ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 329 



1859, brought home, among other shells, a species of Helix, supposed to be 

 new, described by Dr. Newcomb, of Oakland, and to which the latter gave the 

 name of Helix Veatchii ; many specimens of this species were obtained, and 

 some of them were given by Dr. Veatch to the late Thomas Bridges. Mr. 

 Bridges died in September, 1865, and in December of the same year a portion 

 of his collection passed into my hands, including the same specimens of Helix 

 Veatchii to which I have before alluded. Judge of my surprise, when one day, 

 upon a careful examination, I detected a living specimen, which, after being 

 placed in a box of moist earth, in a short time commenced crawling about, 

 apparently as well as ever. Fearing from itsactivity that by some accident it 

 might craw! away, and I might thus lose it, after a fortnight's furlough from 

 its long imprisonment, I placed it in a pill-box, marking the date of its reim- 

 prisonment upon the cover, in order that at some future time I may examine it, 

 and ascertain possibly, if it does not outlive me, how long a snail can live with- 

 out rations. 



Here is an instance of a snail living at least six years — in Californian par- 

 lance, without a single " square meal." 



Mr. Bolander made some remarks in regard to the botanical col- 

 lections of Mr. Alphonso Wood, in California and Oregon, in 1866. 



Mr. Wood claims to have collected in five months, in California, 1,490 species 

 of flowering plants, as appears by a letter over his own signature in the San 

 Francisco Bulletin ; furthermore, he also asserts, that during his whole journey 

 in California and Oregon he collected 15,000 specimens, representing 2,794 

 species of plants. This journey occupied about eleven months, including the 

 time spent in coming from and returning to the East. The route of Mr. Wood 

 was from San Diego north, through the regions which have been most thoroughly 

 collected over and studied by botanists, namely, along the stage road to Los 

 Angeles and San Bernardino, then to San Louis Obispo, Santa Cruz, and north 

 through the Sacramento Valley, past the base of Mount Shasta, and along the 

 stage road to the Columbia River. Mr. Bolander considered it probable that 

 there were not over 500 species of flowering plants actually existing in that part 

 of California explored by Mr. Wood, and in which he professes to have collected 

 1,490 species. According to Professor Brewer's careful investigations, it appears 

 that over fifty botanists have collected in California and Oregon, during a period 

 extending back for more than seventy years. Some of these collectors were 

 engaged for years in the business, and had far greater facilities at their command 

 than those enjoyed by Mr. Wood, and they have jointly thoroughly explored a far 

 greater area than that even hastily passed over by him. Yet, the sum total of 

 all the species obtained, up to the time of Mr. Wood's visit, is only about 1,800 

 species, while he claims to have found 2,794 ; that is to say, nearly 1,000 species 

 more than had been brought to light by fifty persons in seventy years. The 

 absurdity of Mr. Wood's claims is self-evident. But, a comparison of his figures 

 with those of Eastern botanists will throw still further light on this subject. 



24 



PROC. CAL. ACAD. VOL. in. Sept. 1867. 



