140 THE NAUTILUS. 



so.'" "West Coast conchologists are in error," etc., etc. One 

 esteemed correspondent quite recently wrote me, " Some West Coast 

 conchologists are a little mixed." When we understand that most 

 all West Coast conchologists have depended on the " Wise men of 

 the East " for the names and all that pertains to the study of con- 

 chology, and that many of their mistakes are simply a reflection back 

 to the East of the blunders that have been sent out to the West by 

 Easterners, we can see just where the smile comes in. My own 

 experience of thirty-five years " on these lines " has two sides to it, 

 one very pleasant and the other very exasperating. I fear there 

 have gone out of my shell den some expressions for which I cannot 

 be held responsible, for in my way of thinking the provocation has 

 been very great. 



The fact is we all make blunders and mistakes, and West Coast 

 conchologists do their share; but when we follow monographs pub- 

 lished by Eastern conchologists that contain mistakes, and when we 

 depend on Eastern conchologists for the names, and many of these 

 names prove to be erroneous, it seems hardly fair to refer to West 

 Coasters in such a way that those who do not know all the facts 

 would think that West Coast conchologists were nothing but a lot of 

 blunderers. " Wise men of the East," please take a rest, and pick 

 the beam out of your own eye ! 



NEW NORTH AMERICAN SPHJERIA. 



BY DR. V. STERKI. 



During the last seven years I had chances to examine tens of 

 thousands of Sphaeria and Calyculinae, alongside with the Pisidia, 

 owing to the efforts and the kindness of many conchologists and 

 partly to my own collecting. Yet I refrained from publishing any- 

 thing on the subject before I should have acquired some knowledge 

 about the range of variation of the several species, almost endless in 

 some instances. There are some new forms, however, so very differ- 

 ent from those published that they must be named and described. 



Spheerium crassum, n. sp. Mussel large, strongly inflated, almost 

 equipartite, somewhat rhomboidal in perpendicular outline; beaks a 

 little anterior, hirge and full, slightly flattened on top, prominent 

 over the hinge line; superior margin rather strongly, inferior mod- 



