76 THE NAUTILUS. 
They so closely resemble the spiral pattern on the adult shell 
that the collector, looking down through the water, not unfrequently 
stoops to pick up what he thinks is one of these little gasteropods 
and finds a string of eggs in his fingers. 
I visited Portuguese Bend and learned that Purpura emarginata 
Desh., which I found in quantity more than a year ago, is a resident 
ora comer and a goer, for more than a dozen were collected this 
summer. Its habitat is limited to a small mussel bed. 
Other localities so much like this mussel bed, that one would 
consider them suitable dwelling places do not boast of a single Pur- 
pura; so that something besides collectors must disturb this usually 
common species. 
I collected at San Pedro an abundance of Acmea paleacea Gld- 
on the eel grass. 
These close clingers love the grass on the outside of the island 
that is swept by heavy swells and where the water scarcely leaves 
them even in very low tides. 
Their more peaceful cousins Acmea depicta Gld. will probably be 
found swaying with the grass in the stiller waters of the bay, for 
dead shells have been frequently found in the drift. 
In the quiet bay quantities of drift material are washed up with 
algze and eel grass during medium tides. 
This is rich in minute forms. It consists largely of broken shells 
of molluscs and crustaceans, but there is a sufficient quantity of 
Pedipes, Siphodentalium, Tornatina, Cecum, Truncatella, Mitromor- 
pha, Turbonilla, Cerithiopsis, Triforis, Diala, Mumiola and other wee 
bodies to amply repay any one for carrying away a few pounds of 
the drift to be dried and sorted at home. 
The sifting and the sorting with a microscope takes so much time 
and patience, that the new and rare species hidden in my bags of 
drift must wait a more convenient season. 
The yearly extension of sand flats at San Pedro, must make 
happy all sand loving species such as Bulla, Sigaretus, Natica, Ol- 
vella and scores of bivalves. 
Besides these sandy stretches there are mud flats, rocky points, 
brackish water, fresh water, smooth or rocky beaches enough to 
make San Pedro an ideal collecting ground. 
Although nearly all the localities are easy of access for the Con- 
chologist, or the collector who “makes shell flowers,” there are 
changes enough taking place to insure a good supply of shells. 
