l66 TOURNAL OF CONCHOT.CGY, VOL. IT, NO. 6, APRII,, I905. 



above the river level. The loess of this district is, I believe, known 

 as the "orange sand," and is of great thickness. Vv'hile exploring 

 the battle-field, I searched for land shells, but did not find a single 

 recent species. However, in the deep road cuttings I found abun- 

 dance of semi-fossil shells, weathering out of the sandy walls, often at 

 a depth of twenty feet. These were all representatives of recent 

 species, which I have taken living in Missouri, and are interesting, as 

 they are all land shells — loess shells being usually aquatic : Helix 

 exoleta Say, H. tridentata Say, H. hirsuta Say, H. coucava Say, 

 and H. solitaria Say. 



In St. Louis and in New Orleans I took two series of Fhysa, very 

 distinct from each other, and not corresponding to any of the very 

 numerous forms in the Natural History Museum at New York, where 

 I took my captures for identification. In this collection there is a 

 very extensive representation of Fh. Iieterostropha from all parts of 

 North America, where it varies as much as Limncea peregra does here. 

 I have lately had the opportunity of comparing my specimens with 

 those in our National Collection at South Kensington, with Mr. E. A. 

 Smith, and we came to the conclusion that both sets of shells 

 belonged to the species Ph. heterostropha. On the same occasion I 

 had with me some Ph. heterostropha from Dukinfield, some Ph. acuta 

 from Kew Gardens, and some Ph. acuta taken by myself at Ostend. 

 Now, each of these five sets of shells was distinct in some particulars 

 from the rest, and yet they blended with each other, so that it was 

 impossible to draw a distinct line between them ; and the same 

 blending was noticeable with these five sets with many sets of Ph. 

 heterostropha and Ph. acuta in the museum cases ; and the conclusion 

 which we came to was that, as far as the shells go, there is no specific 

 line to be drawn between the two species, a conclusion that I had 

 previously formed. As far as my observation goes, the animals of 

 both species are alike, and I may remark that Moquin-Tandon's 

 description of Ph. acuta and Binney's of Ph. heterostropha are not 

 sufficiently contrastive to be helpful. If further investigation should 

 combine the two species, Ph. acuta Drap. has the priority. 



CLAMS. 



No conchologist can visit the United States witliout being interested 

 in the subject of clams — i.e., bivalves other than oysters. At the St. 

 Louis Exhibition, in the U.S. Fishery Building, which was one of the 

 most interesting and instructive of the many attractions, there was an 

 exhibit of thirty-two species of clams used as food or bait. They are 

 enumerated in the following list. A set of these was kindly given to 

 me by Mr. H. F. Moore, and presented to the Manchester Museum, 

 by whom the gift has been gratefully acknowledged. 



