BRIEF NOTES ON THE LAND AND FRESH WATER 

 SHELLS OF THIS DISTRICT, SUPPLEMENTED BY 

 GENERAL NOTES ON CONCHOLOGY, GATH- 

 ERED FROM DIFFERENT SOURCES, 



Read before the Biological Section of the Hamilton Association , April ^th, 1889. 

 BY A. W. HANHAM. 



Little more than a year ago I received a letter from England 

 from one greatly interested in Land and Fresh Water Shells, asking 

 me to keep any that might come in my way, the writer being anxious 

 to secure representatives from this part of the world. I wrote back 

 that I would do the best I could, but remarked at the same time, 

 that I did not expect to get a great variety, and, that the shells, allu- 

 ding especially to the land shells, would not compare in size and 

 beauty with some species that were common in England. These 

 remarks showed how little I really knew about the shells which were 

 to be taken here I do not profess to know much more now. 

 No land shells yet found by me here will compare with English 

 species in markings or bright colours, but a few walks abroad soon 

 brought to light things not noticed before during a residence of 

 some seven years in Canada, and, seeing that during all these years I 

 have been exploring the woods and country in general in search of 

 Entomological specimens, it goes to show how blind it is possible 

 to be. 



In taking up anything new I find it is absolutely necessary 

 to find the eyes, so to speak, before the eyes are in a fit state 

 to aid one in the study or undertaking. To make more clear 

 my meaning ; — for various reasons of late years I have confined my 

 collecting almost entirely to the Coleoptera ; now a large proportion 

 of beetles are found only on or in the soil, under leaves, logs and 

 debris, and as far as I can now see, the best spots or localities for 

 these beetles are also the best for many species of land shells, 

 but, till lately, I never used to see the shells. This remark applies 

 also to aquatic species. 



Conchology has its advantages over Entomology ; for instance, 



