72 THK NAUTILUS. 



PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 



Descriptions of new West American land, fresh-water 

 AND MARINE SHELLS, by Robt. E. C. Steams, Adjunct Curator of 

 the Dept. of Mollusks, U. S. Nat. Mus. (Ex. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 

 xiii, p, 205.) In this excellent paper Dr. Stearns describes Helix 

 {Ariontci) color ado ensis, Grand Canon of the Colorado, opposite the 

 Kaibab plateau, elevation of 3,500 ft ; H. (Arionta) magdalensis, 

 Magdalena, State of Sonora, Mex., elevation of 1000 ft. above the 

 town ; Holospira semi-sculpta, State of Chihuahua, j\Iex. ; H. arizo- 

 nensis, Dos Cabezos, Arizona; Melanla {Goniobasis f) acxdofilosa, 

 Eagle Lake, Cal., a form allied to G. occata ; Cyclothyca, a new sub- 

 genus of Cajndus, with the species C. corruyata, West coast of Nic- 

 aragua ; Mitra nodocancellata, Gulf of Cal. ; Venericardia barbar- 

 ensis, off Santa Barbara Is., Cal.'; Lucina cequizonata, same locality ; 

 Ve7ius ( Chione) effeviinata, Panama Bay ; Periploma discus, San 

 Pedro, Long Beach, etc. Venericardia borealis Conr. and V- ven- 

 tricosa Gld., and Miodon prolo7igatus Cpr., are also figured. Of the 

 West Coast Helices Dr. Stearns says : " I agree in the main, if not 

 entirely with Mr* Pilsbry in his remarks as contained in the para- 

 graph under Lysinoe in Nomenclature and Check-list of N. A. Land 

 Shells, p, 193, criticising the generic terms, etc., heretofore applied 

 to the helices of the Pacific slope, but I do not perceive the propri- 

 ety of substituting the generic name Lysinoe H. & A. Ad., 1855, any 

 more than Aglaia Albers, 1860, for Arionta Leach, 1820. As for 

 Helminthoglypta, Micrarionta, Eujmrypha etc., as applied to the 

 West Coast snails, there is nothing in them more or less than a beg- 

 garly threshing of beaten straw, not a grain of wheat ; or in other 

 words, neither propriety nor advantage in their use " ! Under Holos- 

 pira a useful list of all known species is given, with critical remarks. 

 Under the description of Goniobasis, doubts are expressed as to 

 whether the western Melanians belong to Goniobasis — a subject al- 

 ready noticed by the Editor in the last Nautilus. 



The subgenus Cyclothyca is proposed for a curious form like a de- 

 pressed Stomatia phymotis, somewhat, probably parasitic on Echinus. 

 The j)lates, three in numl)er, are beautiful examples of photo-en- 

 srraving:. — H. A. P. 



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