70 



RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



The Shell-Bearing Mollusca of Rhode 

 Island. 



BY HORACE F. CARPENTER. 



Chapter XXXII. 



116. SucciNEA (Tapada)Totteniana, Lea. 

 This species is found only in New 



England, New York, and in Canada. It was 

 first described by Mr. Isaac Lea in the 

 Proceedings of the Philosophical Society, 

 1841, and named after Colonel Totten, of 

 U. S. Arm}', who, wliile stationed at New- 

 port, R. L, discovered several new species of 

 mollusca, in dredging in Newport Harbor. 

 We sometimes find it in woods, but more 

 commonly in fields, or rather in low, wet 

 meadows, on the margins of ditches. I have 

 found it in quite large numbers under pieces 

 of broken limestone, at the quarries in 

 Smithfield. The shell is obliquel}' ovate, of 

 a greenish yellow color, thin and shining ; 

 whorls three ; the body whorl ver}' large, 

 spire not prominent; suture impressed, but 

 not so deeply as in S. avara. The size of 

 full grown specimens is three-quarters of an 

 inch ; the size of the aperture is three- 

 quarters the length of the shell, oval, oblique, 

 and so open that the animal can be seen, 

 even when contracted within the shell as 

 much as possible. The animal is of a sal- 

 mon color, and the shell is so translucent as 

 to enable one to see the color of the viscera 

 within. 



117. SucciNEA (Brachyspira)Ovalis, Gld. 

 Succinea ovalis, Gould, non Sa}'., Ad., 



Bin., Pfr., Morse, Tryon. 



Succinea DeCampii, Tryon. 



Brachyspira ovalis, Tryon. 



Thomas Say, in 1817, described a shell 

 which he called Succinea ovalis, and in 18'24 

 he described S. obliqua, (a western species 

 much resembling S. totteniana,) which he 

 afterwards proved to be identical with his S. 

 ovalis. Dr. A. A. Gould discovered and 

 described in the first edition of Gould's In- 

 vertehrata of Massachusetts, 1841, a new 

 shell, which he called S. ovalis. AsS. ova- 

 lis, Say, and S. obliqua, Sa^', are synon^'- 

 mous, and as authors are agreed to call it 

 S. obliqua, the name of S. ovalis, Gld., is 

 retained. 



The shell is very delicate, fragile, highlj^ 

 polished, quite elastic, and so transparent 



as to allow all the organs of the animal to be 

 seen through it. It is of a pale horn color, 

 and is longer and narrower in proportion 

 than the other species. The length of the 

 shell is one-half an inch ; of the aperture 

 more than three-quarters the length of the 

 shell; whorls three, the body whorl com- 

 pressed ; spire short but elevated and acute. 

 Animal amber colored mottled with black 

 dots. Inhabits the Northern and Middle 

 States to Wisconsin. 



They are generally found in wet grass, 

 near the margins of ponds, but I have found 

 them in Valley Pond, crawling on the stems 

 and leaves of aquatic plants, a foot or 

 more from the surface of the water, and 

 several feet from the shore, rendering it 

 necessary to wade out to them in order to 

 collect them. How came the}' in such a po- 

 sition, when they can neither swim, nor di- 

 rect their way in any manner in the water? 



Family Veronicellidae, one genus, no 

 shell. 



Family Vaginulidffi, two genera, no shell. 



Family Onchididse, four genera, no shell. 



Order Basommatophora. 



Shell not operculated, few whorled, us- 

 ually covered with a horn}' epidermis ; ani- 

 mal having flattened, triangular or sub-cy-" 

 lindrical tentacles, contractile but not invert- 

 ible, with eyes at their bases, sessile. There 

 are six families of this order, two of which 

 are represented in New England. 



Family Auriculidse contains fifteen gen- 

 era, ten sub-genera, and about three-hun- 

 dred and seventy species. Three of these 

 genera, viz. : Alexia, with twenty-one spe- 

 cies, Carychiurn, with fifteen, and Melam- 

 pus, with one hundred and twenty species, 

 are represented in Rhode Island by one 

 species onl}'. 



118. Alexia Mtosotis, Drap. 



Auricula m3'Osotis, Drap., 180 L 



Carycliium myosotis, Ferr., Moq.-Tan. 



Auricella nn'osotis, Jurine. 



Pythia m3'osotis. Beck. 



Conovulus myosotis, Reeve. 



Conovulus denticulatus, Forbes and 

 Hanly. 



Auricula denticulatus, Gld , DeKay. 



Melampus borealis, Conrad. 



Alexia Myosotis, Pfr., Morse, Tryon, W. 

 G. Binn., etc. 



