1902.] NATURAL SCIEXCEJ) OF PHILADELPHIA. 233 



ON THE LOCALITIES OF A. ADAMS' JAPANESE HELICIDJE. 

 BY HENRY A. PILSBRY. 



The paper by Dr. Arthur Adams on the species of Helicidse 

 found in Japan, ^ published in 1868, would have formed a founda- 

 tion for subsequent faunistic work if the species had been recog- 

 nizably defined. As it is, that production has been the chief 

 difficulty with which recent investigators have had to contend. 



The numerous new species described by Adams are so inad- 

 equately defined that it is well-nigh impossible to recognize them 

 without specimens from the original localities to compare with his 

 descriptions. And here another obstacle is met, for a part of his 

 localities are out-of-the-way places, not indicated on ordinary 

 maps, some of them even nameless in Hassenstein' s magnificent 

 folio atlas of Japan. 



Some little assistance is afforded by Adams' Travels,- an innocu- 

 ous book written in a bread-and-butter-miss style and singularly 

 free from information, useful or otherwise. My colleague, Mr. 

 Benjamin Smith Lyman, has rendered indispensable assistance by 

 translating names from Japanese maps and various kind suggestions. 

 Finally, I am indebted to the Hydrographic Department of H. 

 M. Admiralty for information from the log of the " Actteon," 

 fixing the location of certain places. 



From these and other sources of information I have traced all of 

 the localities where Adams collected land snails. In the account 



^Annals and Magazine of Natural History (ser. 4), I, pp. 459-473 

 (.June, 18()8). 



2 Travels of a Naturalist in Japan and Manchuria, by Arthur Adams, 

 F.L.S., Staff-Surgeou R. N. London : Hurst and Blackett, 1870. 



Adams was surgeon ofH. M. S. "Actoeon," of the Hydrographic Sur- 

 vey. The "Actieon" after passing through Corea Strait skirted the 

 shores of the mainland, landing at various places, as far north as Sagha- 

 lin Island ; thence down the coasts of Yesso and Nippon, through the 

 Strait of Simonoseki and the Inland Sea, and up the Pacific coast of 

 Nippon from Tanabe to Yeddo Gulf where some time was si)ent m Tate- 

 yama Bay (lat. 35° N., Ion. 13!P 48' E.) in August, 18G1. Years before, 

 Adams as surgeon of H. M. S. "Samarang" had visited the southwestern 

 islands of the Riukiu Curve, and collected some land shells. 



