72 
THE NAUTILUS. 
dared it to be a mere color variety of H. subconica C. B. Ad., de¬ 
scribed in 1845, and the figure he gives of his type amply confirms 
this opinion. In the Conchylien Cabinet, a few pages further on, 
Pfeiffer describes and figures a “ Helix gossei C. B. Adams MSS.” 
This name, of course, cannot stand, being preoccupied by that prior 
H. gossei of Pfeiffer himself, and this decision is not affected by the 
fact that Pfeiffer’s first gossei is a synonym. This gossei of (C. B. 
Ad.) Pfr., I consider a race or variety of H. nemoraloides C. B. Ad., 
1845, and it is practically covered by C. B. Adams’ H. pulchrior, 
1851. It is this form which caused Messrs. Simpson and Hender¬ 
son some trouble in Nautilus for May, 1894, p. 5. The conclu¬ 
sion is that neither of the “ gosseis ” can stand, the first gossei of 
Pfr. being a synonym of subconica, and gossei C. B. Ad. MS. of Pfr. 
(later) becoming a synonym of H. nemoraloides var. pulchrior .— 
Pilsbry. 
Helices carried by birds. — “From the throat of Balhis pec- 
toralis Mr. J. A. Thorpe of the Australian Museum extracted the 
snail I now exhibit. This is a specimen of Chloritis jervisensis 
Quoy and Gaimard, a species common in this neighborhood, whose 
almost adult and uninjured shell measures 18 mm. in diameter, and 
which weighed, shell and animal together, P26 grammes. When 
found by Mr. Thorpe, to whom I am indebted for both facts and 
specimen, the snail was quite dead ; as a test I immersed the ani¬ 
mal in strong spirits without inducing contraction ; since, however, 
its consumer had been killed forty hours earlier, the suffocation of 
the mollusc was to be expected. The bird was shot at Randwick, 
near Sydney, on the 19th May, 1894, by Mr. Newcombe, Deputy 
Registrar-General. In enumerating “ Means of Dispersal,” Dar¬ 
win observes (Origin of Species, 6th ed. p. 372): ‘ A bird in this 
interval [eighteen hours] might easily be blown to the distance of 
500 miles, and hawks are known to look out for tired birds, and 
the contents of their torn crops might thus readily get scattered.’ 
In view of the above incident, this suggests a means whereby the 
geographical range of jervisensis might be considerably extended.” 
— Charles Hedley, in Abstr. Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, May 30, 
1894. 
Prof. H. E. Sargent who has been pursuing biological studies 
at the Chicago University, has returned to Woodville, Ala. 
