III. NOTES ON THE COLLECTION 



No words can do justice to the Williams Collection 

 of Shells; it must be seen to be appreciated, yet deep 

 impression is made by certain individual objects, 

 groups, and families that are here presented in the 

 order of the W ard Catalogue classification. 



1. CEPHALOPODA. Not many Cephalopods 

 are shell bearing, which increases our interest in those 

 that are. Especially is this true of the graceful and 

 delicate "egg-nests" of the Argonauts. Here is a ten 

 and three-quarters inch Argonauta argo, perhaps the 

 largest specimen ever taken among the large paper- 

 Nautili. Each member of this family is a gem, but 

 the trained eye singles out the Argonauta gruneri, — 

 the rarest of them all, — a fine specimen from the Mar- 

 quesas Islands. 



Here also is a Nautilus pompilius believed to be 

 the largest specimen known. Many other lovely 

 specimens, with their dainty nacre, represent this and 

 the allied species, besides a goodly number of the 

 fossil Ammonitidae, curious of shape and resplendent 

 in pearl. 



2. GASTROPODA. Here we come first to the 

 Muricidae, a rich and varied family, known well to 



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