130 THE NAUTILUS. 



pulchella, and Pupa contrada ; but they are more partial to swampy- 

 situations, and with otlier small species are found in great numbers 

 in certain places farther back in the country. Just one dead shell 

 of nitidus has beeii taken — near the water, and it would seem to be a 

 splendid locality for them. The albolahris is worthy of special 

 mention on account of the superior size to which they attain : very 

 seldom are they less than oO mill, in diameter, while one shell 

 measures 36. The H. paUiata also are very perfect. 



From the lower end of these woods to the ' Vly ' is but a short 

 distance ; a long narrow strip of Avoodland lies on the north side of 

 tlie causeway and forms the entire south shore of the cove. Here 

 the conditions are much different ; the ground is not over a foot or 

 two above the high tides, and portions of it are occasionally 

 inundated. The soil is of rich black mould with clay substratum, 

 and has produced a dense growth of trees, principally elm ; and a 

 luxurious, almost tropical, undergrowth of shrubbery, ferns, and 

 weeds. 



Here lives and flourishes a colony of Succinea obliqua that is 

 peculiarly interesting. During the warm months, ^lay, June, July 

 and August, they are wonderfully abundant. After the rains they 

 are swarming over everything ; feeding on the decaying rubbish, 

 crawling on the w'eeds and bushes, going up the trunks of trees, and 

 disporting themselves generally as if they really enjoyed their 

 existence. Sometimes I have observed eighteen or twenty large 

 fellows gathered around the foot of a tree as if on the point of a 

 forward march of ascension. They never go very high however ; I 

 have not noticed them beyond five or six feet from the ground. Nor 

 do they confine their attention to the woods ; for in an adjacent large 

 meadow many of them may be found traveling in the deep grass, some 

 as much as a third of a mile away on the hillsides. So congenial are 

 all the conditions surrounding them that they grow to surprising pro- 

 portions ; the best shells average 24 to 25 millimeters, often exceed- 

 ing this. I have recently obtained one that is 28 mill, long. Mr. 

 Pilsbry, to whom I sent a few specimens, says of them, " they are 

 simply phenomenal in size." JNIr. Binney tells me one rarely meets 

 such large ones. The greatest length he mentions in his Manual of 

 American Land Shells is 25 mill. Toward the latter part of 

 summer the older ones die off rapidly, and late in the fall very few^ 

 of them can be seen — but some of course survive the winter, while 

 plenty of young will be left in the field for another year, which 



