60 THE NAUTILUS. 



without white zones or bands, until a short time ago some were 

 sent me of a rich chestnut color all over. The lip is pink, as usual. 

 This color-pattern is so conspicuous that it may deserve a varietal 

 name. — H. A. P. 



Constructed or secreted ? In the August number of the 

 Nautilus Mr. Henry Hemphill makes the following statement: 

 "It is well known that all shell-bearing Mollusks construct their shells, 

 in obedience to the laws of their constitutional characteristics and 

 the environment, among which I include affinity of matter and me- 

 chanical skill, the latter a faculty possessed to a greater or less degree 

 by all animals." 



In my simplicity I had supposed that shells were secreted, as bone 

 is secreted, not constructed. I^y whom is it " well known " that 

 they are constructed, and how do they know it? 



I ask these questions not in a spirit of criticism, but to a draw out 

 facts. Mr. Hemphill will help to make the Nautilus. interesting, 

 if he will give us in its pages a succinct statement of the leading facts 

 on which his theory is based. — M. L. Leach. 



Offered Land and fresh water shells of this locality for shells of 

 other localities, G. M. Leslie, 69 Main St., W. Hamilton, Ont., 

 Canada. 



BuLiMULUS IN Texas. Wliile in the field on the State Geo- 

 logical Survey last week I saw the white BuUmulus with yellow- 

 ish Avash {BuUmulus var. Mooreanus) sticking to dry dead woods in 

 a blazing sun with temperature up to 95° in the shade. This was 

 the only colony seen in ten days riding. Vegetation is very much 

 parched in the [region from 90 days drought. — G. H. Ragsdale 

 Gainesville, Texas, August, 1890. 



Species determined. From L'abbe Provancher, Cap-Rouge, 

 Quebec, Can. — Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, Bulimulus exilis Gmel. Barbadoes, 

 Dominica, St. Lucia. 5 B. vincentinus Pfr. Trinidad. 6 B. 

 elongatus Bolt. Trinidad. 7 Goniobasis llvescens Menke, Kankakee 

 R. 111. 8 Paludina integraSa.j,Fo:s.'R.I\]. 9 Pleurocera subulare 

 Lea, Fox R. 10 Paludina lineata Val. Fox R. 11 Cardium 

 ciliare Gmel. Europe. 12 Cytherea convexaSay, Magdalen Islands 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence. — C. W. J. 



