THE NAUTILUS. 141 



MORTALITY IN MUSSELS AT ORANGE, VA. 



BY W. J. FARKKR, ORANGE, YA. 



Referring to iVlr. Strode's paper in the December number of the 

 Nautilus, I, too, have been lately much puzzled at finding dead 

 mussels in large quantities in the ponds about this place ; hundreds 

 may be picked up each morning on the edges of one pond, especially 

 that belonging to a grist mill. U. hyalinus and A. wiUiamsii seem 

 to be the principal sufferers, for although A. edentata, M. undulata 

 and U. eomplanatus abound in the same pond, only a few empty 

 shells of these latter are found and they seem to have been cleaned, 

 out by raccoons ; the other two species are always found with the 

 animal entire and for the most part full of spawn. This, as well 

 as the other ponds about, has been unusually low throughout the 

 last two months and with Mr. Strode I think low water and not 

 catfish, accounts for the bivalve mortality. 



I may mention that in the same pond large numbers of cat- 

 fish have died throughout the summer and autumn ; some I took 

 in a dying state had a growth of fungus on the body. 



LITTORAL LAND SHELLS OF NEW JERSEY. 



BY H. A. PILSBRY. 



The Atlantic shore of New Jersey is so sandy that few land snails 

 find suitable conditions there. I have seen specimens of only the 

 following species from the immediate neighborhood of the coast, 

 restricting this to a strip of say one or two miles inland. 



Helix (Mesodon) thyroides Say. 



All the eastern New Jersey specimens are thin and light, 

 resembling the buceuienta form more than the typical thyroides. 



Those from Asbury Park are toothless, have the umbilicus half 

 covered, and measure from 17 to 19 mm. diameter. 



Specimens fi'om Point Pleasant, N. J., collected by Messrs. F. H. 

 Brown and Witmer Stone are even smaller than those collected by 

 myself at Asbury Park. Compared with the typical thyroides these 

 specimens are much smaller, generally more globose and conoidal. 



