12 



and has brought to light a number of interesting local races 

 from that little known region. His extensive collection of Thais 

 material has been generously placed at our disposal for study. 

 Through the good offices of Eyerdam it was also found poss- 

 ible to secure on loan from the Canadian National Museum 

 in Ottawa, an extensive collection of local races of Tbais lap- 

 illus from the maritime provinces of Canada. 



Mr. Philip Putnam of Anacortes, Washington, has provided 

 an extensive and much appreciated series of local races, largely 

 from areas in the Gulf of Georgia, including some localities in 

 the Canadian islands lying in the northern part of this body 

 of water. 



Mr. I. L. Norberg of Seattle provided several sets of shells 

 from Prince William Sound in Alaska. 



From Mrs. Irma Z. Rodenhouse of Seattle, we have receiv- 

 ed an interesting series of local populations from Vashon 

 Island in the southern section of Puget Sound. 

 Mr. H. Schwarz contributed a series of populations from 

 rocky headlands on Fidalgo Island, 



Mr. J. Hall furnished material illustrating the Thais forms 

 occurring in the Humboldt Bay area of California. 



From Dr. Allyn G. Smith of Pasadena, California, was re- 

 ceived a set of specimens from Alameda, on San Francisco 

 Bay. 



THE GENUS THAIS 



As might be expected, especially in view of their polymor- 

 phic tendencies, the marine snails of the genus Thais have 

 had a long and complicated nomenclatorial history in the 

 study of muricid gastropods, dating back into pre-Linnaean 

 days. Dr. W. H. Dall (1909) in a paper dealing primarily with 

 the fossil members of this group has summarized his findings 

 in this intricate field. According to him the sequential arrange- 

 ment of the historical references to the genus between 1789 

 and 1903 numbered thirty-eight. His analysis led him to the 

 conclusion that the first well defined reference to the generic 

 status of this group was in the establishment in 1798 of the 

 genus Tbais by Bolten. 



