84 
POPULAR SOIEITOE ^EWS. 
[June, 1891. 
291, Dubuque, lo. — All letters answered. — Wal- 
ter G. Hurd, 99 Grove Terrace. 
383, Louisville, Ky. — We will answer any ques- 
tions in our power. — Carrie Rogers Gaulbert, 1,027 
Fourth Avenue. 
490, Xew York City, (Hyatt Chapter) .—Micro- 
scopy, botany, mineralogy, and geology. — Gustav 
J. Hake, 3,103 Third Avenue. 
Clarence M. Clark, St. John's Church, Savannah, 
Ga. Chemistry and Inineralogy. 
W. H. McNain, 4 Harvard Avenue, Toronto, 
Ont., Chapter 532. 
J. Husson, Box 117, Trenton, N. J. Exchange 
of minerals. 
**i 
ISAAC LEA COXCHOLOGICAL CHAPTER. 
The number of members at the beginning of 
the year was seven ; there are now twelve, all 
adults. The following is a list of the members, 
with their post-office addresses, in the order in 
which they stand on the roll : 
M. L. Leach, M. D., Wexford, Mich. 
Gllman S. Stanton, 43 W. 71st street, New York City. 
Edward W. Koper, Revere, Mass. 
Mrs. M. Burton Williamson, University P. O., Los An- 
geles, Cal. 
Prof. Josiah Keep, Mills College, Cal. 
Bryant Walker, 18 Moffat Building, Detroit, Mich. 
Miss Anna Goodsell, Morgan House, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 
Mrs. Laura H. Trowbridge, Long Beach, Cal. 
William P. Potter, 60 Prospect street, Norwich, Conn. 
A. H. Gardner, Bay Eidge, N. Y. 
Miss Lanra B. Coolidge, Leicester, Mass. 
Delso Arnold, Pasadena, Cal. 
The provision of the constitution in regard to 
the reception of new members has been amended 
so that any name proposed by an active member 
and approved by two-thirds of the officers may be 
entered on the roll of members. At the annual 
election of officers, on the last Wednesday of De- 
cember, Prof. Josiah Keep was elected President, 
and M. L. Leach Secretary. Tlie by-laws provide 
that each member shall report in writing to the 
Secretary, at least once each year, the work done 
by him, giving questions and notes of interest and 
also such monographs as he may think proper. 
In accordance with this provision, seven members 
presented formal reports at the end of the year. 
Letters from the others, received at various times, 
aflford proof that all are interested in the special 
line of study of the Chapter. A creditable 
amount of conchological work has been done. It 
is believed that the Chapter is becoming an im- 
portant agent for the development of this branch 
of natural science. Abstracts of the reports of 
members are given herewith : 
Mr. Roper spent some time in the early part of 
the season searching the ponds and streams of 
Eastern Massachusetts, principally for the genera 
Sphxrium and Pisidium. He was rewarded by 
finding reliable specimens of nearly all the New- 
England species. Later he was engaged in the 
study of specimens of these genera collected in 
California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Idaho, 
and Minnesota, sent him by Messrs. W. J. Ray- 
mond and Henry Hemphill. • He thinks it conclu- 
sively proved that several species of the family 
under consideration range from ocean to ocean 
through the Central and Northern tiers of States. 
A Pisidium from Idaho, sent by Mr. Hemphill, is 
described by Mr. Roper as a new species, under 
the name P. Idahoense. (See Nautilus for Decem- 
ber, 1890) . In September Mr. Roper spent a week 
dredging in the harbor at Eastport, Maine, with 
interesting results. Specimens of Littorina palli- 
ata (Say), from Eastport, he is unable to distin- 
tinguish from specimens found by himself at 
Victoria, B. C, in 1889. This is not strange, he 
thinks, as other shells found on the Atlantic coast 
are found also in Europe and in the North Pacific. 
During the past summer Professor Keep visited 
several of the largest conchological museums in 
the country — one belonging to Amherst College, 
the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences 
of Philadelphia, that of the Smithsonian Institu- 
tion at Washington, and a fine local collection in 
the museum of the Natural History Society of 
Worcester, Mass. Professor Keep's account of 
these visits, with some suggestions concerning 
smaller undertakings, constitutes his report — val- 
uable for its facts and interesting to every lover 
of this brancli of natural history. 
Mr. Stanton gives an interesting account of col- 
lecting trips to Marblehead and Nahant, Mass., 
for marine forms, and, in company with Mr. 
Roper, through Watertown for land and fresh- 
water shells. Later he spent about four weeks at 
the Biological Laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor, 
Long Island, and two weeks at Jesup's Neck and 
Shelter Island. At the laboratory he had the use 
of a naphtha launch, and did considerable dredg- 
ing. A sketch map of Cold Spring Harbor is 
given, and also a systematically classified list of 
the shells dredged and otherwise collected there. 
An interesting feature of Mr. Stanton's report is a 
set of photographs showing the harbor, the labo- 
ratory, and students at work. 
