96 



RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



whole length of the shell, including all the 

 others, and partially detached from them 

 above ; surface smooth ; aperture the entire 

 length of the shell, narrow at the spire and 

 constantl}^ widening to the base ; outer lip 

 slightly waved ; inner lip covered with a 

 thin coat of enamel, partly covering an um- 

 bilicus. Length one-tenth, breadth a little 

 less. Cape Cod to the Arctic Ocean ; north- 

 ern coasts of Europe (Verrill). Stoning- 

 ton, Conn. (LinslejO- Very rare south of 

 Cape Cod. I have never seen one in our 

 bay. 



Family 65. Bullidce, contains three 

 genera, one of which is represented in 

 Khode Island. 



Genus Bulla, Linn.eus, 1759. 



There are fifty species of Bulla, distrib- 

 uted all over the world, inhabiting sandy mud 

 flats, slimy banks of river mouths, and 

 brackish places. They are carnivorous, 

 feeding on bivalves, and serving in their turn 

 as food for fishes. There are three species 

 in New England, but only one in Rhode 

 Island. 



75. Bulla solitaria, Say, 1822. 



Syns. : 



Bulla insculpta, Totten, 1835. 



Shell oval, bluish white, fragile, the bod}' 

 whorl enveloping all the others and covered 

 with numerous revolving minute and regu- 

 lar lines ; spire depressed, invisible, some- 

 times opening in a small pit ; aperture 

 narrow at the top and broader at the base ; 

 outer lip sharp, thickened a little at the base, 

 forming a slight fold at the umbilical region. 

 Length one-third, breadth one-fourth inch. 

 Say described this shell in the Journ. Acad. 

 Nat. Sc, Phila., ii., 245, from a solitary 

 specimen found on the coast of Maryland, 

 and supposed by him to be verj^ rare. Col. 

 J. G. Totten afterwards found shells at 

 Newport, R. I., which he described in 

 Sillimaii's Journal^ xxviii., p. 350, as 

 Bulla insculpta. Gould and DeKay adopted 

 his name in their works, but in Binney's 

 Gould, second edition, Say's name was re- 

 stored. The two species are now considered 

 identical. Massachusetts Bay to South Caro- 

 lina. Common in the muddy lagoons and salt 



ponds along the shores of Vineyard Sound, 

 Buzzard's Bay, and Long Island Sound, 

 (Verrill). I have dredged alive a few half- 

 grown specimens in our bay. Over twenty 

 3'ears ago I found quite a number of dead, 

 full-grown shells on the sand at Mark Rock, 

 but have never been able to get an}' more 

 since that time at that locality or elsewhere, 

 until last summer (1885). One day last 

 August I was informed that there were quan- 

 tities of these shells on the shore at Camp 

 White. I started the next day for the locality 

 and, sure enough, there were thousands of 

 them there, full-grown, but dead, and all 

 cleaned out beautifully, and showing by their 

 appearance to be very recently living. I 

 gathered several hundreds of them, and the 

 next day an unusually high tide swept away 

 every trace of them from the shore, and 

 since then not one has been seen. They 

 inhabit mud flats covered with eel-grass, 

 facing sandy shores, in one or two fathoms 

 water. They are extremely fragile shells, 

 and are seldom seen in cabinets in a perfect 

 condition. 



Family 66. Aplustridae. 



" 67. Lophocercidae. 



" 68. Aplysiidge. 



" 69. Pleurobranchidse. 



" 70. Umbrellidffi, all absent 

 from our fauna. 



Order Nudibranchiata contains seven 

 families, eleven sub-families, 108 genera, 

 and over 600 species. These animals are 

 all destitute of a shell, except in the embryo 

 state, and although many species may in- 

 habit our vraters, on this account they are 

 excluded from the shell-bearing mollusca of 

 Rhode Island. 



{To he continued.) 



Color of Birds' Eyes. 



Color of eyes of adult. Red-tailed Hawk, 

 (observed in two living specimens) , Straw. 

 Sharp-shinned Hawk, adult, red. 

 Sharp-shinned Hawk, young, straw. 

 American Golden Eye Duck, straw. 

 Pileated Woodpecker, straw. 



Dickey & Allen. 



On account of change in our business 

 and pressure of work, this number is un- 

 avoidably delayed. 



