50 THE NAUTILUS. 



region to have been still more separated formerly from Tennessee, 

 the present headquarters of the American Melanians. 



In this connection I might mention a matter to which Professor 

 Theodore Gill of Washington directed my attention during a recent 

 conversation ; namely, whether the Californian Melanians do not 

 belong to the old-w^orld family Melaniidce instead of to the Ameri- 

 can group Strepomatidce (^=CeriphasiidcE Gill, P^ewrocer/c/fe Fisher). 

 I have found that certain features of the dentition of G. plicifera — 

 the trilobate base of the rhachidian tooth — are more similar to the 

 Melaniidce than to the East American forms. I would, therefore, 

 ask some western naturalist to observe whether the edge of the man- 

 tle be fringed or plain ; or, if any one has alcoholic or even freshly 

 dried specimens, and will communicate a few to me, I will announce 

 the result of an examination through the pages of the Nautilus. 



A FEW "NEVERS" FOR CONCHOLOGISTS. 



BY DR. V. STERKI. 



One or another of the following hintsmaybeof service to younger 

 students of Conchology, and also the older ones possibly will read 

 them : — 



Never dry your specimens in too great heat ; they should be dried, 

 but not fried. Not only the shell is liable to change color and to 

 become utterly fragile, but also the " soft parts " are so changed as 

 to be unfit for microscopic examination. 



Never kill and dry them when the animals are still active : in 

 this way the aperture may be filled up in a way that it is very 

 diflBcult or even impossible to examine it ; this is especially of im- 

 portance in Pupidse and other groups with lamellae etc., in the 

 aperture. When the specimens are kept dry in a box for a few days, 

 they Avill retire deep enough in the shell to leave the aperture free. 



Never pack up specimens without adding a label with the habitat 

 and as much notice about its nature as possible. Without that, 

 they may be worthless or even worse I — When Shuttleworth, that 

 eminent English Conchologist, had died at Berne, Switzerland, the 

 contents of several boxes of his valuable collections had to be de- 

 stroyed (not thrown away !), because there were no labels with them, 

 and the cataloarues not to be found. 



