602 ON COLLECTING LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS. 



SHORT COMMUNICATIONS, 



Remarks on the mode of collecting Land and Fresh-water 

 Shells, — There is, perhaps, no portion of the Fauna of our 

 country of greater interest and more easily collected than the 

 land and fresh-water shells, requiring but little exertion for 

 their capture. The land species are to be found abundantly 

 (particularly after rain, when they ramble forth to feed upon 

 moistened herbage) in hedges, on banks, trees, walls and pal- 

 ings, among moss, under stones, &c, but more especially 

 among the rejectamenta of rivers, when the tide has swept 

 many of the smaller species from the banks, and deposited 

 them again on its receding. In dust collected from various 

 places, such as the tops of old walls, where the leaves of ivy 

 or other plants have formed a bed by their decay, many cu- 

 rious and minute species may also be found. 



Those of fresh water are to be found either in slow or run- 

 ning streams, in still waters, on aquatic plants, in mud, in 

 ditches adhering to stones, &c. &c. It has been found ne- 

 cessary, on account of the minute character of some of the 

 species of fresh-water shells, to make use of a net formed ei- 

 ther of wire-gauze, or the article denominated lenoe, to the 

 depth of an inch or more, to collect them. This net being 

 fixed to an iron ring at the end of a staff, can with the great- 

 est facility be made use of in those situations where shells 

 abound. When it is required to search for those species 

 which are generally slightly buried in the mud, or at the bot- 

 toms of ponds and ditches, such as the different species of 

 Pisidium, the method to be adopted is to skim the surface of 

 the mud so that it may easily enter the net, and by bringing 

 the net to the surface of the water, and gradually moving it 

 from side to side, the superfluous mud will be washed through 

 the meshes of the gauze, leaving the small shells intermingled 

 with pebbles &c. in the net. In this collection it is easy to 

 distinguish the shells from the superfluous matter by means 

 of a lens, and with the assistance of a small pair of forceps, 

 they may be removed from the mass and placed in any con- 

 venient receptacle. 



Having thus collected both land and fresh-water shells, 

 with their inhabitants alive, it is necessary to destroy and ex- 

 tract the animal, in order to clean the shell for the cabinet. 

 To accomplish this, they must be placed in boiling water, 

 and after remaining in it for the space of ten minutes, decant 



