THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 85 



" shell, but a drop or two of water quickly dissolved this, and a few 

 " minutes later the animal awoke from its deathlike sleep, as fat and 

 "vigorous as though only a night had passed since its incarceration." 



In England the largest "snail," only too common in gardens, 

 makes a very rich and nourishing broth. I remember an old lady, 

 a neighbor of ours, very kind to the poor and sick, whose favorite pre- 

 scription for many ailments was a broth made from these snails, 

 but I do not think she ever told her patients what it was made of, 

 unless it was a long time afterwards, I could never be prevailed 

 upon to taste it, and so cannot say from experience if it was really 

 as nice as she made it out to be. 



On the banks, under hedges, along country lanes, land 

 shells, especially Helices, are very plentiful, and as some of 

 the larger ones are very handsome, the shells both dead and alive 

 are very noticeable. The moister climate, no doubt, accounts for 

 the great abundance of snail life in England. I hope before the 

 year is over to get specimens of some of these species, and I shall be 

 most happy to produce them at one of our meetings. 



I believe over 40,000 species of marine, fresh water and land 

 shells are known. The late G. W. Tryon, Jr.., whose death occurred 

 in February last, was, since the death of Mr. Lea, perhaps, the most 

 prominent Conchologist of the day. His collection, in the Academy 

 of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, is stated to be one-third larger 

 than that of the British Museum, the only other collection with 

 which it can be compared. Andrew Garrett, another noted Con- 

 chologist, died in November, last year. He lived on the Island of 

 Huahine, Society Group, South Seas. His private collection of 

 shells (lately for sale) consisted of over 8,000 species, comprising over 

 30,000 examples, representing almost every known part of the globe. 

 Of this large collection Mr. Garrett had himself gathered some 4,000 

 species. Mr. Horace F. Carpenter, in his interesting work, entitled, 

 " The Shell-bearing Mollusca of Rhode Island," referring to clams, 

 says : — "It is said that if clams are placed in a basin of sea water 

 " containing indigo, they will in a short time render it perfectly clear, 

 " by collecting the minute particles of the impurity and condensing 

 " them into solid form ; and not only indigo but whatever particles 

 " may be contained in the water, organic or inorganic, animal, vegeta- 

 " ble or mineral are thus removed, and the water purified. The 



