NO. 1256. FOSSIL SHELLS OF THE COLORADO DESERT— STEARNS. 277 
columella reflected; aperture elliptical. T.ength, one-fifth of an inch. Colorado 
Desert, California ( Dr. LeConte) . 
The specimen.s are numerous and of a chalky whiteness, showing that they are 
all dead shells. Said to have been found 120 miles distant from any stream passed 
on the route. 
Following Dr. Pilsbry, whose familiarity with these puzzling little 
shells entitles his conclusions to acceptance, the present status and 
synouomy should be arranged as below. 
Genus PALUDESTRINA Orbigny. 
PALUDESTRINA PROTEA Gould (Pilsbry).i 
Plates XIX-XXI. 
= Bytliinella protea Gould (Stearns, 1893)^. 
= Amuicold protea Gould 1855.^ 
= ^felania exigua Conr.\d, 1855.* 
= Tryonia protea Gould (Binney et auct., 1865).* 
-t- Bythinellu seeinani Frauexfeld (Pilsbry, 1893)'''. 
= Hydrobia i<eeinani Fkauenfeld, 1863.* 
This species from 1854:, the 3'ear of its discovery, was regarded as 
extinct until June, 1888, when Mr. C. R. Orcutt, of San Diego, col- 
lected luuiierous living examples in Indian or Fish Springs, some 15 
miles northwest of the station known as Salton, on the Southern 
Pacitic Railroad. These pools and springs, of which there are several, 
varying from 10 to 20 feet across, are at the base of the San Jacinto 
Mountains. "They are only a few feet deep and are surrounded with 
an almost impenetrable mass of tides, canegrass, and mock willows; 
the mesquit. screw bean, and various shrubs, rushes, and sedges form 
the bulk of the wild vegetation." The water is warm, in Mr. Orcutfs 
judgment not under 100^ F., and tastes like the water of the Dos 
Falmos Springs, 6 miles north of Salton, on the opposite side of the 
desert, at the base of the Chuckawalla or Lizard mountains. An 
analysis of the water from the latter springs showed slight traces of 
alum, soda, sulphur, and considerable salt, but not so much as to make 
it unfit for use. 
These springs are all below the present sea level about 100 feet, 
' "Includes Bythinella Moq. Tand. and authors generally," Pilsbry in Catalogue of 
Amnicolida? of the Western United States, Nautilus, jNIarch, 1899, pp. 121-127. 
^ Report on the Land and Fresh-Water Shells collected in California and Nevada 
by the Death Valley Expedition, North American Fauna No. 7, Part II, U. S. Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, May, 1893, p. 278. 
* Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., V, p. 129, March, 1855; Otia, 217. 
* Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., VII, p. 269, February, 1855. 
'" Land and Fresh-Water Shells of North America, Part III, Smithsonian Miscel- 
laneous Collections, No. 144, September, 1865, p. 72. 
® Verhandlungen der k. k. zoologisch-botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien, Jahrgang, 
1863, p. 1025. 
