomatoceras have frequently been described 

 as Dentalium (see Pilsbry and Sharp, Manual Conch., xvii, 240). 



NOTES. 



CAUGHT IN A LIVING TRAP. In the window of a Salem, Mass., 

 store may be seen a unique sight, that of a kingfisher held tightly 

 in the grip of a mussel. The story is this : 



This forenoon patrolman Michael J. Little while crossing Beverly 

 bridge, saw the bird fluttering on the flats, and he asked a fisher- 

 man to investigate. The latter went to the spot and there found the 

 bird drowned. 



It had swooped down and poked its bill into the open shell of a 

 mussel, which suddenly closed on the bill of the bird. There the 

 the two remained, until the incoming tide drowned the bird. Hun- 

 dreds have viewed the singular sight today. (Boston Globe). 



