656 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 278. 



find a congenial environment in Golden 

 Gate Park ; its occurrence there is only a 

 matter of time. I have learned recently 

 that some party in the westerly section of 

 the city propagates or did propagate H. 

 aspersa. Mr. Fred L. Button, of Oakland, 

 has informed me that it occurs* in many of 

 the gardens and private grounds in that 

 place, and that one of his neighbors em- 

 ployed a man half a day ' cleaning them 

 out of his garden.' Professor Keep, of 

 the Mills College, last summer collected ' a 

 fine living specimen ' at Pacific Grove, 

 Monterey, which is more than fifty miles 

 south of the original Delmas plant on the 

 Guadalupe. 



It is now common in East Side Park and 

 is also reported as occurring in Elysian 

 Park in Los Angeles. These are, no doubt, 

 the descendants of the stock planted by 

 Delmas so many years ago.f 



Mr. W. G. Binney, in his ' Terrestrial 

 Air-breathing .Mollusks of North America 

 etc' (Vol. v., July, 1878), reports H. 

 aspersa, as found " In gardens in Charleston, 

 S. C, and vicinity, where it has existed for 

 fifty years ; * * * it has also been found 

 at ISTew Orleans and Baton Rouge; Port- 

 land, Maine ; Nova Scotia ; Santa Barbara, 

 Cal.; Hayti; Santiago, Chili; etc.;" and 

 Mr. Binney, if I am not mistaken, has 

 raised them in his grounds at Burlington, 

 N". J. As he says, ' ' it evidently is a species 

 peculiarly adapted to colonization." 



I have always doubted its occurrence at 

 Santa Barbara ; it has never been confirmed 

 by any collector to my knowledge. It was. 



My esteemed friend, the late Dr. Newoomb, who 

 lived in Oakland many years, may have planted some 

 in his garden as an experiment. He had at one time 

 on his grounds several living California forms of differ- 

 ent species. 



I I have been told that the employees in the park 

 are of the opinion that it was incidentally introduced 

 with foreign plants. They are not aware of the Del- 

 mas fact. Its presence in the park may, perhaps, be 

 due to both. 



in the first instance, credited to this place 

 on the testimony of a communication to the 

 Zoological Society of London, by Professor 

 Edward Forbes, in which were described 

 the shells collected in the course of survey- 

 ing voyages of Captain Kellett and Lieu- 

 tenant Wood of the Eoyal Navy, in the 

 ships Herald and Pandora. The locality 

 marks and labels were, unfortunately, badly 

 mixed, and confusion was the inevitable re- 

 sult — Lower California species were cred- 

 ited to the far north, and so on. 



A recent careful inquiry made for me by 

 a friend utterly failed to obtain any data, 

 showing its existence at Santa Barbara * or 

 thereabout at any time. 



From the foregoing it will be seen that 

 this species is fully established on both 

 coasts of the United States and it is likely 

 to extend its territorial domain in harmony 

 with the prevailing spirit of the times. 



Living Helix pomatia, a larger species, also 

 European, has been imported by a leading 

 grocery firm in San Francisco to supply its 

 patrons. This is the snail par excellence of 

 Continental epicures and was propagated on 

 an extensive scale in the palmy days of 

 ancient Rome as a dainty for the patrician 

 palate on festal occasions ; it is not unlikely 

 that sooner or later this species also will be 

 found in some congenial spot outside of the 

 grocery store and in course of time become 

 an inhabitant of California. 



More than fifteen years ago a species of 

 slug, Amalia Hewstoni, made its appearance 

 in the grass plots of San Francisco ; it was 

 described by Dr. J. G. Cooper. It soon be- 

 came a nuisance ; even a regularly ordained 

 clergyman spoke of it as ' a slimy brute'; 

 however this may be, it has now ' expanded ' 

 its territory so as to include Seattle in the 

 north and San Diego in the south. Dr. 

 Pilsbry says it may be identical with the 



* Vide my paper ' On Helix aspersa in California, ' 

 in Annals of New York Acad. Sciences, May, 1881, 

 pp. 129-139. 



