118 THE NAUTILUS. 



most southern houses, this is supported by corner pillars, the space 

 beneath being open to the winds and often to driving rains. Some 

 of the boxes rotted, specimens fell out and labels decayed; when at 

 length the collection became the property of the Alabama Geological 

 Survey, portions of it had literally to be scooped up with a shovel. 

 The condition was not encouraging, but such things always look worse 

 than they really are. No doubt some specimens and labels were 

 irretrievably lost, but by far the greater part of the collection was 

 saved intact, and for this we must thank the able director of the 

 Geological Survey, Dr. Eugene A. Smith. From the first he was 

 keenly alive to the value of the Showalter shells, but with the means 

 at his disposal he could do no more than preserve them from further 

 harm; this he has done conscientiously. For years the collection 

 has been stored in the State Museum at Tuscaloosa, but it could not 

 be made available to students. 



Some months ago Mr. Bryant Walker asked me to examine the 

 Showalter collection and, if possible, catalogue the Unionidoe. Dr. 

 Smith placed the shells unreservedly in my hands and forwarded the 

 work by every possibly means; ultimately he asked me to arrange the 

 ■whole collection, and this I am now doing. 



Later on I hope to give a more extended account of this historical 

 collection. It is much richer than I had imagined, and nearly all 

 can be saved to science. For the student of Alabama Pleuroceratidce 

 its importance can hardly be overestimated; species which have been 

 among the rarest in our collections are here represented by hun- 

 dreds, sometimes thousands, of good specimens, and these, if not 

 exactly cotypes, are at least the lots from which types were taken. 

 Generally speaking, the shells are correctly labeled, far better than 

 PleuroceratiJcB in the majority of our cabinets. The TJnionidce and 

 land shells are also important. Dr. Showalter had a general collec- 

 tion of no great extent, and this will be useful for educational 

 purposes. 



Every naturalist w^ill be glad to know that the Showalter collection 

 can be saved, and that it will soon be housed in the new museum 

 building. The liberal character of Dr. Smith is a sufficient guar- 

 antee that the spf-cimens will be available to every true student. 



State University, Tuscaloosa, Ala., Feb. 9, 1909. 



