144 THE NAUTILUS^ 



The Genus Vaucheria Pallary. — Mr. Pallary describes 

 (Journ. de Concli. '04, p. 7.) a shell supposed to be that of a slug, 

 under the name Vaucheria tiiigitana. M. Dautzenberg has recently- 

 received fresh specimens, which proved to be plates (the tergum) of 

 Pollicipes cornucopia, a stalked barnacle of European seas. The 

 supposed new genus therefore becomes a synonym of the Cirrhipede. 



Snails in Sepulchres, — While I was very recently conduct- 

 ing the exhuming of quite a number of Indian skeletons, within the 

 corporate limits of Des Moines, Iowa, I found, very much to my sur- 

 prise, several living specimens of Zonitoides minusculus (Binn.) and 

 Helicodiscus lineatus (Say,) very snugly associating with the long dead 

 and buried aborigines. They attracted my attention by being among 

 some of the small white beads, which were about the same size and 

 color. I would often pick up a shell for a bead. They were min- 

 gled with decayed fibrous roots, fragments of blankets etc., in among 

 the bones, often in the crevices of broken and decayed bones. Every- 

 thing was ima very advanced stage of decay, denoting in the neigh- 

 borhood of seventy-five years' btu'ial; the evidence show^ed that the 

 bodies had been wrapped in blankets and buried in wooden boxes. 

 In a number of instances the entire outfit, box and all, was reduced to 

 a mere trace less than half an inch in thickness ; others were two or 

 three inches thick, and a few produced fairly well-preserved skeletons- 

 All contained shells of the above-named species. The burials lay 

 from eighteen inches to three and a half feet deep, in a very loose, fine, 

 sandy, Pleistocene loam. If the snails were at home, as they appar- 

 ently were, is not their association with dead mens' bones an unusual 

 occurrence ? — T. Van Hyning, Supt. Mus. State Hist. Dept. 

 Des Moines, la. 



In the last number of the Proceedings of the Malacological So- 

 ciety of London, Dr. von Ihering adds three new species to the 

 genus Tomigerus, the first for many years. 



A new species of Achatina, A. morrelli, is described by Mr. 

 Preston, from the Zambesi river. It seems to be closely related to 

 A. capelloi. Furtado — H. A. P. 



