ADAMS : CONCHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM RUSSIA 17 1 



makes breaches over the spit, and in winter the ice from the sea is 

 often piled up in masses and driven over into the Sivash. Just above 

 the normal water line vegetation begins — coarse grass, spurges, 

 mallows, wild thyme, sea-holly, &c. Only in one spot along the 

 whole length of the Tonka is fresh water to be obtained, which issues 

 perpetually from an artesian well; elsewhere along this coast humans, 

 cattle, poultry — all living things drink from the Azov, or from wells just 

 as salt, if not more so, from infiltration from the Sivash. This Azov 

 water is, of course, unpleasant, but one becomes accustomed to any- 

 thing at need. 



From the foregoing remarks it will be readily understood that land 

 and freshwater shells are not abundant. In fact I believe that neither . 

 freshwater species nor slugs inhabit the Tonka, and the dead examples 

 oi Planorbis corneus Linn., PL umbilicatus Miill., ^/. spirorbis Miill. 

 and Neritina fltiviatilis Linn, were, I fancy, drifted across the Sivash 

 from the mainland of the Crimea. However, the hardy Helix virgata 

 DaCosta and H. caperata Mont, were all over the place, the latter 

 being far the less numerous, and almost seeming to blend with the 

 former species, being both in form and sculpture almost intermediate.^ 

 With these two species was associated Chondrus tridens Miill. With 

 regard to marine species the curious fact was that in no case was there 

 a living specimen. Like the Cardiiiin edule they were not only dead, 

 but dead long before they were cast up on the beach. They comprise 

 the following species : — 



Paludestrina ventrosa Mont. — Swarming among the debris. 



Phytia myosotis Drap. — Common. 



Bittium reticulatum DaCosta. — Common. 



Cylichna truncatula Brug. — One specimen. 



Rissoa venusta Phil. — Common. 

 [?=R. membranacea var.]. 



Cardium vulgatum (Brug.). 



Nassa reticulata Linn. — Common. 



Venus gallina Linn. — Common. 



Loripes lacteus Linn. — Common. 



Ervilia castanea (Mont.). 



Cardium fasciaturti Mont. 



Solen vagina L. — Common. 



LiBAU. — A stay at Libau from August 20 to September 3, 1907, 

 enabled me to make several excursions into the country in search of 

 shells. The land in this region is flat and low, edged with willow 

 covered sandhills, behind which is a narrow lake about twenty miles 



I In 1901 I found both species abundantly on the N.W. of the Crimea in Karkinit Bay, and 

 in igo2 I sought them in vain around Ghenitshesk, but that was after a prolonged drought when 

 vegetation was withered up and strong winds had swept the country bare. — Q./.C., vol. x., p. 334. 



