THE NAUTILUS. 
35 
NOTES AND NEWS. 
Reversal of Cleavage in Physa. —Mr. Henry E. Crampton, 
Jr., has recently studied the early stages of Physa and Limncea. In 
the former the cleavage is according to the typically spiral type, 
but totally reversed in direction. It will be interesting to learn 
whether this is directly correllated with the sinistral form of the 
adult. 
On the 28th of January last, A. Th. von Middendorff, the cele¬ 
brated traveller and zoologist died at his home near Dorpat. 
Middendorff is especially known to American conchologists as a 
writer on shells of the northwest coast. 
Bulimus oblongus has recently been found by Mr. H. G. Hub¬ 
bard, of theU. S. Agricultural Department, flourishing in St. Kitts, 
where it has been introduced from Antigua by a resident concholo- 
gist. This is perhaps, worth making a note of, since it has not been 
found so far north, and some one hereafter may suppose it native. 
Mr. Hubbard finds that a species of Tillandsia holds large quanti¬ 
ties of water in the axils of the leaves ; a good sized one he says 
will hold a barrel of water, and this water in the mountainous for¬ 
ests of Montserrat has a fauna of its own. He brought an Amphi- 
bulima (possibly A. patula ) and Pellicula (/ depressa) which he 
found in these moist retreats. — W. H. Dall, in letter. 
Pupa syngenes Pils., has recently been received by the National 
Museum from Beaver Creek, Montana, (a tributary of the Little 
Missouri) in the river drift. This is a new locality, I believe, and 
interesting on account of its distance from the original place (Ari¬ 
zona).—W. H. Dall. 
Note on Liparus. —When studying the apices of the Australian 
land shells Panda and Caryodes, the writer had occasion to examine 
those of the Australian Bulimuli belonging to the subgenus Liparus 
of Albers. In this group the earlier whorls are very closely joined, 
somewhat like a thimble, while in Panda they are decussated, 
and in Caryodes spirally lirulate. The characters of the earlier 
whorls seem to be of much greater importance than has generally 
been supposed. Placostylus agrees with Liparus in the peculiar pit¬ 
ting. Bui. (Leucotcenius) favannii has a closely costulate apex, like 
our B. schiedeanus. The name Liparus in mollusca is preoccupied 
by Liparus Olivier, Entomologie, ou Hist. Nat. des Insectes, Vol. 
