36 THE NAUTILUS. 



PUBLICATIONS EECEIVED. 



Reports on Mollusks. — Two interesting reports on the mol- 

 lusk fisheries of Massachusetts have been published during the past 

 year by the Massachusetts Commission on Fisheries and Game. 

 The reports represent a three-year investigation of the life, habits 

 and methods of culture of the clam, quahaug, oyster and scallop. 

 The work was done by Mr. David L. Belding, biologist. The sub- 

 ject is treated very thoroughly, with an account of their former natu- 

 ral abundance, historical wastefulness, present conditions and the 

 possibilities of development. " Thousands of acres once productive 

 lie barren, and we have but a remnant of the former abundant yield." 

 Massachusetts fishermen to-day receive an annual income of $685,705 

 from the shell fisheries, which approximately cover a productive area 

 of 40,000 acres. It is estimated that when the present vast areas 

 are again made productive the value of the annual catch should be 

 increased tenfold. 



NOTES. 



Chiton aureus Spalowsky, Prodromus in Systema Historicum Tes- 

 taceoi-um (Wien, 1795), p. 88, pi. 13, figs. 6a, 65, " Vaterland die 

 Siidsee (von der Insel Otaheiti ?)" seems to be the common Magel- 

 lanic Plaxiphora setigera, and is the oldest name for that species. 

 It is described in a rare book, recently acquired by the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences, and which I do not remember to have seen re- 

 ferred to in any other work. The figures are excellent in drawing 

 and beautifully colored, much like those of Born. Most of them 

 represent well-known species of Linnseus and Gmelin. — H. A. 



PiLSBRY. 



Note on Lampsilis discus (Lea.) — It may be worth while to 

 record a lapsus pennce in the reference to this species in Mr. Simp- 

 son's Synopsis of the Naiades, p. 705. Figure 310, plate LXII, of 

 the Conchologia Iconica, of Sowerby, is there cited by Mr. Simpson 

 under L. discus Lea. That figure really represents U. crassidens 

 Lam., as noted by Simpson himself on page 707 of the Synopsis. 

 The true L. discus Lea being shown in the Conchologia Iconica by 

 a fine figure under the name of " Unio mexicanus Sowerby." — L. S. 

 Frierson. 



