66 THE NAUTILUS. 



motive for, or auy advantage in, his referring to the families or 

 groups that do not occur in Rhode Island ; for, in a list of shells that 

 are found within any limited area, it goes without saying, that 

 those s[)ecies, groups, or families that are not listed or mentioned do 

 not occur. The two hundred and sixteen (216) species enumerated 

 as occurring in the very limited area of Rhode Island, is so small a 

 part of the total molluscan fauna of the globe, and the proportion of 

 families represented by said small number of species, is so small 

 by comparison with the total number of molluscan families, that the 

 inclusion of the non-represented families in his Rhode Island list, 

 would, propriety considered, require the title to be changed so as to 

 read, " List of MoIluscan[families, etc., not represented in Rhode Isl- 

 and," otherwise the suggestion arises that considering the size of 

 the dog the tail is rather extensive ; a homely but expressive illus- 

 tration. It is of little value, from the point of geographical distribu- 

 tion, to know rvhat is not in a place or region ; the value of local 

 lists is their telling us what is. 



In Mr. Ford's " List of Shells of the New Jersey Coast, etc.," on 

 pages 27-29 of the July Nautilus, he includes Fasclolaria granosa 

 Brug. I am not aware, and I have been unable to discover, that 

 Brugiere ever described a species of Fasciolaria. Broderip de- 

 scribed Fasclolaria granosa, a Pacific coast form that inhabits Pana- 

 ma Bay and the general region thei'eabout. I should be pleased to 

 know what shell has been erroneously listed under said name. 



[Mr. Ford included F. granosa among species he had not himself 

 seen, and which he considered doubtful. Ed.] 



In the Century Dictionary, illustrative of the word Ahalone, a 

 figure doubtless representing some species of Haliotis (perhaps in- 

 tended for H. corrugata), is given, with the title underneath " Abalone 

 or Ear-shell ; " this would be well enough if the following had not 

 been added : " (Haliotis tuberculata)." Now the figure, while it fills 

 the first half of the measure as may be seen in the title I have quoted, 

 does not meet the requirements when the sj^ecific name is given, for 

 it is not a figure of tuberculata, as any one can see who is at all 

 familiar with the shells of the Haliotidce. 



R. E. C. S. 



Washington, September 20, 1889. 



