64 THE NAUTILUS. 



and at that time Houghton was only known to the Indians and voy- 

 ageurs. What little navigation there was on Lake Superior was 

 between the " Soo " and a few small towns at the upper end of the 

 lake, such as Eagle Harbor, Bayfield, Ontonogan, etc. Stannard 

 was at that time captain of a small sailing craft which plied between 

 these ports. On one of his voyages he discovered the famous rock 

 in the center of the lake now known as Stannard's Rock. It seems 

 clear enough, therefore, that the original locality for the Planorbis 

 must have been somewhere on or near the south shore of the lake. 

 The Hon. Peter White, who has lived in Marquette since 1849, in- 

 forms me that the Indians told him that after Stannard discovered 

 the rock in the middle of the lake, he was very cautious about sail- 

 ing in stormy weather for fear of getting wrecked on some similar 

 reef, and that at one time during a heavy stress of weather he took 

 refuge under the lee of the Huron Islands and remained there for 

 some days. Now the Huron Islands are only about three miles from 

 the south shore of the lake, and Howe Lake is less than one mile 

 inland and almost directly south of the islands. If during his en- 

 forced stay under the shelter of the islands Stannard had gone 

 ashore to fish or hunt it is quite conceivable that he reached the 

 north shore of Howe Lake and there found the shells he afterwards 

 gave to Case. 



While of course this is all speculation based on a mere tradition 

 of fact, it certainly raises a possibility, at least, that Howe Lake may 

 have been the original locality for this very interesting species. 

 And, unless in the years to come, the species shall be found in some 

 other locality, which seems more likely to be the original place of 

 discovery, this possibility may prove to be a very good probability. 



Note : My last visit to Howe Lake was on August 3d. On 

 August 28th my sister made another visit to the lake and found 

 seven more specimens all but one, unfortunately, more or less broken. 

 During the interval several heavy storms had taken place which 

 stirred up the lake and no doubt brought the shells in to shore. Of 

 these specimens only one was irregularly coiled. The others were 

 all similar to figures 4 and 10 which evidently represent the normal 

 aspect of the form as it occurs in that locality. Considerable vari- 

 ation in size is shown, the largest specimen measuring 10fxl7f 

 and the smallest 7^xl3| mm. 



