he: N\ AerITUS. 
VOL. III. JANUARY, 1890. No. 9. 
IN A MAINE CONCHOLOGIST’S HUNTING GROUNDS. 
Next to the pleasure of being in a region which has not been 
scientifically explored, the student of natural history finds most 
delight in visiting a place where some shining luminary in his 
favorite branch has made his mark. There is the earnest resolve to 
find every species mentioned by the earlier scholar, and the tempting 
hope of something new. Such a spot is the beautiful town of Bethel, 
Me., the old stamping ground of Edward S. Morse. Those who 
have read his papers on the land and fresh water shells of Maine, 
on the land Mollusks of New England, and his more general articles 
on the Pupas and Vertigos, can but regret that the greater attrac- 
tions of Japanese pottery and the lecture platform, drew him away 
from studies of conchology. For he is a man who goes deep into 
whatever subject he takes up, even the humble land snails no larger 
than radish seeds. It was at Bethel that Morse discovered the 
curious little Planogyra asteriscus, the lusterless steel-blue Zon- 
ites ferreus, and the tiny Vertigo ventricosa. I found the former 
abundant in a swampy place beneath some pine trees on the edge of 
the wide Androscoggin intervales, early in October. The layers of 
damp leaves were alive with many species of minute shells, Zonites 
milium and Z. Binneyanus, both Morse discoveries, were very rare, 
but Z. exiguus, Z. radiatulus, Z. fulvus, Patula lineata, Vertigo 
Gouldii, Pupa contracta and Carychium exiguum were plentiful. 
By taking up each dead leaf separately, a few brown specks were some- 
times found, which a magnifying glass revealed as Punctum pygmae- 
um or minutissimum. In dryer places, beneath pieces of bark, and 
fallen trees were other tiny shells. Zonites ferreus, Patula striatella 
