6 



RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



is taken from Reeve's Britih Land and 

 Fresh Water Mollusks, page 47 : "Shell 

 rather narrowly, deeply urabijcated, de- 

 pressly orbicular, greenish-yellow, pale, 

 very glossy ; spire convexly flattened ; 

 sutures linearly channelled ; whorls six, 

 narrow, increasing slowly, longitudinally 

 obscurely plicatel3' striate ; aperture ob- 

 liquey lunar." It was first noticed by 

 Miiller in 1774 and named b^' him Helix 

 cellaria. Reeve calls it Zonites cellarius. 

 It has been described by many other au- 

 thors in Europe under twelve different 

 names. 



Mr. G. Ord, of Philadelphia, found the 

 first specimen in America, and gave it to 

 Mr. Say, who described it as a new species 

 under the name of Helix glaphyra. It has 

 since been found in old, damp cellars in 

 Boston, Lj'nn, Salem, Marblehead, Port- 

 land, Halifax and other sea port towns, and 

 was supposed to have been imported into 

 this countrj' on wine casks or other mer- 

 chandise. On comparison with the English 

 shells, the}' were found to be identical. I 

 found them twenty years ago in two old 

 cellars in Pawtucket, in the boat-house of 

 Mr. G. L. Spencer, in Pawtucket, and in 

 several cellars on Canal Street in Provi- 

 dence. 



On Broadway, in this citj-, there is a large 

 greenhouse, or rather several of them to- 

 gether, owned by IMr. Robert Hogg ; in 

 these greenhouses at all times of the year, 

 can be collected quantities of these shells. 

 In this warm and damp atmosphere these 

 animals propagate and grow rapidly and 

 unlike other snails do not hybernate six or 

 seven months in the year. These snails 

 are very destructive to the 3'oung plants 

 and are regarded bj' Mr. Hogg as a nui- 

 sance. If any of our readers are anxious to 

 collect this species under their best condi- 

 tions, alive and of all sizes, I will guaran- 

 tee that if they present themselves at Mr. 

 Hogg's door and saj' they wish to get some 

 snails, he will come up smiling every time 

 and invite you to come in and pick up all 

 3'ou want, and if he has time will help to 

 fill 3'ou up and rid his place of the nuisance. 



Mr. Morse, in speaking of this species 

 in the American Naturalist, sa3's : "A 

 lad}^ in Portland, in whose cellar the writer 

 collected many, stated that the snails an- 

 no3'ed her b3' crawling into her milk pans. 



[ To be continned.'] 



The Native Trees of Rhode Island. 



No. IX. 



BY L. W. RUSSELL. 



Quercus ilicifolia — Scrub Oak — Bear Oak, 

 The common occurrence of the Quercus 

 ilicifolia, scrub oak or bear oak, in Rhode 

 Island, indicates a corresponding preva- 

 lence of poor soil. It will grow in mere 

 sand or gravel, or wherever it can get a 

 foothold among thinl3'-covered ledges of 

 rock. While the primitive forests yet re- 

 mained, this little oak chiefly grew, na 

 doubt, as an undergrowth ; and even now, 

 in existing wood lots, hundreds of these 

 shrubs may frequenth' be counted upon an 

 acre of ground, ready to take full posses- 

 sion as soon as the larger wood is cut off. 

 Their growth is particularl}' noticeable in 

 pine woods and among the gray birches. 

 The fact of the scrub oak following the 

 pine when the latter is removed is often 

 spoken of as though it were a strange thing, 

 but this is easil3' accounted for. The squir- 

 rels have been the seed-planters. A care- 

 ful observer will find these oaks plentifully 

 scattered about among the pines, or other 

 trees. The soil has become exhausted of 

 the material essential to the larger growth. 

 This hardy oak is ready to cover the ground 

 as a kind of fallow crop. It springs up, 

 and, in a few 3ears, makes an almost im- 

 penetrable bush. Worthless as fuel, except 

 where wood is scarce, it has its use. It 

 prevents the winds from making sand-heaps 

 of poor soils. These shrubs frequentl3', in 

 a natural wa}', protect trees of tender 

 growth until the3' get sufficientU' estab- 

 lished to take care of themselves. Man 

 could do better with them, and, indeed, has 

 successfull}' utilized them in this way : 

 The}' have been planted in rows as nurses 

 to other trees which needed protection, the 

 latter being planted a few 3'ears later in 

 the vacant places. Another wa3' is sug- 

 gested : Cut lanes, a few feet wide, in ex- 

 isting areas of this shrub, planting pine or 

 other seeds in the spaces ; the oaks would 

 thus act as a protection from wind and 

 weather until the seedlings were well 

 started . 



In the diluvial drift and ridges around 



