THE NAUTILUS. 83 
byrsus) lapidivagus, dentifer, swhspirifer, dismenicus ; B. (Scutalus) 
acholus, cosmicus, cacotycus ; B. ( Thaumastus) digueti ; B. (Globulus) 
recognitus ; Berendtia digueti, minorina; Barbatia nova, digueti ; 
Perna recognita ; Anomya [sic] simplex Mabille; Plicatula spondy- 
lopsis, ostreivaga, Chama parasitica, digueti Rochebrune. The 
diagnoses are not accompanied by comparisons with known species, 
nor are figures given; and the work as a whole, instead of adding 
to our knowledge of Lower Californian conchology, quite appreciably 
darkens the subject. There are unquestionably some misidentifica- 
tions, or possibly mixture of specimens from other localities, among 
the marine shells; and numerous typographical errors mar the 
paper. There should be a petition in the litany of all good con- 
chologists against this sort of dilettante trash. 
DE 1’ EXISTENCE DU GENRE BERTHELINIA CROSSE A L’EPOQUE 
ACTUELLE, par Ph, Dautzenberg (Bull. Soe. Zool. France 1895). 
In 1875 a peculiar, very small, Capulus-like shell was discovered in 
the Paris Basin Eocene, and named by Crosse Berthelinia elegans. 
It was supposed to be a univalve; but later another was found, and 
proved to be a /eft valve of the species, which was then transferred 
to the bivalve family Aviculide. The genus has also been surmised 
to be an embryonic bivalve, analogous to Sinusigera in Gastropoda. 
Now a living representative of Berthelinia has been found, and 
named by M. Dautzenberg B. Schiumbergeri, in honor of the dis- 
coverer. It is Jess than a millimeter long, white, with spiral beaks 
like Isocardia cor; the interior is not pearly, but mat, so that Coss- 
mann is probably right in referring Berthelinia to Prasinide rather 
than to the pearl oyster group. It was dredged in sand at the island 
Nossibé, near Madagascar.— H. A. P. 
NOTES AND NEWS. 
Dr. Wm. H. Dati, Honorary Curator of the Department of 
Mollusks, U.S. Nat. Mus., has returned from a prolonged sojourn in 
Alaska, where he has been engaged in an examination of the coal 
resources of the country. 
MussEts IN A City Reservior.—During the cleaning of the 
East Park Reservoir, 33d St. and Columbia Avenue, Philadelphia, 
Mr. J. E. Ives observed numerous Unio complanatus in the muddy 
sediment in course of removal. Specimens presented to the Academy 
of Natural Sciences by him are well-grown and normal. The water 
