THE NAUTILUS. 23 



ASPERGILLUM GiGANTEUM Sowb. This species, the largest of 

 the genus, was figured in Stearns' and Pilsbry's Catalogue of Japan- 

 ese Marine Mollusks, pi. iii, tig. 1. We have lately noticed that 

 it was renamed (in 1889, Le Naturaliste, p. 121) by M. Menegaux, 

 who curiously enough proposes anew the specific name given by Sow- 

 erby in 1888. The specimen is said to be from " les mersde la Chine." 



PALUDINA HETEROSTROPHA KIRTLAND. I consider this shell 

 only as an abnormal production of Campeloma decisum Say. Com- 

 paratively few are found here. About ten years ago, I gathered 

 quite a lot of them, and among the young of them which were not 

 delivered yet, I found this abnormal form, and as near as I could 

 guess, I found about one of this form in two or three hundred ; and 

 so came to the conclusion above stated. L. H. STRENG. 



SHELLS OF MARYLAND. In a recent sending of land shells from 

 Cumberland, Maryland, from Mr. Howard Shriver of that place, we 

 find four species not before recorded from the State: Omphalina 

 fuliginosa Griff., 0. inornata Say, Gautrodonta intertexta Binn., and 

 Polygyra pmfunda Say. Tlie latter two are western species, prob- 

 ably at or near their (in this latitude) eastern limit. None of these 

 were recorded in Pilsbry's Mollusks of the Potomac Valley, Proc. 

 Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1894, p. 11. Polygyra fraudulenia Pils. is a 

 particularly abundant species at Cumberland, and the specimens of 

 Pyramidula alternata are decidedly keeled. 



NEW PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 



ON THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY UNIONID^E FOUND IN THE ST. 

 LAWRENCE AND ATLANTIC DRAINAGE AREAS (AMER. NAT., 1896, 

 p. 379). 2. DESCRIPTIONS OF FOUR NEW TRIASSIC UNIOS FROM 

 THE STAKED PLAINS OF TEXAS. 3. THE CLASSIFICATION AND 

 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE PEARLY FRESHWATER 

 MUSSELS (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XVIII, 1896), by Charles T. 

 Simpson. The first of the above papers considers the origin of such 

 Lake and Atlantic drainage forms as Unio liebi, canadensis, borealis, 

 Itippopmis, Anodontafootiana, subangidata, benedictii, undulata, etc., 

 all of which are claimed to be altered Mississippi drainage types, 

 which found their way into the Lake drainage during the period 

 when the lakes drained into the Mississippi, and subsequently trav- 

 elled eastward when the St. Lawrence outlet became established. 

 Their advent is thus about coeval with the Glacial period. Unio 

 i-udl'itus, ochraceus, heterodon, tappanianus and Mary, undulata are 

 believed to be older inhabitants of the eastern country. 



