26 THE NAUTILUS. 



A favorite spot for depositing their eggs is in the heavy bark of 

 some old fir stump, a foot or more from the ground. Two years ago 

 I collected over fifty specimens on and near the base of a big stump 

 in a clearing. 



A few pass the winter in trees twenty feet or more from the 

 ground. Our broad-leafed maple (Acer macropliyUum} which grows 

 a very rugged and massive trunk, is one of their favorite retreats, 

 especially for the young of the late summer brood. 



A theory current in this section is that the reason E. fidelis has 

 departed from E. infumata in height of spire and coloration, is that 

 the latter pass so much of their lives under burnt logs that the spire 

 has become depressed and they have assumed the protective colora- 

 tion so characteristic of that species. 



Never having visited the haunts of E. infumata, I do not know 

 how thick the timber may be or how large the burnt districts are, but 

 I venture to say that nowhere on the Pacific Coast is the timber 

 larger, or are there more down and burnt tracts than on Puget 

 Sound. And still I have never seen a f delis that I could not tell at 

 a glance from E. infumata, and in life the animals differ so much 

 from each other in coloration that I do not understand why (lie latter 

 is not a good species instead of a mere variety. 



The number of bands on the body whorl is six, though in some 

 the bands are but faintly seen as mere lines of different shade from 

 the adjoining bands. The width and brightness of the bands are 

 most striking, and for convenience I have called the typical form 

 figured in Binney's Land Shells No. 1, and the extreme form of 

 banding No. 2. 



Measuring them on the body whorl J of an inch back from the ex- 

 treme edge of lip, I find that No. 1 has bands of the following width 

 and color: 



Band i, T 3 <j in. wide, Chestnut with dark blotches. 



Band ii, iV in. wide, Light j'ellowish, merging into band above. 



Band iii, in. wide, Black band. 



Band iv, iV in. wide, Light yellow, merging into No. v. 



Band v, Narrow chestnut. 



Band vi, Entire base of shell black, darker near the umbilicus. 



Greatest diameter of shell measured 1^ inches. 



No. 2. 



The greatest variation is seen in the following : 



