58 
THE NAUTILUS. 
in preserving Anodons. No matter how good they may be, they 
won’t stay so if they can only get to split up in pieces. Last 
spring a fish pond here was drained and I obtained a good lot of 
very fine large Anodonta fiuviatilis. I washed them clean on 
Saturday and put them aside to dry, and Avhen I came back 
Monday morning they were having a regular “ pic nic ” splitting 
and popping. So I just gave them a bath of thin white shellac and 
alcohol and they have been behaving well ever since. I send you 
some specimens that you may see the effect it has on them. 
Frank Burns, Washington, D. C. 
[The specimens are still in good condition, and the plan is worth 
a further trial. The principle is that the shellac forms an impervious 
layer over the epidermis, preventing that evaporation of water from 
the latter which causes it to contract and break the thin calcareous 
layer. The shellac should therefore be applied as soon as the 
surface of the mussel is dry. Its main disadvantage is in the arti¬ 
ficial gloss which it gives the shell, which would prevent its use on 
lusterless specimens. If the shellac is very thin it does not effect 
the appearance of glossy shells like A. fiuviatilis .— Ed.] 
Errata. —A typographical error occurred in the July number of 
the Nautilus and I desire to correct same. In the article “My 
Daily Walk ” on page 34, the second line under the list of species 
collected, I notice the ninth word should have read as “ county ” and 
not “ country .”—Williard M. Wood. 
NOTICES OF PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 
Natural History Notes from North Carolina (Papers nos. 
2 and 3) by A. G. Wetherby (from the Jour. Cincinnati Soc. Nat. 
Hist.). In these papers on “ The Land Shells of Roan Mountain and 
Vicinity ” the author enumerates fifty-four species with interesting 
notes on each. A parasitic species of Diptera is here recorded in¬ 
festing Zonites clliotti and Polygyra fustigans .— C. TP. J. 
Geographic and Hypsometric Distribution of North Amer¬ 
ican Vi vip arid as by Prof. R. Ellsworth Call (from the Amer¬ 
ican Jour, of Science for August). This interesting article is accom¬ 
panied by a map showing the distribution of each species. lhe 
