THE MUSEUM. 



A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Research in Natural Science. 



Vol. VI. 



ALBION, N. Y., JANUARY 15, 1900 



No. 3 



JTHEJMUSEUM_ 



A Monthly Magazine devoted to Ornithology, 



Oology, Mollusca, Echinodermata, 



Mineralogy and Allied 



Sciences. 



Walter F. Webb, Editor and Manager 

 .Albion, N. Y. 



Correspondence and items of interest on above top- 

 ics, as well as notes on the various Museums of the 

 World— views from same, discoveries relative to the 

 handling and keeping of Natural History material, 

 descriptive habits of various species, are solicited 

 from all. 



Make articles as brief as possible and as free from 

 technical terms as the subjects will allow. All letters 

 will be promptly answered. 



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Notes on American Land Shells. 



[Continued from December Number.] 



All the species are extremely vora- 

 cious, and devour an incredible quan- 

 tity of food in a short time. Those 

 found in this country are generally sup- 

 posed to be vegitable feeders, but near- 

 ly all of them subsist occasionally on 

 animal matter, of which they seem to 

 be fond, and when in confinement 

 sometimes attack and devour each 

 other; and the foreign genus Testacella, 

 is known to prey habitually upon earth- 

 worms. It is probable, therefore, that 

 in their natural condition all of them 

 at times resort to animal food and de- 

 vour earth-worms, insects and their 

 larvae, and such animals, as, inhabiting 



the same retreats, are like themselves 

 slow of motion and defenceless. It is 

 certain, however, that the principal 

 food of those species which frequent 

 the neighborhood of gardens and houses 

 consists of the tender leaves of succu- 

 lent plants and of ripe fruits. Upon 

 these, in Europe, they perpetrate seri- 

 ous ravages, often destroying in a night 

 the labors and hopes of the gardener, 

 and in some years committing so much 

 injury and interfering to such a degree 

 with the prosperity of the agricultural- 

 ist that they are ranked among the 

 scourges of the country. Like cata- 

 pillars, locusts and rats, they are con- 

 sidered to be perpetual enemies and a 

 war of extermination is carried on 

 against them. To limit the extent of 

 the evil many remedies have been pro- 

 posed, and among others the prayers 

 and exorcisms of the church have been 

 claimed, but without any considerable 

 abatement of it. Happily, we are not 

 in this country subject, in the same de- 

 gree, to the mischief done by these an- 

 imals, for their excessive increase is 

 kept in check, probably, by the vicissi- 

 tudes of the climate; but it maybe use- 

 ful to know that a border of ashes, 

 sand or sawdust, laid around the bed 

 containing the plants it is desired to 

 protect, will prove an impassable bar- 

 rier to the slugs, so long as these sub- 

 stances remain dry. When the slugs 

 attempt to pass the barrier they be- 

 come entangled in the dry ashes or 

 sand, which envelops them entirely. 

 The particles of these adhere to the 

 viscid surface of the animals which, 

 in vain endeavoring to disengage them- 

 selves from by secreting their mucous, 

 at length become exhausted and die. 



Their growth is remarkably rapid. 

 The young have been known to double 



