RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



Lamellaria pellucida, Vorrill. Am. J. 

 aSc, XX. 5.97. 395, JSSO. Proc. U. S. 

 Nat. Mils., III. 372. l^SO. 



Distr., off Martha's Vinovard. 86 to 155 

 fathoms. Off Delaware Bay, 130 to 155 

 fathoms. 



Lamellaria pellucida. var. Gouldil, Ver- 

 rill. Cat. Mar. Moll, 5 IS, 1882. 



Distr., off Martha's Vineyard, 224 to 458 

 fathoms. Off Chesapeake Bay. 



{Tn be continued.) 



On the Admission of Certain New Species 



of Mollusks into the Fauna of 



Rhode Island. 



The answer given to Professor Verrill in ! 

 the October number of Random Notes, re- i 

 garding the omission of (certain new species 

 of Mollusks, said to belong to Rhode Island, , 

 most assuredly proves tlie correctness of 

 Mr. Carpenter's judgment. 



By Professor Verrill's own showing, the ! 

 habitat of several of the species referred to , 

 appears to have been almost exclusively 

 arctic in character, while the remainder, 

 with one or two exceptions, found their 

 most congenial conditions in the profound 

 depths of the gulf stream, or at an equally 

 low horizon near its borders. 



It is undoubtedl}' true that certain well- 

 known causes have changed the natural 

 abodes of very many littoral species, but 

 there is probably no evidence whatever to 

 show that species accustomed to the semi- 

 tropical conditions of the gulf stream ever ' 

 venture into the shallow and colder waters 

 of the coast ; and it does not appear that 

 either of those in question were found at a 

 less depth than sixty fathoms, nor, per- 

 chance, within fifty miles of the Rhode 

 Island shore. 



Could a strongei- reason than this be of- 

 fered for excluding them from "Papers on 

 the Shell-bearing Mollusca of that little ; 

 state ? " Perhaps not. It is impossible, 

 therefore, to understand why Professor ' 

 Verrill should insist upon numbering them 

 with the fauna of its coast, where, so far as ! 

 is known, they have never been seen alive. ' 



Indeed, without the dredge, and the skill 

 to control it in depths hitherto deemed un- I 

 attainable, it is safe to :issiiinc lliat tlie 

 Professor's new species \\<>td(l have h)r('vcr 



remained absolutely unknown ; a probability 

 that cannot be truthfully applied to any 

 littoral species. 



Other reasons might be adduced in sup- 

 port of Mr. Carpenter's decision, but I will 

 only add tliat the view given of the subject 

 has been indorsed by the several conchol- 

 ogists with whom I have conferred, and by 

 one of the ablest biologists of the U. S. 

 Fish Commission as well. 



Very truly, 



John Ford. 

 Philadelphia, Penn , Oct. 16, IS84. 



Mistletoe. 



The curious plant called mistletoe is pe- 

 culiarly associated witii Christmas. It is 

 the viscu7n allum of science, and is remaik- 

 able in many ways. Contrary to the gen- 

 eral tradition, it is found most commonly 

 on the apple-tree, not on the oak ; but it 

 may occur on that tree as well as a number 

 of others. It has a very wide range in 

 Europe, being found in Norwa}- on the one 

 hand and Sicily on the other. It is well 

 known in England, says Schouw, in his 

 Earth, Plants, and Man : 



"• Let us imagine that on a winter's day 

 we see upon the branches of an apple-tree a 

 bunch of intercrossing, yellowish-green 

 twigs, bearing leaves of the same color. 

 The unusual character of this »igiit arrests 

 our attention Perhaps we at first suppose 

 it to be a climber like the ivy, which, al- 

 though fixed in the ground by its root, has 

 wound itself up the trunk and l)ecome at- 

 tached to this and the brancln's by means 

 of its sucker roots ; but this idea must be 

 abandoned, for we see nothing of it on the 

 lower part of the trunk, onlj' at the top. 

 We then cut off the apple branch to examine 

 the yellowish-green plant more closely. We 

 see that it is wood, just as the apple-tree is ; 

 that annual rings occur in its wood, as in 

 other trees ; and when we trace its numer- 

 ous crossing shoots to their origin, we find 

 that the main stem springs from the branch 

 of the apple-tree ; we discover, moreover, 

 that the union is not confined to the barks, 

 but that the wood of this plant is connected 

 with that of the apple, somewhat as a graft 

 is connected with the wild stock upon which 

 it has been grafted. But the matter only 



