i8o 



THE MUSEUM. 



green and verdant meadows. The 

 sweet smelling arbutus and the dainty 

 liverwort are everywhere abundant in 

 the woods, and our ears are often 

 startled by the buzz of a big cock part- 

 ridge as it goes swiftly into the depths 

 of the forest. On our return we come 

 upon a Phoebe perched on a dry twig, 

 jerking its tail in its own peculiar way, 

 and now and then darting forth as 

 some rash insect comes within the 

 scope of its vision. The Kingfisher in 

 much the same manner is perched on 

 the dry overhanging limb of an oak 

 near his favorite fishing pool, and oc- 

 casionally makes a lightning like swoop 

 to the waters below. 



We have gone through with a few 

 of the more important actors in this 

 scene, but the view must be seen to be 

 appreciated, and that can only be done 

 by looking at Nature through Nature's 

 God. 



Notes on the Reported Extinction 



of the Genus Achatinella and 



Marvelous Development of 



a Florida Fasciolaria. 



By John Ford. 



A most extraordinary account of a 

 collection of shells, located somewhere 

 in the interior of New York State, was 

 handed me by a friend a few days ago. 



This purports to ha\e been written 

 by a correspondent of a Rochester 

 newspaper, in the columns of which 

 the article'"' probably first saw the light. 

 The writer, it appears, does not claim 

 any scientific knowledge of shells, nor 

 can it positively be said that his bump 

 of imagination is abnormally developed. 

 Nevertheless, he has given to the pa- 



* As so nuiny of our rea<lers have road this 

 article we thought best to publish the com- 

 ments on same by a scientilic conchologist. 



per alluded to, and consequently to- 

 the world, some very remarkable bits 

 of information. Information, indeed, 

 which, if true, sho-ws how puny are 

 the geographical and scientific acquire- 

 ments of the general run of conchologi- 

 cal students. Of course, for lack of 

 space in your columns, reference can 

 only be made to one or two of the 

 marvelous statements embraced in the 

 article. One of these refers to the 

 genus AcJiatinclla, of which the writer 

 says, "This shell is confined to the 

 Sandwich Islands and its tenant feeds 

 on the herbage of these islands. Since 

 the islands have been pastured, the 

 'variety' has almost entirely disap- 

 peared, and probably not more than a 

 half dozen specimens could be found 

 there to day." What a dire calamity! 

 and how remarkable that these pretty 

 little creatures should have "shuffled 

 off their mortal coils" in the very sea- 

 son that less regal robes slipped from 

 the shoulders of their Island Queen. 



A few flippant students may (jues- 

 tion this tale of starvation in the midst 

 of green pastures, but it will perhaps 

 be well for them to pickle their opin- 

 ions, since the positive assertions of 

 "correspondents" are not to be trifled 

 with. The shell expert who can doubt 

 this starvation story would quite as 

 likely question the following narrative 

 said to have been written by the "ex- 

 perienced collector" who forwarded 

 the shell referred to, to the aforesaid 

 unparalleled New York aggregation, 

 viz; "The large Florida Fasciolaria 

 father found one day by accident." 



"While drifting about in Florida 

 waters his boat suddenly touched what 

 seemed to be a rock but it proved to 

 be an immense specimen of the Fas- 

 ciolaria (sic), alive and traveling." This 



