THE NAUTILUS. 59 



September, 1893, p. 58] issued by the Academy has been completely 

 achieved. This result is the more gratifying in view of the predictions of 

 failure freely expressed when your Committee entered upon its labors. It 

 would, of course, be presumptuous to claim that the Academy's endeavors 

 have been more than one of the factors in this achievement, but in such 

 an international matter every such factor is of great importance. 



It may not be amiss to add here, for the benefit of our readers, 

 further extracts from the above quoted Convention of the Univer- 

 sal Postal Union contained in Mr. Brook's Report pp. 27 et seq. 



" Packets of samples of merchandise may not contain any article having 

 a salable value; they must not exceed 350 grams [12.35 Avoirdupois ounces] 

 in weight, or measure more than 30 centimetres [11.8 inches] in length, 20 

 centimetres [7.87 inches] in breadth, and 10 centimetres [3.93 inches] in 

 depth, or, if they are in the form of a roll, 30 centimetres [11.8 inches] in 

 length and 15 centimetres [5.9 inches] in diameter." (chap, i, art. 5, sect. 5). 



"It is forbidden: First, to send by mail: (a) sample and other articles 

 which, from their nature, may prove dangerous to the postal employees, soil 

 or injure the correspondence ; (/') explosive, inflammable or dangerous sub- 

 stances, animals and insects, living or dead, excepting the cases provided for 

 in the Regulations of detail." ' (chap, i, art. 16, sect. 3). 



The conditions which must be observed for the transmission of samples of 

 merchandise remain as before the packages to admit of easy inspection, not 

 to "bear any manuscript other than the name or the social position of the 

 sender, the address of the addressee, a manufacturer's or a trade-mark, 

 number of order, prices and indications relating to weight and size, as well as 

 to the quantity to be disposed of, or those which are necessary to precisely 

 indicate the origin and nature of the merchandise," while articles of glass, 

 liquids, oils, fatty substances and dry powders must be packed to prevent 

 their damaging, or escaping into, the other contents of mails (chap, iii, art. 

 xvli). 



*The "Regulations of detail and order lor the Execution of the Convention" form 

 chapter iii, fiom which the most important to naturalists of our preceding quotations 

 is taken. 



GENERAL NOTES. 



SHELLS OF REDDING, SHASTA Co., CALIFORNIA. Mr. Richard 

 C. McGregor, one of the enterprising ornithologists of California, has 

 been so good as to collect some mollusks at Redding, on the Sacr- 

 mento River, for the Academy of Natural Sciences. He found a 

 specimen of Polygyra Roperi, of which only the original three exam- 

 ples found by Mr. E. W. Roper have been known hitherto. The 

 discovery of " Ancylus" patelloidea Lea, living and abundant, is the 

 most important find. The list is as follows : 



Epiphragmophora mormonum Pfr., one young specimen. 



Polygyra Roperi Pils. One specimen. 



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