60 THE XAUTILUS. 



Cypr.t;a venusta Sowb. ("C. thatcheri" Cox) is commented 

 upon by Dr. J. C. Cox, in Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, 1889, p. 

 187. A variety having much the appearance of C. thersites in color- 

 ation is described and figured. It differs considerably from the type 

 of C. thatcheri. The granular slate-colored sides meet in front and 

 behind, in front of the channels, and form a complete circle round 

 the shell, and the dorsal surface inclosed is ornamented with very 

 •dark geographically bounded, variously shaped portions, mostly 

 rounded ^Yitll tapering offshoots, while the intervening spaces are of 

 the normal bluish-amber color of the type of C. thatcheri. 



Shells new to the United States fauna. We have recently 

 received from Mr. J. A. Singley a number of species new to the U. 

 S. fauna collected by him in Southern Texas. They will be 

 described in the October Nautilus. Other new forms are Zonites 

 selenitoides Pils., a species like Z. minusculus but larger, with strongly 

 costate surface (like Selenites duranti), from California, and Pupa 

 ealamitosa Pilsbry, a tiny but very distinct form from San Diego 

 and from mouth of the San Tomas River, L. Cal. — P. 



Shell collecting in Southern Texas. The following extracts 

 from a letter received by the Editor from jNIr. Singley, will be of 

 interest to "field-eoncho'M^ists." 



"This is an unfavorable year for collecting fresh-water shells. 

 There has been rise after rise in all the sti'eams which makes it 

 awkward for the collector. 



"At New Braunfels where I found Planorhis Liehmanii abundant 

 last fall I could not find a specimen either of the two times I visited it. 

 The lower Rio Grande is no good for land and fresh water-shells. 

 The river is simply a mass of shifting sand — the channel may be here 

 to-day and half a mile away the next rise. No Uniones are found 

 in it whatever, and only a few in the lakes or waterholes over the 

 country ; and as for land shells, I was out in the Avoods every day 

 for about six weeks and hardly a day passed that I did not search 

 for shells. The sending to-day will show you with what poor success. 

 Bulbnxdus is common enough but other species are like Angels' 

 visits. 



"I found Corpus Christi vicinity a better place for Unio than lower 

 down ; but I failed to find the Mierophrjsa incrustata, and other 

 species that are said to occur there, even after searching the Nueces 

 bottoms for about 20 miles at different points up the river. The 

 •dearth of shells at such (apparently) promising localities is dis- 

 heartening." 



