34 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXIV. 



dred yards west of the pier at North Bay in Lake 

 Nipissing, while similar to acuminatum not fully 

 matured, appear to be a different species. If so, they 

 have not been described. Additional material in 

 quantity, collected later in the season, would pro- 

 bably remove all doubt ; but an effort to obtain it 

 on the occasion of a subsequent visit failed owing 

 to the height of the water and the absence of pro- 

 per facilities for dredging. The ten largest shells 

 found average 8.78 x 7, 15 x 5.13 mm. or 100: 81.5: 

 58.5. 



The average size of ten full grown shells found 

 at Britannia is 12.1 x 10 x 7.5 mm. or 100:82.5: 

 61.5. Four miles up the lake, in Shirley's Bay, the 

 shell is slightly smaller. The species occurs sparsely 

 along New Orchard Beach. 



11. Sphaerium striatinum Lamarck was de- 

 scribed in 1818 from specimens believed to have been 

 collected in Lake George, New York. The types 

 are, I presume, preserved in the Jardin des Plantes. 

 The type locality lies in a region where there are few 

 collectors, even among those who, like the writer, 

 occasionally visit its lovely shores. My few oppor- 

 tunities have been restricted to the south or upper 

 end of the lake, and were absolutely fruitless. The 

 shell doubtless occurs in one or more of the bays 

 along the east shore, or at the outlet, near historic 

 Ticonderoga. 



The desirability of obtaining shells from the 

 locality which furnished the type chiefly arises from 

 the brevity of the original description and the diffi- 

 culty of determining what shell it was applied to. 



Lincoln had in his law office a drawer labelled 

 "If you can't find it anywhere else, look here." 

 Similarly striaiium is a species to which any medium 

 sized shell of the genus may be assigned. Dr. Sterki 

 states (Am. Carng. Mus. Vol. X, p. 437) that al- 

 most every Sphaerium has been named "striatinum." 



Mussels believed to be of that species abound on 

 the sandy shoals along the northerly shore of Duck 

 Ilsand. They are so numerous that sometimes in 

 August and September they form a distinct line 

 where washed up by the waves from passing boats, 

 and are preyed upon by plover and ether v. ading 

 birds. Ten adult shells average 1 1 .2 x 8.3 x 5.6 

 mm., or 100: 74:50. No Sphaerium but this has 

 been observed along the upper beaches of the island, 

 unless a shorter and less inflated shell which is but 

 occasionally met with shall prove distinct. 



Striatinum has been found in the canal at Corn- 

 wall. Shells from that locality more nearly resemble 

 specimens attributed to this species received from 

 various points in the United States than do the Duck 

 Island shells. It occurred among shells collected 

 at Toronto, in the bay east of the mouth of the 

 Humber, a locality now destroyed by harbor im- 

 provements, which afforded me the only specimens 

 of the European Valvata piscinalis L. discovered on 

 this continent. In passing it may be mentioned that 

 another importation, Bithynia tentaculata L., 

 abounds in Toronto Bay, and in the canal at Corn- 

 wall. 



(To he continued.) 



BELATED GUESTS. 



By Frank Morris, Peterborough, Ont. 



In the last week of December, while workmg on 

 examination papers, I took an occasional tramp with 

 a colleague through the countryside about the city 

 of Peterborough, Ont. We were both armed with 

 field-glasses and got more than the usual run of 

 luck in observations. 



On one occasion, west of the city, we sighted a 

 flock of small birds at work among the coarse stalks 

 of pigweed and other plants in a wayside field. 

 The quickness of the birds' movements and the cur- 

 ious unanimity of the whole flock, as it forged hur- 

 riedly ahead to a fresh clump of seed spikes, or 

 rose in swirling flight through the air, now warping 

 half across the field, to settle suddenly down, as 

 by a single impulse, at some unexpected point — all 

 this made endless entertainment to watch, even 

 though the bleak wind drew the rheum from one's 

 eyes. On closer view the flock proved to be made 



up of goldfinches in their sober garb of winter with 

 a sprinkling of snowbirds. 



East of the city, again, on Dec. 28th, from the 

 middle of a field beside us, there suddenly rose 

 just such another flock of small birds, for all the 

 world like a flutter of leaves caught up by a ran- 

 dom gust and swept through the air; along they 

 came, warping this way and that, now rising, now 

 falling; and suddenly wheeling downwards in mid- 

 air, dropped into a row of elm saplings right be- 

 side us. The numerous faint twitterings heard in 

 flight were replaced by one or two, single, clear, 

 deliciously sweet canary notes of tivee-ee, trvee-ec, 

 from some leader of the band. "Goldfinches," I 

 exclaimed ; but my companion, more alert with his 

 glasses, soon detected the rich brown-crimson cap of 

 the Redpoll, and before I had time to confound 

 my ears with the more telling evidence of the 



