Natural History Notes frotn North Carolina. 211 



quarters of the earth. Even let the collector be as reliable as 

 he ma}-, the bulk of his material has to be taken as he can get 

 it. It reaches the student by mail and hy freight, from near 

 and from far, reliable and unreliable, and he must take it as 

 it is or do without. The numerous figures of worn and 

 imperfect types of "new species" abundantly attest the truth 

 of these statements. In cases like that of suhpalliata above 

 cited, the systematist must be saved by the shell, and I believe 

 that the shell characters are just as reliable, and even far 

 more so than any others for classification work. 



Now the shells, in great groups, grade together. There is 

 no need of hair-splitting, defining and redefining. Too much 

 systematizing is just as bad as none at all. It is an attempt 

 to draw hard and fast lines where none exist; to place 

 boundaries where there is no room for them, and to drive the 

 free lance of nature into the artificial tournament of the 

 systematist. These statements may have little value or much, 

 according to the care with which the student of our shells 

 seeks to verify them. Further along we niaj' have occasion 

 to revert to this subject, and to publish some of the tabulated 

 results above referred to. 



Triodopsis (Rafinesque, 1819). 



10. T. J'allax Say. This shell occurs here somewhat spar- 

 ingly, of very large size, and differing from the Cincinnati 

 specimens, which are normal, in the following particulars. 

 They average larger, the shell is less solid, the coloring is 

 deeper, and they are more rugosely sculptured ; the parts 

 about the aperture are more contracted and incurved. They 

 are very fine examples of the species. 



11. T. tridentata Say. Specimens of this species from this 

 locality are always small, not having half the cubic capacity 

 of the types. They are very dark colored, with rose-tinted 

 lip, and are very attractive specimens. The attention of 

 Cincinnati collectors, now in the field, should be called to the 

 differences between the typical specimens common in the for- 

 ests about that city, and a very distinct variety found under 

 the limestone shingle and debris on the hill-sides above 

 Fulton and elsewhere. The latter form is lighter in color. 



