New or Little Known North American Limnoiidce. 93 



NOTES ON 8031 E NEW OR LITTLE KNOWN NORTH 



AMERICAN LIMN^IDJE. 



B}^ A. G. Wetherby, A.M., 



Prof, of Geology and Zoology, University of Cincinnati. 



[Read before the Cincinnati Society of Natural History.] 



In his report on the mollusca of Long's expedition (vol. ii., 263, pi. 

 XV., fig. 10, 1824), Say describes this species in the following words: 



" Shell large, dilated suboval ; spire short, rapidly diminishing, 

 acnte ; whorls about five, rounded, obtusely wrinkled across, body 

 whorl large, the wrinkles very obvious, suture deeply impressed ; aper- 

 ture subovate, much longer than the spire, within chestnut-brown ; 

 columella white. Length more than one and six-tenths of an inch; 

 greatest diameter one inch. 



This remarkably large and fine species was found in Bois Blanc Lake, 

 Northwest Territory, by Dr. Bigsby, to whom I am indebted for speci- 

 mens. The color is brownish, sometimes lineated across the body- 

 whorl with dull greenish and pale ochraceous; and the chestnut-brown 

 color of the interior of the shell, combined with its large dimensions, 

 distinguish this species from all others yet discovered in this country." 



Prof. Haldeman, in his monograph of the Limnoiidai, p. 6 (1841), 

 describes, in the following words, his subgenus Bulimnea : 



"Shell thick in texture, inflated, lip not expanded." To the genus, 

 as thus characterized, he refers the shell in question, which is its type. 

 In the discussion of the species, p. 13, he says, " animal blackish — Bin- 

 ne}';'' and in reference to habitat, "found in the Northwest Territory — 

 Say (north latitude 48°), and collected b}^ Dr. Binne}" 'in a swamp in 

 front of the town of Burlington, Vermont, ver^^ near the shore of Lake 

 Champlain.' The Northwest Territorj'^ must be the original station of 

 this species; whence it has reached a distance of 1,500 miles, with the 

 descending waters. The more rapid current of the Mississippi, and 

 the diff'erence in climate, have doubtless prevented it from establishing 

 itself in the Western States." 



In Land and Fresh Water Shells, part ii., 1865, Mr. W. G. Binney 

 refers this shell to Prof. Haldeman's subgenus Bulimnea, and says of 

 the geographical distribution, "this is a northern species ranging from 

 Lake Champlain to Michigan," and among the localities there given 

 for specimens in the Smithsonian Institution, we haA'e "Burlington, 

 Vt.," "Lake Champlain, W. Stimpson," and "Lake Superior, Dr. J. S. 

 Newberry." As Burlington is in north latitude 444°, and Bois Blanc 



