RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



of no particular importance, except as a 

 convenient metliod of grouping and arrang- 

 ing a large collection, and only serve to 

 confuse the student. They will be omitted 

 in these papers. Those readers who wish 

 to know all these finer sub-divisions are re- 

 ferred to Tryon's Structural and Syste- 

 matic Conchology, published by the author 

 •at the Academy'' Natural Science, corner 

 19th and Race Streets, Philadelphia. 



Order Stylommatophora. 



Terrestrial moUusks having four tenta- 

 cles, the superior pair retractile, and having 

 eyes at their extremities. This order con- 

 tains nineteen families. 



Family Testacellidse, four genera and 

 forty-five species, all absent from North 

 America. 



Famil}' Oleacinidse, four genera and over 

 two hundred species, all absent from New 

 England. A few species inhabit the South- 

 ern United States. Mostly' found in Tropi- 

 cal America, North and South Mexico 

 and West Indies. 



Family Streptaxidie, three genera, about 

 two hundred species, all foreign. 



Family Helicoidea, seven genera, seventy- 

 five species, all foreign. 



Family Vitrinidse, sixteen genera, over 

 two hundred species ; of these two genera 

 are represented in America., viz. : Vitrin- 

 ozonites, W. G. Binney, contains one spe- 

 cies, V. Lattissimus., Lewis, mountains oj 

 Western North Carolina and East Tennes- 

 see., and Vitrina, Drap, eighty species, three 

 of which inhabit America, one from Cali- 

 fornia to Utah southward to New Mexico, 

 one in Greenland and Labrador, and one in 

 Canada and from Maine to Michigan. 



Family Zonitidoe contains two genera, 

 Zonites and Nanina. Nanina is divided 

 into twentj'-seven sub-genera and over five 

 hundred species, inhabiting in tropical and 

 sub-tropical regions of Asia, Africa and 

 Oceanica. Zonites is divided into twenty- 

 seven sub-genera, twelve of which inhabit 

 the United States, and five are found in 

 Rhode Island, viz. : Hyalinia, Conulus, 

 Helicodiscus, Striatura, and Punctum. 



76. Zonites (Hyalinia) arborea, Say. 



Syns : 



Helix arborea, Say,Binn., Eatton, Gld., 

 DeKay, Ad., Pfr., Chem., and C. 



Hyalinia arborea, Morse, Tryon, W. G. 

 Binne}-. 



This shell was discovered by Thomas 

 Say, and described in Nichols' EncydopoBdia, 

 1816, as Helix arboreus : " Shell very thin, 

 fragile, repressed, horn color, pellucid 

 very little convex ; whorls four, irregularly 

 wrinkled across ; aperture sub-lunated. lip 

 thin, brittle, junction with the body whorl 

 acute ; umbilicus large and deep. Length 

 one-tenth of an inch nearly." Either Mr. 

 Say or the printer made a mistake. It 

 measures one-quarter of an inch in diame- 

 ter. Morse's description says, '* umbilicus 

 not large, whorls four to five." 



This shell is not remarkable for its 

 beauty, and is not of particular interest. 

 It is extremely common, found about de- 

 caying stumps and old logs under the bark. 

 It is very simple in structure, and would at 

 once be recognized hy an\' person who had 

 ever seen it. Its range is very great, be- 

 ing found from Labrador to Florida ; from 

 Great Salt Lake to Texas ; in California, 

 Montana, Nevada and New Mexico. It is 

 also said to have been found in Cuba and 

 Guadaloupe. 



77. Zonites (Hyalinia) Binneyana 



Morse. 



This shell was discovered in Maine, by 

 Mr. E. S. Morse, and named b}' him Helix 

 Binneyana. It was described in the jour- 

 nal of the Portland Society Natural History : 

 " Shell minute, whorls four ; spire slightly 

 elevated, pellucid, nearly colorless ; aper- 

 ture well rounded ; umbilicus open." It is 

 quite a rare shell. It has been found in 

 Maine, Massachusetts and at Tawas Bay, 

 Mich. I have found a few in Rhode Island, 

 but perhaps its range is greater than is now 

 suspected and future observers may find it 

 to inhabit a greater extent of territory than 

 is now accredited to it. It resembles ar- 

 borea a little, but is smaller (one-sixth of 

 an inch in diameter) and differs in color, 

 being of a greenish white tint. 



78. Zonites (Hyalinia) cellaria, 



Mluler. 



This shell is not a native of this country 

 but has become naturalized bj' a residence 

 of over fifty years. It is an European spe- 

 cies, very common in Great Britain, France, 

 and Germany. The following description 



