THE NAUTILUS. 135 



A. r. hyporhyssa kindly sent it for study. It is wholly bleached, 

 has lost the cuticle, and measures, alt. 9, diam. 15 mm., umbilicus 

 3.1 mm., and has 5^ whorls. There is a very slight basal lip-tooth, 

 and a small oblique parietal tooth, about 1.8 mm. long. The 

 sculpture is decidedly finer than in A* rhyssa, agreeing closely with 

 specimens of A. r. miorhyssa collected by Ashmun, which, however, 

 differ by having a slighly smaller umbilicus, 2.3 to 2.5 mm. wide in 

 a shell of nearly 16 mm. diam., and the aperture in miorhyssa is 

 slightly larger. I can find no other differences between miorhyssa 

 and hyporhyssa. 



A. r. hyporhyssa was taken by Prof. C. H. T. Townsend " on the 

 lower slopes of White Mt., above head of Ruidoso, Aspen belt, at 

 about 9500 ft." 



A. rhyssa and A. r. miorhyssa are from the Sierra Blanca. 

 Ashmunella rhyssa edentata Ckll. 



A. rhyssa hyporhyssa Pils. Proc. A. N. S., Phila., 1905, pp. 

 228-231, pi. 12, f. 7-13, exclusive of synonym "Polygyra r. hypo- 

 rhyssa " and quoted description of same. 



Similar to A. r. miorhyssa, but frequently more depressed, with 

 wider umbilicus, and generally without a parietal tooth, which is 

 present in less than 5 per cent, of the specimens examined. 



Sacramento Mountains, at various elevations, as given in the paper 

 cited above. While but weakly differentiated from the Sierra Blanca 

 forms, it is well to have a name for the Sacramento race, common in 

 James Canyon near Cloudcropt. 



I formerly united this race and A. r. hyporhyssa, in the absence of 

 the type of the latter. 



ABALONES AND THE EARTHQUAKE. 



BY ROBERT E. C. STEARNS. 



The Japanese abalone fishermen who have made their head- 

 quarters at Carmel Bay, a few miles south of Monterey, had planned 

 to extend their operations to the more southerly part of the coast, on 

 the shore of San Luis Obispo County. This was in August. Upon 

 examination later on of the rocky region near Morro, where they 

 expected to make a great haul, it was found that the sea-bed was 

 coated with a greasy slime of a supposed bituminous character, which 



