THE NAUTILUS. 



VOL. XII. FEBEUAEY, 1899. X... 10. 



COLLECTING SHELLS IN THE KLONDIKE COUNTRY. 



BY P. B. RANDOLPH 



We left Seattle, Wash., on August 1, 1897, for the Klondike gold 

 fields. Our first stop was made at New Metaketta, Duncan's Island. 

 Alaska. We only made a short stop here to take on water. I made 

 a rush for shore, and, in a short time, had collected a few each of Cir- 

 cinaria sportella hyltrida Anc., Circinaria vancouverensis Lea and Poly- 

 gyra columbiana Lea. These were found under the logs and boards 

 just above high tide mark. No further stop was made until we reached 

 Dyea, at the head of Lynn canal. From here we had to be our own 

 pack-horses to the lakes. The Dyea valley is heavily timbered and 

 the narrow bottom land covered with alder. We laid over one day, 

 about half-way to the Dyea canon, and I improved the time collecting 

 the small species found there, consisting of Pyramidula striatella 

 cronkhitci Newc. , very plentiful under dead leaves and sticks, Conulus 

 fulvus alaskensis Pils., Punctum conspectum Bid., and Pupa decora 

 Gould. This last was very plentiful, and I think that in one day's 

 faithful collecting I could supply the cabinets of the world. 



Packing 100 pounds over a pass 8,000 feet high did not tend to 

 arouse my conchological ambition, but at each stop I prospected the 

 dead leaves and sticks with varying success. 



We laid over one day at Lake Linderm;in, resting from the past 

 week's hard work, and I had time to hunt over the flat at the head of 

 the lake, where a small stream empties in. Here I found several dead 

 shells of the Vltrina exitis Morel., and was despairing of finding any 

 alive, but at the last moment found three under a small dead stick. 

 These were the first of this genus that I had ever seen alive, and I felt 



