RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



77 



Family 51. Phasianellidae : three gen- 

 era, three sub-genera, and twenty-eight 

 species, all foreign. 



Family 52. Turbinidse ; two recent 

 genera, eighteen sub-genera, and about one 

 hundred and thirt}' species, all foreign. 



Family 53. Trochidse. This immense 

 famil}' contains over three hundred species, 

 distributed among four genera and fiftj'-six 

 sub-genera. Only one of these genera, 

 Margarita, Leach, is represented on the 

 Atlantic coast of the United States. The 

 species of this genus are deep water in their 

 distribution and are mostly obtained from 

 the stomachs of fishes. They are also 

 boreal and inhabit the cold waters of the 

 Arctic and Antarctic poles. Of the nine 

 species of this genus which are credited to 

 the New England coast, but two might pos- 

 sibly be found in our waters. They never 

 have been found here to m}' knowledge, but 

 we will give them the benefit of the doubt. 



65. Margarita helicina, Fabricus. 

 Syns. : 



Turbo helicina, Fabricus. 



Turbo in flatus, Totten. 



Paludina inflata, Menke. 



Margarita arctica. Leach, Sly., DeKay, 

 Gld. 



Margarita helicoides, Beck. 



Margarita helicina, Stimp. and modern 

 authors. 



Shell orbicular, depressed, thin, smooth 

 and shining, of a bronze metallic tint and 

 iridescent ; whorls five, convex, the body 

 whorl large with fine revolving lines on the 

 base ; suture well impressed ; aperture 

 round, expanded ; lip sharp ; umbilicus 

 large and deep ; operculum multispiral. 

 Length one-fifth of an inch, breadth three 

 tenths. Their habitat is on leaves of 

 Laminaria in deep water, and are some- 

 times thrown up on ocean shores during a 

 storm. They are found as far north as 

 Greenland and in Baffin's Bay. 



66. Margarita obscura, Couthouy. 

 Shell conical, depressed, solid ; spire dull 



reddish-brown ; base ash}' ; whorls five, con- 

 vex, angulated in the middle by from one 

 to three revolving ridges, and covered with 

 numerous fine lines, those at the base 

 almost microscopic ; aperture round, pearly 

 within ; lip sharp ; umbilicus large and deep, 

 bounded by a sharp angular ridge ; opercu- 



lum horny, multispiral. Length one-half 

 inch, breadth seven-twentieths. It is a 

 beautiful little species, the surface being of 

 a brilliant silvery lustre with crimson re- 

 flections, after the exterior epidermis is re- 

 moved. It is found in the stomachs of fishes 

 caught off" Nahant, Mass., and Stonington, 

 Conn. "Common in Massachusetts Bay, 

 Casco Ba}', and Bay of Fundy, from low 

 water to 100 fathoms." (Verrill.) 



Family 54. Storaatellidic, all foreign. 



Family 55. Pleurotomariidae, all for- 

 eign. 



Family 56. Bellerophontidis. This 

 family comprises a very large group of Pa- 

 laeozoic fossils. I believe there is not a sin- 

 gle species of recent or living mollusca be- 

 longing to it. 



P'amily 57. Maclureidae, contains twelve 

 species of fossils belonging to the genus 

 Maclurea, Lesueur. 



Family 58. Haliotidse, one genus, four 

 sub-genera, and seventj^-five species, all for- 

 eign. 



Family 59. Fissurellidai, six genera, 

 and nearly two hundred species, all foreign. 

 {To be continued.) 



Gift to Brown University. 



Miss Anna A. Stout, of New York, an- 

 nounces her intention of bestowing upon 

 Brown University the valuable herbarium 

 of her brother, the late William Stout. 

 The collection is especiall}' rich in ferns, 

 and is accompanied In' a fern library of 

 about twenty volumes. Miss Stout has al- 

 ready mounted over 1,800 sheets of ferns 

 alone, and estimates that from 800 to 1,000 

 more will be needed. Probably Dr. Gar- 

 ber's Florida phsenogams will require 350 

 more, and the Atkinson collection of North- 

 ern Himalayan ferns 560 to 570 sheets. 

 Besides these there are many valuable 

 duplicates of well-known collections, avail- 

 able for exchange. What is now sorely 

 needed is a fund for the endowment of the 

 botanical chair. A daily struggle for bread 

 and butter is scarcely compatible with the 

 best results either of teaching or research. 



When you are drowsy from reading or 

 work, sleep until you are rested. Nature, 

 by feelings of fatigue, calls for rest. 



