LXXVI 



Springfield, entitled " Notes on the habits and distribution 

 of the Duck Hawk, or American Peregrine Falcon, in its 

 breeding season, and description of its eggs," which was 

 referred to the Committee on Publications. 



Mr. Putnam presented, in the name of Bev. E. C. Bolles, 

 of Portland, a collection of land and fresh water shells 

 from Maine and New York. 



Mr Bolles, who was present by invitation, being called 

 upon, remarked that he felt like little more than a beginner 

 in this department of conchology. He had been attract- 

 ed to the study by the examination of the lingual ribbons 

 of the land mollusks, organs remarkable for their beauty 

 and regular structure, and exhibiting under the micros- 

 cope fine specific characters. As yet there are but a few 

 American students of these shells. In general, people are 

 ignorant of the riches scattered about them in every forest 

 and on every hill side. A snail is only a snail to almost 

 everybody, and the common belief is that there is only 

 one species and that unworthy of a serious man's attention. 

 In Maine from which most of these specimens were 

 brought, there are fifty species of land and fifty-four of 

 fresh water mollusks. Most of these are forms peculiar to 

 N. America. One, the Achatina lubrica is a cosmopolite, 

 the same in both hemispheres, on islands and on 

 continents. Some are analogues of foreign shells, — 

 not facsimiles, but built on the same general plan. A few 

 were evidently imported — carried by the accidents of 

 commerce, as vermin and weeds have been, to make the 

 grand tour of the globe. The islands of the Maine coast 

 were early colonized. Sometimes old coins and carved 

 stones are discovered there. There is another proof of 

 European visits. The common snails of England still 

 retain their rights of squatter sovereignty upon the soil. 

 These shells have never been found far inland. They 

 testify like the weeds which follow the pioneer to the 

 great tide of nature's migration. 