Miss Goodsell's report consists mainly of an in- 
teresting account of collecting at Sault Ste. Marie, 
Mich., and Lake Minuetonka, Minn. At each lo- 
cality a good number of valuable specimens were 
obtained. Miss Goodsell mentions some facts 
that fell under her observation worthy of note. 
At Sault Ste. Marie, where Linnea stagnatis was 
found in great numbers, the outer lip of the shell, 
back for a quarter of an inch from the edge, was 
as thin and flexible as a membrane, while in the 
few specimens found in Lake Minnetonka it was 
as hard as the rest of the shell. [The delicate 
portion was shell in the process of formation, an 
addition being made to last year's growth.^M. L. 
Leach.] lu Lake Minnetonka she found great 
numbers of living specimens of what she sup- 
poses to be Linnea gracilis. Often when attempt- 
ing to remove the snail from the reeds to which it 
adhered, it was found that the animal was so 
firmly attached to the reeds and so loosely to the 
shell that the latter came olf empty in the hand of 
the collector. 
Miss Coolidge's work has been chiefly classify- 
ing a collection of shells, presented by the col- 
lector, Mr. Pliny Earl, to the Leicester Academy. 
The collection contains about a thousand varie- 
ties. She was much aided in her work by the 
Appleton Museum and the library of Amherst 
College, and by study and comparison of species 
in the rooms of the Boston Society of Natural 
History. In London, while on a European tour 
during the past summer. Miss Coolidge had an 
opportunity to examine the conchological collec- 
tion of the South Kensington Museum. She calls 
attention to the important part which shells play 
in ancient as well as in modern architecture and 
house ornamentation. Some of the most valuable 
and exquisite of Florentine mosaics are wonder- 
fully perfect representations of the mollusca and 
other sea forms, while the delicate carving of 
Melrose Abbey and many other fine buildings In- 
cludes beautiful adaptations of various shells. 
Mr. Gardner gives a list of land, fresh-water, 
and marine shells collected and observed by him- 
self within a radius of twenty miles of New York 
City. The list is scientifically classified, and is 
especially valuable for the exactness with which 
localities and environment are noted. The geo 
logical character of the district is not favorable to 
the production of land mollusks, while the sewage 
that finds its way to the rivers effectually restricts 
and stunts the animal life in them ; hence the 
short list of land and fresh-water shells, which 
cannot be compared with that of a more favored 
locality. 
Dr. Leach's report consists of a list of such of 
the land and fresh-water shells of the lower pe- 
ninsula of Michigan as have been collected by 
himself during the few years in which he has 
been specially interested in conchology. Locali- 
ties are carefully noted, and the report is inter- 
spersed with notes on such points as were of 
interest to the collector. There is no attempt at 
elaborate scientific arrangement. 
M. L. Leach, 
Secretary. 
>♦♦ 
Reports from the Seventh Century (Chapters 
601-700) should reach the President by June 1. 
Did you ask the publisher to credit your sub- 
scription to the A. A. ? 
•♦♦ 
SELECTED REPORTS FROM THE FIRST 
CENTURY (CHAPTERS 1-100.) 
901, Brooklyn, N. Y., [O].— As a family Chap- 
ter we have rejoiced in our membership in the 
Agassiz Association since the spring of 1886. 
Thougli having an instinctive love for Nature, the 
flowers have never given forth such fragrance, 
the sky has never looked so beautiful, and the 
winged heralds of summer gladness have never so 
delighted us with their music, as when — members 
of the A. A. — we have rambled and observed, and 
thought and wondered. It is difficult to find 
many species of birds in this great City of 
Churches, where the English sparrow may almost 
be said to reign supreme ; but one may occasion- 
ally catch a glimpse of a stray visitor, and such a 
discovery is always hailed with delight. — F. W. 
Colton, Sec. 
48, Fitchburg, Mass., [A]. — We have made pro- 
gress individually, which would never have been 
accomplished had it not been for the influence 
coming from our Chapter. Ttiis influence is well 
illustrated by the following facts, in which we 
take great delight : Mr. H. W. Kittredge resigned 
September 27, 1890, and has established in his 
school at Westfield, Mass., a flourishing A. A. 
Chapter. Our President, Mr. Ira C. Greene, is 
attending the Agricultural College at Amherst, 
Mass., and through his influence a Natural His- 
tory Society has been formed there. We have 
held seventeen special meetings this year, at 
which we have dissected and compared the anat- 
omy of the oyster, clam, and fresh-water mussel, 
and arranged our herbarium. We have enough 
money (fifty dollars) to build a cabinet for our 
herbarium cases. It is to be so arranged that one 
case (containing one family) may be taken out 
without disturbing the others. We have bad 
many excursions this year, in parties of from two 
to thirty. One of our most enjoyable excursions 
was on May 3, with Prof. George H. Barton, of 
Boston, and his teachers' geological class, in their 
endeavor to explain the formation of our granite 
quarries. On May 30 we were honored by having 
the Massachusetts State Assembly hold its annual 
convention with us. 
Botany. — We have added the following speci- 
mens to the "Flora of Fitchburg and Vicinity." 
The first, fourth, and eleventh are from Fitch- 
