66 THE NAUTILUS. 
motive for, or any advantage in, his referring to the families or 
groups that do not occur in Rhode Island ; for, in a list of shells that 
are found within any limited area, it goes without saying, that 
those species, groups, or families that are not listed or mentioned do 
not occur. The two hundred and sixteen (216) species enumerated 
as occurring in the very limited area of Rhode Island, is so small a 
part of the total molluscan fauna of the globe, and the proportion of 
families represented by said small number of species, is so small 
by comparison with the tota/ number of molluscan families, that the 
inclusion of the non-represented families in his Rhode Island list, 
would, propriety considered, require the title to be changed so as to 
read, “ List of Molluscan'families, ete., not represented in Rhode Isl- 
and,” otherwise the suggestion arises that considering the size of 
the dog the tail is rather extensive; a homely but expressive illus- 
tration. It is of little value, from the point of geographical distribu- 
tion, to know what is not in a place or region; the value of local 
lists is their telling us what is. 
In Mr. Ford’s “ List of Shells of the New Jersey Coast, ete.,” on 
pages 27-29 of the July Nauriuus, he includes Fasciolaria granosa 
Brug... Iam not aware, and I have been unable to discover, that 
Brugiere ever described a species of Fasciolaria. Broderip de- 
scribed Fasciolaria granosa, a Pacific coast form that inhabits Pana- 
ma Bay and the general region thereabout. I should be pleased to 
know what shell has been erroneously listed under said name. 
[Mr. Ford included F. granosa among species he had not himself 
seen, and which he considered doubtful. Ed.] 
In the Century Dictionary, illustrative of the word Abalone, a 
figure doubtless representing some species of Haliotis (perhaps in- 
tended for H. corrugata), is given, with the title underneath “ Abalone 
or Ear-shell;” this would be well enough if the following had not 
been added: “ (Haliotis tuberculata).” Now the figure, while it fills 
the first half of the measure as may be seen in the title I have quoted, 
does not meet the requirements when the specific name is given, for 
it is not a figure of tuberculata, as any one can see who is at all 
familiar with the shells of the Haliotide. 
R. H.Cos: 
Washington, September 20, 1889. 
