104 THE NAUTILUS. 



ISAAC LEA DEPAKTMENT. 



[Conducted in the interest of the Isaac Lea Conchological Chapter of the Agassiz Associa- 

 tion by its General Secretary, Mrs. M. Burton Williamson.] 



As the annual election of officers for 1898 is not held until the 

 last Wednesday in December, the results of the election will not be 

 published this mouth. Next month the newly-elected General 

 Secretary will have charge of this department. 



RECORD OF A LOST YEAR. 



[Extract from the report of Mrs. M. T. B. From the Transactions of the Isaac Lea 

 Chapter for 1896]. 



This year I have found no shells new to my collection, but have 

 learned more about some of the old ones. Comts calif ornicus, which 

 I found at Newport, Cal., last year in the mud bottom of the bay, I 

 find among the rocks, clinging to the sea weeds. These last are 

 bright and shining, while those from the bay have an epidermis. 

 A learned friend, to whom I refer all my difficulties, thinks the 

 epidermis is worn off by the action of the water and rocks. But I 

 found them in a deep cut in the rocks, where the high tide covered 

 and the low tide left them a very sheltered place. We are not 

 credited with two species on our California coast, yet I find two 

 which differ in color and size one is brown, mottled with lighter 

 spots, the other is plain, paler in color, and reaches double the size 

 of the spotted one. The operculum of Con us is the merest excuse, 

 just a thread, and not half the length of the aperture. 



Under the same rocks I found Leptothyra, with rough, limy sur- 

 face, but with such exquisite opercirli, shelly white, with a spiral 

 line in brown. And then there were the pretty little Corbula lute- 

 ola and Carditamera subquadrata, the last place I should have 

 looked for bivalves. 



I have become interested somewhat in sea-slugs, and have tried 

 to make water-color drawings of some of them, as I know of no 

 way to preserve them without destroying their color. 



Two rare shells have come under my observation during the year, 

 both from Newport, and both were Trophons. Pet-ten hastatus, 

 which is called a northern species, is occasionally found here also, 

 and, though I have seen but few of the northern shells, those 1 have 

 seen are not nearly so brilliant as those from Newport Beach. 



