228 THP: ice age IX CANADA. 



Myti inincdta. Linn. (And viir. UihUrallen^x.) 



Fossil — Siixicava .sand anil Leda clay ; Montreal; (iHiebeo ; Rivioio- 

 du-Loup ; Anticosti ; (loose Kis-er, N. Siioi'c, Kivei' St. Lawrence; 

 New Ricliniond ; I'ortland ; New Uninswick (Matthew) ; Labrador 

 (Packard) ; (Jreenland (Miiller) ; also in the Pleistocene of Knrope. 



Recent — Little Metis ; Tadonssac ; Riviere-du-Loup ; Rritish Col- 

 umbia ; (Julf 8t. Lawrence, but rare in eoniparison with its abundance 

 in the drift, (lenerally distributed in tlie Arctic seas and Nortli 

 Atlantic, American coast as far south as Cape Cod ; Puget Sound 

 (= preciom Gouhl, P. P. C.) 



Tlie variety usually found in the Pleistocene of Canada is the short 

 or Udilcrd/fi'iiKis variety, wiiich is that occurring in the arctic seas at 

 present, while in the (iulf St. Lawrence tlie ordinary long variety is 

 found alni'st exclusively. At Portland, Maine, liowever, the long 

 v.iriety liven ' tiie Pleistocene, and occasional s})eciniens are found at 

 Riviere-du-Lo nd New Richmond. The form CdiltraUcnal-i occurs 

 living in Labi (Packard), and I have found it at Tadoussae and 



Little Metis. 



It is interesting to observe that while the present species is more 

 abundant tlian the next in tlie Pleistocene, it is much more rare in the 

 Gulf at present. It also occurs in <leeper water. 



In collectiiiff recent specimens of Mija fnmrtifff and J]f. 

 arcnaria at Little ]\Ietis, L have had ojjportunity to ol)- 

 serve their hal)its and varieties in. a manner to ilhistrate 

 the difi'erences ahove noticed. 



At tlie head of Little Metis Wax, whi^n,' the water is 

 shallow and warm, and the hoitom is soft mud and sand, 

 a laru^e variety of Mi/d arrimria is very plentiful in the 

 tiats hare at low tide; so much so that the place is resorted 

 to hy fishermen from localities lower on the coast for 

 bait. It sometimes attains the length of 4J, inches, and 

 has a thick, den.se shell, without perceptible epidermis, 

 and often with radiatinu; bands. So far as I am aware, 

 neither Mjj<t tvaiwata nor the peculiar variety of M. 

 arcnaria referred to below, occurs on this })art of the 

 coast. 



