THE NAUTILUS. 117 



land and water in Upper Cretaceous times as depicted by Ortmann 

 (1902, p. 381), may be more than a mere coincidence. 



While Ferrissia and Laevapex are very closely related, the world- 

 wide range of the former is in marked contrast with the restricted 

 one of the latter, which is apparently confined to America. 



I can not accept Hannibal's statement, (1912, p. 153), that the 

 Ancylidce have been evolved "from simple, patelliform ancestors". 

 I agree rather with Grabau, (1902, p. 921), that "our modern patel- 

 liform species are probably not primitive types", but are descended 

 from ancestors with spiral shells. The persistence of spiral apical 

 whorls in Brondelia and AncyJastrum and the deciduous spiral apex 

 of Ancylus s. s. would seem to be conclusive on that point. 



While there may be no great force in an argument based on the 

 usually thinner and flatter shell of Lavapex as compared with that 

 of Ferrissia^ so far as it goes, it tends to show a progressive degen- 

 eration of the shell-secreting function in the former group. 



For these reasons I can not follow Hannibal, (1. c. p. 150), in 

 subordinating Ferrissia to Lavapex as a subgenus. To my mind, 

 the reverse is actually the fact and Lavapex is a comparatively re- 

 cent offshoot from the ancient Ferrissia stock. 



My main purpose in undertaking the examination of the Pallary 

 collection was to determine as far as possible the relative range of 

 Ancylus s. s. and Ferrissia in North Africa. It would be quite im- 

 possible for any one without access to types of Bourguignat and large 

 series of PalaBarctic material either to attempt to identify Bourguig- 

 nat's species or to satisfactorily determine the validity of the African 

 species belonging to \\\efluviatilis group. And I have not attempted 



to do so. 



( To be continued. ) 



POISONING BY THE BITE OF CONUS GEOGRAPHU8. 1 



The following report by Dr. A. Herbert Hallen was forwarded to 

 the Australian Museum, Sydney, by Dr. B. G. Corney, from Fiji, 

 10th September, 1901. Accompanying it was a shell, identified as 

 Conus geographus, said to be similar to the one that inflicted the 

 severe bite described. The following is the extract from the Gov- 



1 From The Australasian Medical Gazette, September, 1912. 



