88 NATURAL SCIENCE. Feb., 1895. 



under the authority of the Council," any better than by his own 

 learned self. 



But if the editor of our esteemed contemporary is sincere in his 

 wish to reform the orthography of scientific periodicals, he will not 

 be offended if we suggest that he might supervise with greater care 

 and consistency the spelling of geographical names in his own journal. 

 In a single paper in his last volume, Lake Naivasha is spelt in one 

 place " Nawasha," in another "Navaisha"; " Durama " we may 

 guess to stand for Duruma, and " Nakuru " for Nakuro, while 

 " Inhuyuni " may mean Mkuyuni — but if so, as it is said to be " inter 

 Nawasha [sic] et convallem Baringo," its position has been altered 

 even more than its spelling ; finally the poor botanist who searches 

 in the Ulu Mts. for a second specimen of the species recorded from 

 the " Ulau" Mts., is not unlikely to be disappointed and to have to 

 tramp off to the very different and distant range of Mau. With these 

 little eccentricities all in one paper, it is hardly worth quoting from 

 the rest of the volume ; and doubtless it is only as a practical illus- 

 tration of the advantages of " home rule " that the editor allows his 

 contributors to spell the name of an important botanical district either 

 " Cameroons " or " Camaroons " as each may prefer. 



Mollusca as Purifiers of Water. 



The following interesting note appears above the signature of 

 Charles Hedley in the Journal of Malacology for December 12th : — 



" A use, novel to me, of pond snails by the Chinese silk growers 

 is described in an official work which caught my eye by chance. This 

 waif of malacological information is so certain to escape recorders 

 that I transcribe the passage. 



" ' Report on Silk. Imperial Maritime Customs of China, ii., 

 Special Series, No. 3 ; Shanghai, 1881, p. 57. 



" ' The water used for reeling silk is taken from mountain streams, 

 as being the cleanest ; the water from wells is never used ; and if 

 mountain water cannot be had, river water is taken, which is cleaned 

 by putting a pint of live shellfish to one jar of water. There is a 

 special kind of shellfish, called the pure water shellfish [here follows 

 the vernacular name in Chinese characters] (fig. xxiv.), found every- 

 where in ponds, wells, and creeks. They first of all sink to the bottom 

 of the jar, and then by degrees make their way up its sides, consuming 

 gradually all impurities in the water within half a day or so. After 

 the clean water has been drawn from the jar, the shellfish are cleansed 

 and put to the same duty again.' 



" As the three coloured figures are drawn in Chinese perspective 

 the species cannot be certainly identified. They are, however, suffi- 

 ciently like Reeve's figure (Conch. Icon., vol. xiv., Paludina, pi. iv., f. 18) 

 of Vivipava chinensis, Gray, to assume that this the artist endeavoured 

 to portray." 



