60 THE NAUTILUS. 
rae Y 
CypR@®A VENUSTA Sowb. (“C. thatcheri” Cox) is commented 
upon by Dr. J. C. Cox, in Proce. Linn. Soc. N.S. Wales, 1889, p. 
187. <A variety having much the appearance of C. thersites in color- 
ation is described and figured. It differs considerably from the type 
of C. thatcheri. The granular slate-colored sides meet in front and 
behind, in front of the channels, and form a complete circle round 
the shell, and the dorsal surface inclosed is ornamented with very 
dark geographically bounded, variously shaped portions, mostly 
rounded with tapering offshoots, while the intervening spaces are of 
the normal bluish-amber color of the type of C. thatcheri. 
SHELLS NEW to the United States fauna. We have recently 
received from Mr. J. A. Singley a number of species new to the U. 
S. fauna collected by him in Southern Texas. They will be 
described in the October Nautiitus. Other new forms are Zonites 
selenitoides Pils., a species like Z. minusculus but larger, with strongly 
costate surface (like Selenites duranti), from California, and Pupa 
calamitosa Pilsbry, a tiny but very distinct form from San Diego 
and from mouth of the San Tomas River, L. Cal.—P. 
SHELL COLLECTING IN SOUTHERN TrExas. The following extracts 
from a letter received by the Editor from Mr. Singley, will be of 
interest to “field-concho'» sists.” 
“This is an unfavorable year for collecting fresh-water shells. 
There has been rise after rise in all the streams which makes it 
awkward for the collector. 
“At New Braunfels where I found Planorbis Liebmaniti abundant 
last fall I could not find a specimen either of the two times I visited it. 
The lower Rio Grande is no good for Jand and fresh water-shells. 
The river is simply a mass of shifting sand—the channel may be here 
to-day and half a mile away the next rise. No Uniones are found 
in it whatever, and only a few in the lakes or waterholes over the 
country ; and as for land shells, I was out in the woods every day 
for about six weeks and hardly a day passed that I did not search 
for shells. The sending to-day will show you with what poor success. 
Bulimulus is common enough but other species are like Angels’ 
visits. 
“T found Corpus Christi vicinity a better place for Unio than lower 
down; but I failed to find the Microphysa incrustata, and other 
species that are said to occur there, even after searching the Nueces 
bottoms for about 20 miles at different points up the river. The 
dearth of shells at such (apparently) promising localities is dis- 
heartening.” 
