THE NAUTILUS. 63 



from a central hall. Around the walls of these two rooms are ar- 

 ranged the birds and mammals, while in the center in two longi- 

 tudinal rows of table cases is a splendid collection of shells, a collec- 

 tion that any museum should be proud of. One can get an idea of 

 the space occupied by the following figures : Each case was about 

 2 } x 4 feet, and of these there were 144. In hastily going over this 

 collection, certain families and genera were represented by magnifi- 

 cent specimens, and seemed almost complete, the most noticeable 

 being the Pectinidw, Veneridie, Cardiidre, Crassatellidre,etc. Among 

 the Volutidre and C'ouidie were many of the rarer species, while the 

 Cypraea were graced by the presence of C. princeps and C. guttata. 

 Very interesting in showing color variation was the very large suite 

 of Nanina eitrina. But my time was too limited to do justice to 

 these grand collections, and, at the time of my visit, the curators 

 were either on vacation or absent for the day. Our readers will 

 therefore please pardon the incompleteness of these brief descrip- 

 tions. 



INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT UPON THE FORM AND COLOR OF 

 HELIX ALTERNATA. 



BY C. C. ORMSBEE, MONTPELIER, VT. 



The Helix alternata is one of the most abundant of the larger 

 forms of New England land shells, and, in its distribution, it extends 

 over nearly the whole of the United States. Yet, owing to its hab- 

 its, it is not as familiar as many of the more rare species. It is sel- 

 dom, if ever, seen crawling upon the ground, after the fashion of 

 other so-called snails, but nearly, or quite, always found snugly 

 hidden in some old log or stump, or piece of rotten wood, which, by 

 the way, forms its food. 



It is extremely nocturnal in its habits, feeding during the night 

 and never stirring during the day time, unless disturbed, in which 

 case it will crawl to the nearest place of concealment and resume its 

 slumbers. It never ventures from its home except during the breed- 

 ing season, and hence, when one is found, others may generally 

 be found near by. In color the H. alternata is one of the most 

 beautiful shells, being striped by alternate bands of light and dark 

 of different shades, from which fact the common name of "tiger- 

 snail " has been given to it. 



