352 Notes on Calif or )iian Plants. [zoe 



xjuter lip, and an excessive amount of carbonate of lime in their com- 

 position. The bungling manner in which the animal repairs these 

 fractures does not add to the beauty or attractiveness of the shell, 

 which even in its perfect state is not very inspiring, especially when 

 we consider the beauty of many other cones. 



Terebra simplex Cpr. The animal that inhabits this shell is of a 

 pure, pearly white color, without spot or blemish. When fully ex- 

 tended, its foot is about yi the length of the shell. The proboscis is 

 slender, about as long as the foot of the animal, gracefully curved 

 -over the back of the shell, and when the animal is in motion it forms 

 an interesting and conspicuous part of the creature, and seems out 

 of all proportions in its length to the rest of the animal's body. 

 This animal has no tentacles, but the eyes are situated on mammillated 

 tubercles that protrude from the body midway between the foot and 

 proboscis. The eyes are small, dark and keen; the foot is truncated 

 in front and rounded behind. The operculum is carneous, unguic- 

 ulated in form, and lies on the upper side of the posterior part of 

 the foot. This shell is abundant at San Diego and southward. 



NOTES ON CALIFORNIAN PLANTS. IV. 



BY S. B. PARISH. 

 VARIATIONS OF CALOCHORTUS VENUSTUS BENTH. 



This species, not uncommon in the central region of the State, ex- 

 tends as far south as Elizabeth Lake, in Los Angeles County. Here 

 at its southern limit it is strictly typical; the stem stout and branch- 

 ing and from 1 8 to 24 inches high; the flowers light lilac, the petals 

 marked above with a reddish stain, below that a brown, yellow-edged 

 peculation, and the basal portion brown-striate; the densely hirsute 

 ^land narrowly oblong, and surrounded by scattered hairs. The 

 plants are not very abundant here, but among a considerable num- 

 iber observed not one manifested any noticeable variation. 



Hardly fifty miles further north, at Fort Tejon, on the borders ot 



Kern County, they are very plentiful, but here, on the contrary, they 



show a range of color variation which I have seen in no other plant 



;that has not been subjected to the art of the hybridizer. Specimens 



^growing on the flats about Lake Castac were sufficient to unmistak- 



