132 
POPULAR SOIEE'OE ^EWS. 
[September, 1891. 
©he ©ut-®0Gr ^©Hd. 
Edited by HARLAN H. BALLABD, 
President of the Agassiz Association. 
[P. O. Address, Pittsfield, Mass.] 
A MIDVVINTEE TRIP IN SEARCH OF 
SHELLS. 
The following leaves from the diary of Mrs. M. 
Burton Williamson, of the Isaac Lea Conchologi- 
cal Chapter, are not only of great Interest in 
themselves, but show the possibilities of winter 
field-study in California, in strange contrast to 
the frosty limitations of the northern Atlantic 
coast. 
«♦> 
LEAVES FROM A NATURALISTS DIARY. 
Januart 8. — This morning seven enthusiastic 
lovers of Nature — all ladies, save one small boy — 
boarded the train in I^os Angeles bound for San 
Pedro, •he day was all we could desire, and 
when we saw the blue ocean spread out before us 
at San Pedro we could hardly take time to go to 
the hotel in the city to make the necessary prepa- 
rations for collecting. On our return to the beach 
we hunted up a boatman, and two skiflfs were 
necessary to convey us all across the water to 
Rattlesnake Island. As this island is one long 
sand bar, not more than a quarter of a mile 
across, it did not take us long to walk to the 
beach on the ocean side. We separated into little 
parties at short distances apart, and began our 
hunt for shells that had been washed in by the 
tide. There were plenty of dead Crepidula and 
Pectens. Finding only dead shells on the ocean 
side, I crossed over and walked along the mud 
flats opposite the city of San Pedro. Here the 
Chione were throwing up little jets of water in 
the muddy flat in every direction. Not far from 
the Chione, Cereihidea Californica and Melampus 
oUvacens were found on the surface, the Cerethidea 
making little zigzag lines in the soft, sandy mud 
in several directions. Occasionally a Macoma na- 
guta, washed ashore bj^ the tide, lay half buried in 
the mud. Finding nothing new to my collection 
was to be seen here, I joined the party, and we 
all called at the home of our "boatman" to see 
his collection. I found nothing In his collection 
that was new to me, but took pleasure in looking 
over his shells. We bought some of his shells, 
star-fish, etc., and left him and his fat Mexican 
wife in good humor over our visit. As we did 
not wish to return to the city for lunch, we had 
brought some oranges, sandwiches, etc., with us. 
After lunch we collected Monoceros engonatum 
and Littouria planaxis off the rocks on the short 
breakwater on Rattlesnake Island. Being anxious 
to reach Dead Man's Island, we walked along the 
bay side of the breakwater between Rattlesnake 
and Dead Man's Islands, the distance being one 
and a quarter miles. On the beach in the muddy 
sand an occasional miniature mound of sand indi- 
cated that a Bulla nebulosa was ready to be col- 
lected. The Fecten cequisulcatus also outlined his 
valve in the wet sand, and at times the left valve 
— the darker one — was visible on the surface of 
the mud flat. I never saw Fectens so near the 
shore. Occasionally we fouud Heterodonax hima- 
culatus along the beach, and also Hs'olecurtus Cali- 
fornianus, but none laige. Arrived at the island, 
■we saw Pomanlax undosus in the shallow water, 
each shell crowlJed with a little tuft of alga; on 
its apex whorls. On the long kelp in the tide 
pools, tlie Norrisia norrisii, with his bright red 
mantle border and foot, was a pretty picture — for 
in the water the Norrisia is of a bright red. The 
operculum of this shell is not a smooth, many- 
whoi'led, horny structure, lilce those of our other 
trochids, but the whorls are elevated and scaly. 
I turned over many stones in the rock pools and 
searched in the coarse sand in quest of minute 
shells. In the rock pools -dead white shells of 
Nassa mendica, var. Cooperi, darted hither and 
thither at the will of the little hermit crabs whicli 
inhabited them. When I see a spiral shell move 
rapidly in the water, I know the true owner no 
longer lives in it, but that it is occupied by one of 
these little marauders. I found Fissurella volcano 
more plentiful than ever before at this place, 
though by no means abundant. The time passed 
80 rapidly I had no thought of returning, when 
G , looking at her watch, declared it was time 
we were starting eastward, as it would take a 
long time to reach Rattlesnake Island if we ex- 
pected to do much collecting on the way to it. 
I wanted to get some Chiton, as I needed some for 
exchange, but could only find a very few. As 
there were few shells to be found, — we were now 
on the ocean side of the breakwater, — we hunted 
for star-fish, and were rewarded by finding some 
very fine ones. E found two that were at 
least twelve inches across. In a rock pool undei' 
one corner of a big rocli I saw what at first 
seemed a star-fish that was new to me. I caught 
hold of as much of it as was visible, and now this 
novelty in the tide pool assumed another form! 
It was not an Asteroidea. Could it be an Actina- 
ria? To what order could this strange inhabitant 
of the sea belong, with its soft, smooth, pinkish 
purple-tinted cups that seemed to grow in size 
and number as it resisted the grasp of my hands 
as I breathlessly grasped all of the animal that 
was visible? When I relaxed my hold of it tlie 
soft, leathery mass seemed to separate like the 
fingers on a hand ; the flower-like disks were no 
longer in irregular bunches, but spread out in a 
double row in diff"erent directions. But the tide 
was now too strong for further useless eft'orts. 
