NOTES. 



Shells and Superstitions. — Apropos of Mr. Finn's note, the following 

 may be worthy of record : — 



A European had rendered some service to a chief of Erromanga, New 

 Hebrides. As a taken of gratitude the latter presented to him a charm to 

 ensure good fortune, much esteemed by the natives. This consisted of a 

 single normal specimen of Tuvricula vulpccnla carefully wrapped in a piece of 

 Tappa cloth. — J. Jhn.nings, Australian Museum. 



Sydney, N.S.W., June gtli, 1895. 



Importation of Foreign Land Molluscs. — As affording some idea of 

 the various modes by which foreign species of molluscs may be imported, 

 the following is worth recording : — During the last summer, whilst screen- 

 ing a quantity of Smyrna bsans, large numbers of snail-shells were discovered 

 in the refuse, some of these have lately come into my possession and belong 

 to Helix lactea a.nd Helix candidissima. Whether or not any of the specimens 

 were alive on their arrival at Bishop's Stortford I have not been able to 

 ascertain, but there appears to me to be no reason w-hy living specimens 

 should not be thus imported. Inquiries are being made with regard to this, 

 and perhaps later, more definite information may be obtained. 



Frank Hughes. 



The Toheroa and its Enemies. — There is a bivalve found on the 

 coast (Wairoa) called Toheroa : it is found in the sand on the shore only 

 where fresh-K'ater runs across the beach. When the tide rolls in, the animals 

 anchor themselves by a long tongue and the shells stand up in the sea-water — 

 you may see them like tuHps in a garden-bed. The birds of the shore are 

 ready, and every now and then, down one drops, catches a Toheroa and 

 rising up fifty feet or so, drops it on the hard sand and follows quickly to find 

 the shell smashed, but often another sea-gull is there first and they have an 

 argument about the matter. There is also a hsh called " Scluuipper " which 

 makes a business of catching the bivalves, the fish come in shoals to where the 

 Toheroas are found, and you can see their tails sticking up like grass in a 

 field as they gulp down the poor things. These Schnappers are furnished 

 with a pair of jaws like a stone-crusher, and boys and men catch them 

 with a line and strong hook baited with a Toheroa and good they are to 

 eat. The Toheroas are dug out like potatoes, and though they have many 

 enemies they must increase very, very fast, for two inches below the surface 

 there is often a layer three or four deep. The Maories go with pack- 

 horses to fetch them. — Samuel Webb, Rockvale, Whakahara, June igth, 1S95. 



[It would be interesting to learn the specific name of the bivalve. — Ed.] 



New British Marine Shells. — Rissva subsoluta, Aradas. — I had over- 

 looked a specimen of this shell, dredged in i8go, off Menavawr Rock, on the 

 Atlantic side of the Scilly Islands in 40 fathoms. It w^as taken with 

 A', jejfreysi, Odostomia eompaetilis, Utrieulus cxpansus and other species hitherto 

 recorded only from the Shetlands. Although a difficult place to reach, and 

 still more difhcult to dredge at, more specimens wdll probably be found about 

 the district, as it was taken in the Porcupine Expedition on the Atlantic slope 

 off the Scillies, in 539 fathoms, and at the entrance to the British Channel in 

 690-717 fathoms. 



My specimen is as fresh as if living and differs from the Mediterranean 

 form in that the sculpture is coarser, and that the longitudinals and spirals 



