THE NAUTILUS. 41 



So far as I am aware, no description of the shell, previous to my 

 own, has been published ; and unless proof of such publication is 

 shown I shall claim priority both for the name and description. 

 This claim has especial reference to a criticism of the name applied 

 to the shell in my former article. 



It might be well to add that the incipient tooth in the interstice 

 next to the anterior fold, as shown in the figure published in The 

 Nautilus for April, 1893 — is not typical, since it is discernable in 

 less than five per cent of the specimens, and very slightly in them. 

 In a hurried selection of the specimen for drawing purposes, this 

 very minute protuberance was unobserved by me. Otherwise it 

 would not have been drawn. This error has been corrected in the 

 figure accompanying this article. 



BEACH SHELL COLLECTING IN CONNECTION WITH A STUDY OF 

 OCEANIC PHENOMENA. 



BY MRS. M. BURTON WILLIAMSON. 



It has often occurred to me that a shell collector who is something 

 of a physicist, having a love for historical facts, could furnish 

 interesting data in regard to shore collecting under certain physical 

 conditions of the ocean. Few amateur collectors note the historical, 

 or rather chronological appearance of genera and species collected 

 by them, they are usually satisfied with obtaining a " good find," 

 but time and seasons are hardly observed, certainly not studied as 

 furnishing data for future reference. A storm is hailed as a precur- 

 sor of" rare finds," but a study of the storm with notes in regard to 

 it, accompanied with a list of shells found after such a storm are too 

 frequently neglected by collectors. Mollusks are collected too often 

 as a miser collects his money, as a mania, not as a medium for an 

 intelligent study of Nature. It seems to me, that a study of 

 mollusks thrown upon the shore from other areas, in connection with 

 a study of the physical condition of the ocean at such times, would 

 be very helpful to the collector, although of no value to science. It 

 may be urged that shells cast up by the sea are merely " happen- 



