THE NAUTILUS. 81 



SPBING COLLECTING IN SOUTHWEST VIEGINIA. 



BY CALVIN GOODRICH. 



Early in May last I joined Dr. Ortmann at Charleston, W. Va., 

 for two weeks among the richly-stored sources of the Tennessee. 

 The road took us along the Kanawha for an hour or two, and then 

 making a sudden turn swung into the mountains, every slope and 

 valley of which was a lure to the winter-wearied collector. At 

 Princeton we transferred to automobile and, packed amid the hand 

 baggage like shells in a box, were driven into Bluefield, just over the 

 line from the older Virginia. 



The first collecting was in the Clinch at Cedar Bluff, Tnzewell 

 Co., Va., where there is a long shoal upon a wide and picturesque 

 bend. The river ran swiftly, but not more swiftly than word to the 

 local chief of police. Through him and a zealous deputy we learned 

 two interesting facts, that the Puritan Sunday is not passed com- 

 pletely into history, and that the idea of assessing fines without the 

 formality of trial or pronouncement from the bench is in as good 

 standing in the Appalachians as among the police in the bigger cen- 

 ters of population. However, the village powers did not agree with 

 the chief's conviction as to our condition of hopeless sinfulness, and 

 with a friendliness which paid for the adventure they bade us return 

 to the river. 



Pleurocera unciale Hald. and Anculosa subglobosa Say, with Goni- 

 obasis simplex Say, in smaller numbers, were on every stone. Jo 

 here was all of the smooth form described by Anthony under the 

 name of inermis. This locality is some miles above the uppermost 

 locality for Jo recorded by Adams. Working among the rocks and 

 in the swifter water of the right bank, Dr. Ortmann collected Fits- 

 conaia bursa-pastoris (Wright), Truncilla capsaeformis (Lea), Pty- 

 chobranchus subtentus (Say), Euryriia perpurpurea (Lea) and Eurynia 

 nebulosa (Conrad), while in the sandy ground along the left bank the 

 predominating species were Quadrula cylindrica strigillata (Wright), 

 Medionidus conr adieus (Lea), Strophitus edentulus (Say) and Lamp- 

 silts multiradiata (Lea). Symphynota costata (Raf.) was everywhere, 

 and because of its manner ot hiding all except the edges of the 

 valves it became a source of irritation. The shells had to be dug 

 out, if only to learn that they were not of some other and desired 



