ON MOLLUSCA OF THE WEST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA. 629 



108. In 18G0, previouslj- to the ccmmencement of the Californian Geo- 

 logical Survey, Dr. J. G.(y'oopcr joined a military expedition across the Eocky 

 Mountains, under the command of Major Blake, U.S.A. Having forwarded 

 his notes and specimens to Judge Coo])er, they were placed in the hands of 

 Mr. Thomas Bland, of New York. He prepared a " Notice of Land and 

 Freshwater Shells, collected by Dr. J. G. Coopei'in the Rocky Mountains, &c.," 

 which appears in the 'Ann. Lye. N. H. of N. York,' 18(il, pp. '362 et seq. 

 We have here the judgment of one of the most distinguished students of 

 American land-shells, whose labours on the tropical forms have accumulated 

 facts so important in their bearing on the Darwinian controversy *. The fol- 

 lowing is an outline of the Eeport, which is peculiarly valuable for the copious 

 notes on the station and distribution of species : — 



No. 



L JETelix Totcnsendiana, Lea. " Both slopes of the Bitter Root Mountains, from 

 2200-5600 ft. high. Large var. at the base of the range to 4800 ft. Small 

 var. in dry prairie at junction of Hell-Gate and Bitter Root Rivers ; also in 

 Wash. Ter., west of the Coast Mountains. The most wide-spread of the 

 species," J. G. C. ; Paget Sound, Cape Disappointment, teste Bland. 



2. Helix Mullani, n.s., Bland. " lender logs and in dry pine-woods : dead, Cceur 



d'Alene Mission : living, west side of Bitter Root Mountains," J. G. C. ; 

 St. Joseph's River, 1st Camp, Oregon, teste Bi/mei/. Closely allied to H. Co- 

 lumbiana, hesi,= labiosa, Gld. A beautiful hyaline var. was found under a 

 stone, by the Bitter Root River, 4C00 ft. high. 



3. Helix jwh/c/yrella, n.s., Bland. " Moss and dead wood in dampest parts of 



spruce-forests ; common on the Cceur d'Alene Mountains, especially eastern 

 slope," J. G. C. Entirely unlike any other N. A. species, and ha"vdng affi- 

 nity with H. polygyrata from Brazil. 



4. Helix Vancouverensis, Lea, = i/. cowcf/rr/. Bin. sen. olim, non postea, neo Saj'; 



= H. vellicata, Fbs., certainly; =//. sportella, Gld., probably. " West sic.e 

 of Coeur d'Alene Mountains, W. T., in forests of Coniferfe, such as it in- 

 habits west of the Cascade Range. Between these two ranges, for 200 milts, 

 is a wide plain, quite uninhabitable for snails, on account of drought. Th s 

 sp. and H. To\onsendiana probably travel round it through the noi'thein 

 forests in lat. 49°," J. G. C. Also Crescent City, Cal., Xnccomb \ Oregon 

 City, Whidby's Is., W. T. ; Mus. Bland. Found on the Pacific slope, liom 

 Puget Sound to San Diego. 

 6. Helix strif/osa, Gld. " /Estivating under pine-logs, on steep slope of shale, 

 containing veins of lime, 4000 ft. high, near Iiiitter Root River, Rocky Moun- 

 tains," J. G. C. ; Big Horn Mountains, Nebraska ; Rio Piedra, W. New 

 Mexico ; teste Bland. One sp. reached N. York alive, and deposited six 

 young shells. [PMay not these have been abnormally hatched in the body 

 of the parent, from the unnatural confinement.] 



6. Helix Coiyperi, Binn., jun. " East side of Mullan's Pass, Rockv Mountains, 



W. T., at an elevation of 5500 ft.," J. G. C. ; Black Hills of Nebraska. Dr. 

 V. Hayden ; Big Horn Mountains, Nebraska ; Avest side of Wind River 

 Mountains ; Rio Piedra, W. N. Mexico, teste Bland. Passes bj^ varieties 

 towards //. siru/osa, Gld. Haydeu's shell fi'omBridger's Pass, Nebr., referred 

 to by Binn., jun., Journ. A. N. S. Phil. 1858, p. 115, as H. sditaria, var., is 

 the young of this species. 



7. H lix solitaria, S<iy. Both slopes of Cceur d'Alene Mts., 2500 feet high, J. G. C. 



Also Prairie States, teste Bland. 



8. Helix arborea, Say. " Damp bottom lands, along the loAver valley of Hell-Gate 



River, 4500 ft. high," J. G. C. Found from Labrador to Texas, and from 

 Florida to Nebraska ; also on the River Chama, N. Mex. ; also Guadaloupe, 

 teste Beau and F&ussac, letter to Say, 1 820 ; teste Bland. 



* Vide " Geographical Distribution of the Genera and Species of Land Shells of the 

 West Indies, &c.," by Thomas Bland. Eeprinted from Ann. Lj e. Nat. Hist., vol. A'ii. Jiew 

 York IStijl. " 



115 



