118 
THE - CONCHOLOGISTS’ - EXCHANGE. 
Young Collecfors’ Corner. 
The Conchologist in Bermuda: 
BY J. MATTHEW JONES. 
Each year, when the Autumn days return, 
and the sear and tinted leaves fall before the 
chilly blast, how often do we sigh in memory 
of ‘*the days of auld lang syne” when the 
pleasant balmy breezes of the “still vex’d 
Bermoothes ”’ kindly fanned us as we roamed 
along the coral strand, or traversed the half- 
submerged reef, laved by the tepid waters of 
the Gulf Stream, without whose aid those fair 
isles would not have been. Yes, if the con- 
chologist could only command the wild bird’s 
wing and flit from the rude north to the gentle 
south at his own sweet will, one flight would 
assuredly be to those dear old ocean isles 
where many a happy day was spent bagging 
the numerous specimens now stored away 
among our many treasures and valued more 
highly than purest gold: 
Perhaps no locality in the wide world could 
present a more charming and interesting field 
to the conchologist, or perhaps we should say 
the general marine zoologist, than the Bermu- 
das, for apart from the consideration that the 
position of the place is so remote from any | 
other terresterial formation, the chances of ob- 
taining by thorough search, extremely rare and 
in several cases entirely new forms gives a 
smack ofexcitment to every day’s investigations 
wholly unknown to the collector working on | 
well known and exhausted shores. 
First to attract the collector’s attention are 
the Littorinas, here represented by northern 
forms, whose original habitat was the Carib- 
bean Sea, ZL. muricata and L. dilatata are 
by far the most numerous, while Z. scadra 
occurs in some abundance in the mangrove 
swamps, those sheltered inlets where the cu- 
rious matted roots of that tropical tree sink 
deep into the rich mud watered by the flow of 
each coming tide. ZL. z2czac, although not rare, 
is yet not common, and Z. mauritiana, which 
we think may prove to be but a variety of 
2iczac, 1s very rare. 
The Neritas come next, Verita fessellata 
being especially abundant. AV. felovonta, com- 
monly called “ bleeding tooth,” is not by any 
means common, and the collector may consider 
himself lucky if he gets a dozen good specimens 
in his day’s ramble. The mollusca appears to 
be gregarious, for it is rarely to be found singly, 
generally two or three together, and sometimes 
the minute young with them. Numbers of the 
dead shells of JV. ¢esse/lata are tenanted by 
hermit crabs, and the little rock pools at low 
tide are rendered quite animated by the move- 
ments of these crustaceans carrying their bur- 
dens hither and thither, while the larger hermit 
crabs occupy the 777bo pica shells, and seem 
to keep away from the reach of the tide, and 
mounting in some cases even the higher ground 
of the cliffs, some fifteen or twenty feet above 
the sea, 
Occasionally after a northerly storm, when 
the bays and inlets become filled with a solid 
mass of gulf weed (Sayanum bucciferum) the 
floating Janthina of two species comzmnis and 
globosa occur in myriads of all sizes, and with 
them and of the same lovely violet, the oblique 
bellela, of which whole fleets are stranded on 
the shelving rocks of the northern shore 
The Limpets are represented by /ésszzel/a 
barbadensis and Siphonaria brunnea, the latter 
in great abundance adhering to the smooth 
water-worn shore rocks near high water mark, 
while the former shelter themselves underneath 
the tubular rocks or wherever they are not 
exposed to the force of the raging waters. 
Chiton squamosus occurs in great abundance, 
lining the smooth water worn sides of the chan- 
nels and indentations of the shore rocks between 
tidal marks. Old and young are massed to- 
gether. The largest I have ever taken measured 
5 inches in length by 2 inches, 3% lines in 
breadth. It is called ‘‘suck-rock’’ by the 
natives. 
( Zo be continued.) 
Don’? forget to tell your friends that THE 
CONCHOLOGISTS’ EXCHANGE is alive and well, 
and that for 50 cents they can read it for one 
year, and get the choice of 3 fine Premiums. 
