4 Calvin Goodrich 



About fifteen years after Dr. Budd's sendings, Gyrotomae, from the 

 reaches between the Yellowleaf Creek of Shelby County and Fort William 

 Shoals, Talladega County, were taken by Dr. Scho waiter of Uniontown, 

 Alabama. It would seem that Dr. William Spillman of Columbus, ]Missis- 

 sippi, visited the Coosa River in the same places and at about the same time, 

 and it is possibly fair to infer that the two were together. Lea and An- 

 thony erected eighteen species from this new material and Reeve described 

 still others under names supplied by Anthony. 



Reeve's monograph of Melatoma appeared in 1 860-61. Swainson had 

 established Melatoma as a subgenus of Melanopsis Lam. Reeve believed 

 it to be the same as Gyrotoma. Tryon says that Melatoma "is actually an 

 exotic marine shell." The connection of Anthony's name with Melatoma 

 was an error. Reeve's illustrations are excellent and in most instances 

 the species can be recognized from these pictures. But the descriptions, 

 written by Reeve, convey little information of value. In two of the descrip- 

 tions no mention is made of the fissure, the distinctive character of 

 Gyrotoma. In the case of one species the slit is described as "small, almost 

 obsolete"; in one as "slightly channelled"; in two, "moderate"; in two, 

 "broad" ; in ten, "deep" ; in two, "rather deep" ; in one, "very deep." The 

 reader of Reeve is reminded of the childhood question, "How deep is a well 

 and how long is a string?" 



The Anthony types described in this monograph are in the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, Massachusetts. Reeve's own types are in 

 the British Museum and these were examined by Dr. Bryant Walker and 

 compared with material taken by Mr. Smith. 



In 1862 Brot issued a "Catalogue Systematique des Especes qui Com- 

 posent la Famille des Melaniens." He spoke about the genus Gyrotoma 

 being little known in Europe and of the sparse distribution of examples 

 among the collections. He indicated a suspicion that these shells might be 

 variations or mutations of "certain species of the group of M. Haysiana, 

 which live in the same locality." A very just criticism was made of authors 

 who pictured their species in the conventional manner and failed thereby 

 to show the "characteristic notch." Lacking a suf^cient number of speci- 

 mens and illustrations more decisive Brot declined to pass upon the valid- 

 ity of the genus. It is this catalogue I have mentioned later in the text 

 as the Brot list. 



In 1869, Dr. James Lewis (4) made a list of the Gyrotomae as part of 

 a catalogue of mollusks of the Coosa River. Tryon's (10) study of the 

 genus appeared in 1873. For half a century it has been a guide for the 

 collector of Pleuroceridae. It erred in the synonymy. The classification 

 was artificial. Too many species were recognized as valid. But when it 

 is remembered that thirteen species of Gyrotoma had been erected from 

 just thirteen specimens and that comparatively few additional shells were 

 available for Tryon's study, that Shuttleworth's species were unknown 

 in this country and Mighels' types had been destroyed by fire, any sharp 

 criticism of Tryon's work with the genus would be unfair. 



The next writing upon the subject was by Mr. A, A. Hinkley, whose 

 paper (2) appeared in 1904. He had collected the year before in the 



