22 THE NAUTILUS. 



DrymcBus nuhilus Preston, of which I have purchased a specimen 

 from tlie author, who described it in the " Journal of Malacology," 

 vol. X, no. 1, March 1903, appears to be absolutely the same as 

 Drymceus recluziamis Pfr., var. martensianus Pils., from Costa Rica, 

 which of course has the priority. 



Helicina pterophora Sykes (Proc. Malac. Soc. of London, vol. v, 

 no. 1, 1902, p. 20, fig.), from Guatemala, appears not to differ 

 essentially from H. oxyrhyncha Crosse and Debeaux, from unknown 

 locality. The shells labelled oxyrhyncha in the collection of the 

 British Museum, from Bonacca Island, Honduras, are hardly refer- 

 able to this species, hence, I suppose that Mr. Sykes has been mis- 

 led in considering his species pterophora as distinct from the true 

 oxyrhyncha. An example of the latter in my collection is quite 

 typical, lacking the colored bands of pterophora and uniform yellow. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Snails and Slugs in the New Inteknationai. Encyclo- 

 pedia. — In The Dial (Chicago) of Nov. 16, 1904, I took occasion 

 to set forth the character of some of the articles on scientific subjects 

 found in the most recent Encyclopaedias. The article " slug " was 

 examined in a number of them, with interesting results. I said, 

 however, " the ' New International ' and the * Encyclopedia Amer- 

 icana ' have not yet reached the letter S, so we cannot tell what sur- 

 prises they have in store for us." The former of these has now come 

 to S, and today I turned with interest to " slug." The common 

 AgrioUmax campestris appears as " Lima campestris " though one 

 would think a campestrian Lima might find it difficult to exist ! We 

 are also told that slugs are " vegetable eaters," without qualification. 

 Turning over the article " snail," I find a colored plate of American 

 snails. The generic nomenclature is almost pre-historic, " .^e^^'a: " 

 covering three different families, not to speak of genera. Thus we 

 have Helix fuliginosa, Helix alternata, etc. We also have Bulimus 

 dealbatus and Bulimns fasciatus. 



Now all this is stupid enough, and it seems fitting for those who 



