388 JOURNAL OF CONCHOLOGY. 



me in Lincolnshire over fifty years ago. A friend tells me the 

 var. is named aretiicola Mcgill., but I have a single example 

 from M. x^ncey, from the Jura, which he names var. pellucida- 

 fasciata ; this is a little different, but evidently horttnsis. 



In the same page Mr. Mason mentioned the peculiar 

 epidermis of the Philippine Island species oi Bulinii {Cochlostyla). 

 One day I paid a visit to dear old Cuming. I was always ad- 

 mitted to his ' sanctum ' — a privilege accorded to few, — I found 

 him in a towering rage ! He had sold a fine series of the 

 Philippine shells to the King of Portugal, which had been 

 presented to some national museum by His Majesty. The 

 curator, thinking to make them ' look nicer,' rubbed oil over 

 them ! with the result that they all became a uniform brown, 

 and had been returned to my old friend as ' shells painted by 

 him ' ! ! ! He stormed and raged at the destruction of the 

 beautiful specimens, but calmed down when I suggested their 

 immersion in an alkali to remove the oil. This was done, and 

 the shells, restored to their former beauty, were again sent to 

 the King with an explanatory letter. 



I have heard collectors say that Cuming's ' localities ' were 

 not to be trusted. I have seen him get out a collection of shells 

 for a customer, so can throw a little light on the subject. He 

 had a long table running along one side of his room in the upper 

 story. He would walk along this with a basket of shells in one 

 hand, a 'jumble' of shells ! ! He would pick out a pair, place 

 them on the table, and dictate to his secretary (I never saw him 

 write) name, author, and locality ! ! His memory of shells was 

 ' prodigious ' ! but, of course, he was but human, and therefore 

 liable to err. ,^«^»^ 



Hyalinia cellaria m. sinistrorsum. — Mr. C. W, 



Johnson records in the ' Nautilus ' for December, the finding of 

 a reversed specimen of this species at West Conshohocken, in 

 Pennsylvania, U.S.A., by the late Mr. Robert Walton. This is, 

 I believe, the first recorded instance of the occurrence of this 

 monstrosity in this one of our most abundant species. — J. W. 

 Taylor, December, 1893. 



J.C., vii., July 1894. 



