l68 JOURNAL OP CONCHOLOGY, VOL. II, NO. 6, APRIL, I9O5. 



the "soft clam" {^Mya a/enarid), so called on account of the thinness 

 of its shell. This species is so much esteemed that its special culture 

 has been instituted and flourishes, and a series of shells in various 

 stages of growth formed a most interesting exhibit at St. Louis. These 

 two species are found in immense quantities on the North American 

 coasts, the muddy or sandy bays being especially adapted to bivalves. 

 I have eaten our British species oi Mya and many species of Vefius and 

 Tapes, and found them remarkably good, and I have wondered 

 whether ignorance or prejudice was the cause of their being neglected 

 by even our fishermen, who will often eat limpets {Patella vulgata), 

 which I always found remarkably tough. In many parts in the Medi- 

 terranean, however, various species of Venus are offered for sale in 

 the markets. I noticed with surprise that Cyprina islandica was in- 

 cluded in the American list, as it is, as far as my British experience 

 goes, very tough and tasteless, and often harbours a large parasitic 

 worm. The horse mussel {Mytihis modiolus') is said by the Manx fisher- 

 men to be harmful at a certain season of the year, causing a painful 

 swelling of the throat. I am told that the large flat razor clam {Siliqua 

 paiula) of the Pacific coast is the clam par excellence, but as the only 

 examples I have come across were preserved in formalin I was com- 

 pelled to forego the experience. 



London Branch — Annual Report. — Since our last report eleven meetings of 

 this Branch have been held. During the winter the undermentioned members 

 kindly invited us to inspect their collections: — Dec. 4th, 1903, Dr. Appleton ; Feb. 

 4th, 1904, Mr. J. C. Dacie; March 4th, Mr. T. Mawson Havard; April 8th, Mr. 

 H. W. Parritt. There was a fair attendance at each of these meetings (except that 

 on April 8th) and the members present much appreciated the courtesy of their hosts. 

 On Jan. 8th, 1904, the Rev. Canon Horsley read a paper (illustrated with numerous 

 specimens) on the land shells of Majorca; this has been published in the Journal of 

 Conchology. The field meetings were better attended this summer. On May 7th 

 we visited Broxbourne, the weather was very wet and collecting was unpleasant 

 work; however, 28 species of land and freshwater mollusca were noted including 

 Segt)ienti)ia nitida. On June 4th the locality chosen was Grays, Essex, where 

 Assiminea grayana occurs in abundance on the river bank with the usual estuarine 

 shells. July 2nd was another very wet day. At Svvanley we found swarms of the 

 common snails on the roadsides. Nothing rare turned up, but beautiful series of 

 Helix hortetisis and H. neinotalis were collected, including a large number of the 

 rare band formula 00300 in H. hortensis. The August meeting was at Uxbridge, 

 when a fair number of mollusca were collected, including Vivipara contecta. On 

 this occasion Mr. F. G. Bridgman kindly entertained the members present to tea at 

 the Piscatorial Society's lodge. The last field meeting was on Sept. 3rd, at Wold- 

 ingham, 22 species of mollusca were noted, the best finds being Acanthinula 

 aculeata and a subscalariform Helicella virgata. Our best thanks are due to the 

 Rev. Canon Horsley, who on July 14th exhibited, and afterwards distributed to the 

 members present, a large number of marine shells from Ceylon and the Indian 

 Ocean. — J. E. Cooper, Hon. Sec, i6th Sept., 1904 {Read before the Society, 

 January nth, 1905). 



