THE NAUTILUS. 



. XXVII. JULY, 1913. No. 3 



SHELL COLLECTING ON THE WEST COAST OF BAJA CALIFORNIA. 



BY H. N. LOWt. 



My long anticipated collecting trip to the coast of Lower Cali- 

 fornia was at last realized in the spring of 1912, when a party was 

 being made up for a month's cruise in Mexican waters. 



The staunch little power yacht " Flyer " was chartered for the 

 trip. Besides the crew of three, our party was made up of the 

 owner of the boat, the taxidermist, the tourist, the ornithologist, and 

 the conchologist. 



After a day spent at San Diego securing our clearance papers and 

 half a day at Ensenada with the Mexican authorities, we were at 

 last on our way. We cast anchor for the night in a small cove a 

 few miles south of Point Banda. There had been a slow drizzle of 

 rain all day and on going ashore I secured some five live specimens 

 of Helix stearnsiana walking over the bushes. On Todos Santos 

 Islands and San Martin (the southern limit of the species) I found 

 live specimens under loose rocks, but none under or near any of the 

 numerous species of cactus which thrive here. On Santa Catalina 

 Island the nearly allied form Helix kelletti lives on the cactus 

 (cholla) and is found under it at all seasons of the year. A few 

 specimens of Glyptostoma newberryanuin were found on the Todos 

 Santos. 



At Point Banda I secured my first Monoceros lugubre, and though 

 a common species it gave me pleasure to find something I had never 

 before collected. The specimens found here were very small only 



