RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



63 



tenth of an inch (aculeus is one-fifteenth), 

 while the length of the two species is the 

 same, three-twentieths. It was described 

 by -Col. Joseph G. Totten in Silli7nan''s 

 Journal., yol. xxvi., page 369. 



Gould says of this species : " It is found 

 plentifully on seaweed and on moist banks, 

 about high water mark, especially on the 

 thread-like plants which grow in ditches 

 and brackish pools, in company with Litto- 

 rina tenebrosa." 



I have never been able to find one on 

 seaweed, or in an}- situation where Lit- 

 torina tenebrosa is found. I have found 

 them on empty clam-shells between tides, 

 and in shell sand thrown up above high 

 water mark, about one-quarter grown, and 

 have had just such looking specimens sent 

 me from Massachusetts and Maine, but the 

 best locality' in Rhode Island is on the sand 

 between tides, in water almost- fresh and a 

 little muddy. I collected at one time a 

 great number of specimens of extraordinary 

 size and perfection at Bishop's Bend, be- 

 tween Ingrahamville and Bucklin's Island 

 on the Seekonk River. 



57. LiTTORINELLA EXARATA, StIMP. 



This species I know nothing of, but in- 

 clude it here on the authority- of Prof. A. 

 E. Verrill, who obtained it at Watch Hill, 

 among rocks and algye in four or five fath- 

 oms water. He says it inhabits from Ston- 

 ington. Conn., to Gulf of St. Lawrence. 



Genus Amnicola, Gould and Hald., 184L 



The fifty-seven species of Rhode Island 

 shells which have been described in these 

 papers thus far are all marine, or inhabitants 

 of salt water. The species forming the 

 genus Amnicola, however, are all flaviatile 

 or fresh water species, not merelj- brackish, 

 but confined entirely to ponds, fresh water 

 rivers, etc. Amnicola is confined to the 

 United States, and contains about ten 

 species, two of which inhabit Rhode Island. 



58. Amnicola llmosa. Say. 

 Si/ns. : 



Paludina limosa. Say. 



Paludina porata. Ad. Philippi. 



Amnicola porata, Gould, lion Sa}'. 



Amnicola limosa, Binney, Hald , Perkins. 



Shell small, conic-globose ; smooth, usu- 

 ally covered with mud or slime, but under 

 this coating, d:irk brown to light olive-green 



in color ; whorls four, convex ; suture 

 deeply im[)ressed ; aperture nearly circular ; 

 lips sharp ; inner lip just touches the body 

 whorl, leaving a large and deep umbilicus. 

 Length three-tenths of an inch ; breadth 

 one-fourth. Gould, in the Inrert. Mass., 

 first edition, calls our shell the Amnicola 

 porata of Say ; later authorities pronounce 

 it A. limosa, Sa\% and state that porata does 

 not inhabit New England. W. G. Binney, 

 in Land and Fresh Water Shells of N. A., 

 gives the only habitat of porata. Say, 

 Cayuga Lake, Big Sioux River, and Moose 

 Factory, B. A. In a letter to the writer, 

 Mr. John G. Anthony said : "A. limosa. 

 Say, is not positively known to concholo- 

 gists, and I doubt the Rhode Island shells 

 belonging to that species." I hope these 

 remarks will bring out some opinions from 

 other workers in this direction, as we have 

 an abundance of the shells and would like 

 to have its name settled. It is found in 

 our rivers, ponds, brooks and ditches, ad- 

 hering to submerged sticks and plants, but 

 seems to prefer stones and the empt}' 

 valves of Unios and Anodons. 



59. Amnicola grana, Say. 



Syns. : 



Paludina grana, Say. 



Amnicola Brownii, H. F. Carpenter. 



This species is found abundantly in Cun- 

 liflTs Pond, at Elmville, three or four miles 

 south of Providence, and in no other local- 

 it}' in Rhode Island, that I am aware of. I 

 discovered them in 1870, and supposing 

 them to be a new species, I named it as 

 above, and read a description of it in a paper 

 before the "Providence Franklin Society," 

 Tuesda}- evening, March 26th, 1872, and 

 published the same in the Central Falls 

 WeeAiy Visitor, the next week. I have- 

 sent specimens of these shells to very man}' 

 conchologists, and as they pronounce them 

 to be Say's A. grana, my name is dropped. 

 The following is my original description, 

 which is not exactly like Say's in all re- 

 spects, but it is correct : '' Shell small, thin, 

 translucent, of a light green color, when di- 

 vested of the thick, dirty epidermis which 

 covers it, turrited, elongate, composed of 

 five gibbous whorls ; operculated and um- 

 bilicated ; apex very obtuse ; suture very 

 deep ; aperture nearly circular, a little 

 broader at the base ; lips continuous, sim- 



