THE NAUTILUS. O 



A trip to the Province of Matanzas we found to be most interest- 

 ing. The so-called mountains contained a large list of species and 

 they were easy to collect. It reminded me of the old days years ago, 

 when we used to go berry-picking. For hours one could walk along 

 the face of the cliffs, and there was always enough in sight to keep up 

 plenty of enthusiasm, until one was so completely tired out he was 

 ready to quit. I had a young farmer with me from Indiana, a 

 typical Hoosier, never outside of his county before, and he declared 

 he never was so tired in his life. I will venture to predict that after 

 tramping over a part of the three provinces of Cuba after snails, he 

 will have more to tell his rural friends than the average tourist. His 

 remarks about the country and people from day to day were a con- 

 stant source of amusement, especially when he was unable to get a 

 thing to eat, in the midst of plenty. A little smattering of Spanish 

 is a good thing to take along with you when visiting a Spanish 

 country. My little guide-book was sometimes more precious than 

 gold, for we were in several towns where we could not find a person 

 who spoke a word of English, and we were equally as ignorant of 

 Spanish. 



Not feeling at all sure that the editor of THE NAUTILUS will care 

 for such a rambling article, I will refrain from further notes; but if 

 any reader contemplates a trip to some of the classic collecting 

 grounds of the West Indies, I will be pleased to give them such in- 

 formation as I can, which will help to make the trip a source of 

 pleasure and successful as well. 



THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE EUROPEAN NAIADES. 



BY DR. A. E. ORTMANN. 



Through the courtesy of Mr. W. Israel in Gera-Untermhaus, 

 Germany, I have received a great number of European Naiades with 

 soft parts, representing practically all species known to occur in cen- 

 tral Europe. I do not presume to judge on the validity of the num- 

 erous species described by certain European writers, but rely in this 

 respect on the opinion of the conchologists like Kobelt, Haas, Thiele, 

 Israel, and others, chiefly since they are at present rather unanimous 

 in assuming only a limited number of species, divided into a larger 

 or smaller number of forms, races or varieties. The chief object of 



