60 TUE NAUTILUS. 



Snail Trap. — " A woman whose garden was being overrun with 

 snails wrote to the Bureau of Agriculture at "Washington for a remedy. 

 She was told to put large pieces of cut raw potato on the under side 

 of a board, raised at one end a few inches from the ground. This 

 she did, with the result that in one week a thousand snails had col- 

 lected in that one spot." 



PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 



Ne"vv Species of Land-shells from the Panama Canal 

 Zone. — By William H. Dall. Smiths. Misc. Coll. vol. 59, no. 18, 

 July 27, 1912. 



Pleurodonte {Labyrhithus) goldmani and Plehocheilus pirriensis 

 are described as new. The latter is a large and fine form related to 

 P. coloratus of Colombia, Not having seen the specimens I may be 

 wrong, but P. goldmani does not appear distinct from sipunculata 

 Forbes, which I have ranked as a variety of P. otis. The specimen 

 figured as P. labyrinthus Desh. seems to be what I described as P. 

 Otis orthorhinns. It is not labyrinthus Dh., which is the same as P. 

 Otis Sol. H. A. P. 



The American Species of Sphyradium, with an inquiry as 

 to their generic relationships. By G. Dallas Hanna. U. S. Nat. 

 Mus. Proc. vol. 41, pp. 371-376. The type species, S. edentulum 

 Drap. ( Vertigo simplex Gld.) has been dissected by Mr. Hanna, who 

 shows that by the direct ureter and genitalia it belongs to the Pupil- 

 lida, closely resembling Vertigo. The jaw however is composed of 

 16 overlapping plates, as in Punctum. The classification proposed 

 by Dr. Sterki and generally adopted recently will therefore give way 

 to the old view that edentulum is a Pupoid snail. Until Punctum 

 can be examined, its position must be held in suspense. If the foot 

 has pedal grooves, it will remain in Endodontidce. Otherwise it may 

 be a helicoid form of Pupillidce., but this does not seem likely. Mr. 

 Hanna gives S. alticola Ingersoll specific rank, and describes a new 

 form from the Pleistocene of Kansas as *S'. hasta. It is nearly 6 

 mm. long. 



It may be mentioned in this connection that the name Sphyradium 

 is not tenable for this group, which must be called Columella. The 

 argument in the case will be given in a monograph of New York 

 shells now in preparation H. A. Pilsbrt. 



