60 THE NAUTILUS. 
species along this strip of beach after next winter’s storms. 
It seems as though a large colony has been whipped out for 
a distance of several miles. At Long Beach (the next beach 
eastward) there were a dozen or two S. solidissima per linear 
rod. 
We tramped over the top of this gigantic funeral pile for a 
distance of half a mile, starting near the hospital. As a re- 
sult we picked up 16 specimens of Pecten magellanicus (with 
the animal) besides a few odd valves. Beyond the half mile 
the species was not found. The most astonishing find of the 
day, however, was a large specimen of Buccinum undatum 
fairly well covered with Hydractinia echinata and occupied 
by a putrid hermit. This species is of accidental occurrence 
west of the eastern end of the island. It is not an inhabitant 
of our sandy beaches. 
On the channel side of Long Beach where dredges are 
widening the channel and building up land we found some 
hundred-odd specimens of Ensis directus freshly cast up. 
The largest had a width of 1°/,, inches and a length of 
over 7 inches. A very few were found which were perfectly 
straight-looking from the outside like a true Solen, but when 
they were cleaned out and the hinge examined they were 
found to be Ensis. As I have never found the slightest indi- 
cation of a Solen in this vicinity, nor as I do not know of a 
single authentic record of one for our coast, I am forced to 
the conclusion that the lots in the American Museum collec- 
tion (as well as those in other museums) labeled New York 
and forming parts of the collections of shell fanciers have (as 
is the case with many other species) the wrong locality at- 
tached to them through carelessness or ignorance. This error 
seems to have been a common one for this species and it is 
time it be definitely rectified. This mistake of locality in 
collections of collectors of shells as a hobby (as the Jay, 
Haines, Newcomb, etc., collections) is common, so that their 
collections should not be considered for distributional records 
of species. 
