THE NAUTILUS. 75 
shore, and caused the tide water of the harbor to scour out the chan- 
nel and drift large quantities of sand over the shallows. 
By this means new homes are made for wanderers, and old inhab- 
itants are washed from their moorings and swept by the tide within 
reach of eager Conchologists. 
It is surprising, however, how seldom the year’s abundance of any 
species repeat themselves. 
At one time Nassa fossata Gld., at another Periploma discus 
Stearns ; at another Lima orientalis Cpr.; or Scalatella striata Cpr., 
are found by the dozen, or score, or hundred in San Pedro Bay or 
vicinity, and then for years after only a few are found at a time. 
The sea conditions are unsettled. This keeps local collectors 
alert. 
Within a few months I have found a specimen of Tvritoniwm 
gibbosum which is new to California, and one of Cylichna cylindracea 
var. attonsa Cpr., which is new to San Pedro. Both shells are beach 
worn. 
This summer I spent July at San Pedro and added a number of 
new specimens to my collection besides learning many interesting 
facts about habits and habitat of molluscs. 
A student only gets a half knowledge who cannot collect speci- 
mens and study the living animals in their native haunts. 
July seems to be a favorite month for many species to lay their 
eggs. 
Mitra maura (Ide), fastens her capsules to the underside of stones; 
the Naticidz place their “sand collars” in the damp sand; Bulla 
nebulosa Gld. coils up her yellow strings on the grassy flats, and 
Haminea virescens Sby. chooses the same place and time, but has a 
different shade of yellow for her egg-strings. 
I was much interested in the eggs of Acteon (Rictaxis) puncto- 
celatus Cpr. 
This mollusk has been rare, and I am inclined to think it only 
comes inshore in numbers during the breeding season and after that 
burrows in sand in deeper water for the rest of the year. In July 
we found them by the hundred. 
The eggs are Jaid in a white string three or four inches long that 
coils so as to form a loose spiral. 
The spirals are anchored, by some means, so firmly that the wash- 
ing of rough surf does not sweep them away. 