Whatever it was, I could not possess it. I heard 
a call from G . She was not far behind me. 
I turned to look at the number of star-fish she 
had found while I had been wasting my time 
and strength over nothing at all! This was the 
thought that passed through my mind. Nothing? 
What was that not one foot away from me in the 
tide pool as I turned around? What form of 
ocean life was this dark, pouch-like body with its 
eight long, whip-like arms? Under these arms to 
my wandering eyes were revealed the cup-like 
disks of my rock novelty ! The devil fish, Foulpe, 
or Octopus, was before me! What should I do? 
I must have him. How could I get him? Mrs. 
Lucie H«.rtt's experience with an Octopus in Brazil, 
as I remembered to have read in Tryon's "Cou- 
chology," flashed through my mind. Was this 
species harmless? "Shall I take him?" I said to 
G . The tide covered him; I must decide 
quickly or he would be gone. His long arms lie 
limp on one side of his body. I fancied he was 
looking at me through his round, sleepy-looking 
eyes. The tide again covered him ; in another 
moment he would surely be washed into the sea ! 
But in that brief space of time Octopus punctatus 
was down in my collecting-bag, and I, with the 
help of G , was pinning the bag together at 
the top with some shield pins that I carried in my 
pocket ! Although I felt I had a prize as I hur- 
ried to reach the cabin on the island where we 
had left some of our baskets, shells, etc., I felt 
that I was in much the same predicament as the 
man who drew the elephant. I had alcohol and a 
jar at the hotel ; but how could I get him into the 
jar? I did not want him alive; I could not kill 
him. (I left Octopus punctatus in the bag on the 
veranda of the liotel all night, but in the morning 
he was dead. When we reached home I measured 
him. He was over thirty-nine inches long ; long- 
est arm, nearly twenty inches ; shortest arm, 
nearly fifteen inches ; body, nearly six inches 
long and two and three-quarters iuches wide. 
His arms, eight in number, were all connected to 
his body by a web-lilie mantle). Just before 
dark — our days are now so short — we came across 
from Rattlesnake Island in the skiff. ^Ve reached 
the hotel, changed our wet shoes, etc., made our- 
selves presentable, and were soon all seated around 
our little table eating our dinner, all satisfied with 
our day's tramp. 
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE NEW YORK 
CITY ASSEMBLY OP THE A. A. 
The fourth year in the history of this Assembly! 
finds it more prosperous than any previous one. 
The Assembly now includes nine of the city 
Chapters, being all the regularly organized ones. 
These are : 
67, (A), Saxifrage Chapter. 
87, (B), Manhattan Chapter. 
397, CH), Columbia Grammar School Chapter. 
414, (K), Ballard Chapter. 
490, (N), Hyatt Chapter. 
630, (Q). 
863, (W). 
943, (T), German- American Chapter. 
949, (Z), Students' Chapter. 
Together they have a total membership of nearly 
two hundred, and constantly increasing. 
At the meeting held Saturda}^, November 22, 
1890, Mr. Theodore G. White read a paper on 
"Methods of Chapter Work," and Mr. Ileinrich 
Ries lectured on the "Results of Biological Re-^ 
search at the Summer School at Cold Spring Har- 
bor, L. I." The lecture was illustrated by lantern 
views, followed at the close of the meeting by a 
microscopical exhibition and display of speci- 
mens, as examples of the w'ork done at the labo- 
ratory by A. A. members. 
On Thursday, January 15, 1891, the Assembly 
met at the residence of Miss L. G. Levy, of the 
Saxifrage Chapter. This being the annual meet- 
ing, considerable important business was trans- 
acted. The election of officers for 1891 resulted 
as follows : 
President— Dr. C. H. Bushong, 863, (W). 
First Vice-President— W. T. Demareat, 87, (B). 
Second Vice-President— MisS L. G. Levy, 67, (A). 
Eecording Secretary— H. Tiedemann, 397, (H). 
Treasurer and Corresponding Secretary— T. G. Wliite, 
949, (Z). 
After the election, a paper was read on "The 
Glacial Age," by Mr. C. G. Cole, and one on "Ir- 
rigation.'' prepared by Miss N. Cleneu, was read 
by Miss Levy. Each paper provoked an animated 
discussion, in which nearly all those present p.ar- 
ticipated. At the conclusion of the scientific por- 
tion of the programme, those present were invited 
to a collation, kindly provided by Mrs. Levy, who 
in this way contributed no small part toward the 
sociability of the occasion. 
By a new provision of the by-laws the regular 
quarterly meetings of the Assembly will be held 
at the rooms of the various Chapters on the second 
Wednesdays in the months of February, May, Oc- 
tober, and December. Visitors and representa- 
tives of Chapters not in the Assembly are cordially 
invited to attend the meetings, notices of the place 
and programme of which will be regularly sent to 
anyone requesting the same from the Correspond- 
ing Secretary. 
At the May meeting, held on the evening of the 
13th, in the hall of Chapter 949, (Z), 49 West 20th 
