56 THE NAUTILUS. 
_ Currous CuHINEsE Ust or SHELL-FISH.—The Chinese have been 
students of the habits of animals for many thousand of years, and 
the influences of this study have manifested themselves in their art 
and their architecture, so much-so, that one can readily recognize 
the common form of their animal life through its resemblances to 
the objects and pictures with which we are familiar. 
One of the most interesting is what is known as the “ joss-shell.” 
Every one has noticed the pearly luster of the bivalves of our rivers 
and ponds, fresh-water mussels, they are called. These mussels are 
lined throughout with the same kind of material as the pearl-oyster, 
and, indeed, pearls of value are often to be found in them. In 
China and Japan, these mussels grow to great size, in the latter 
country being oftentimes seven to ten inches in length, and in China, 
fully as large as a small saucer. The shrewd Chinese are aware 
that the pearly nacre is a protection of the animal, which has thus 
the smoothest of substances against its sensitive skin, and they know 
also that any grain of dirt or roughness will be quickly coated with 
pearl if it should lie under the mantle. They therefore catch the 
animal, and oblige it to make such designs as they desire. These are 
usually little josses, images of some one of the Chinese Gods, which 
are formed in clay and slipped between the mantle and the shell of 
the mollusk. The latter, as soon as it is put into the water again, 
begins to cover the model with a coat of pearl, and at some time, 
when the process has been carried far enough, the animal is killed 
and the shells preserved with their pearly josses and sold as curiosi- 
ties. They are, however, very rare in this country, being on exhi- 
bition only in a few of the larger museums. It is said that upwards 
of one thousand of the Chinese made their living by this industry, 
and that they will, on order, insert in the shells models of the 
initals of any one’s name, which, after a wait of a year and a half, 
will be ready for delivery.— The Happy Thought, July 15, 1895. 
Pror. Grupert D. Haruts, of Cornell University, has returned 
from a geological trip through Mississippi and Alabama, and is now 
spending two weeks at the Academy of Natural Sciences, studying 
the “ L2a Collection” of Eocene fossils. 
PoLyGyRA CEREOLUS SANCTIJOHANNIS n. var. Shell having the 
characters given in Man. Conch. IX, p. 73 for P. cereolus septemvolva, 
but periphery pinched out into an excessively acute keel. It is 
extremely abundant along the middle St. Johns River, Fla., from 
the Lake George region to L. Monroe at Sanford. I have seen 
nothing like it from other parts of the State. The shell is very 
thin, having very little lime in its composition, never enough to 
give a whitish color.—Pulsbry. 
