722 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 
published by the Conchological Section of the Academy of Sciences 
of Philadelphia; these faults occur in the habitat of many of the 
species, while no new light has been thrown upon their geograph- 
ical distribution. In some instances; certain West American spe- 
cies which he named, had a range of a thousand miles further north 
than credited in the catalogues, and in some cases species had been 
credited to this coast that were exotic and whose true station was 
thousands of miles away. Such errors by an American author in 
connection with American species, were to say the least discred- 
itable ; the errors of Reeve, Sowerby and Kiener were repeated, 
while the labors of our own authors were practically ignored, and 
their more accurate work though equally accessible, was over- 
looked. He presented a paper upon the subject for publication. 
Mr. Stearns also gave a description of the animal of Trivia Cal- 
ifornica, with blackboard illustrations of the same, and of the 
corals upon which it feeds; worn beach specimens of this Trivia 
are the F. depauperata of Sowerby. 
Tue Fauna or LAKE SUPERIOR at Great DEPTHS. — An ex- 
amination of the fauna of the depths of Lake Superior has been 
undertaken the past season by the U. S. Lake Survey, and dredg- 
ing in different parts of the lake has been conducted by Mr. S. I: 
Smith. In all the deeper parts of the lake examined, the bottom 
is composed of fine clay, or clayey mud, apparently unfavorable 
to a great variety of life. The principal animals obtained below 
one hundred fathoms were, a species of Hydra, several worms, 
species of Ostracoda, with a few other forms of Entomostraca, one 
or two species of Amphipoda, a species of Mysis,* insect larve be- 
longing to the dipterous genus Chironomus and a species of Pis- 
idium. In the more shallow waters, a much greater variety of 
animals was obtained. The species of Mysis was found at à 
number of points from eight to one hundred and _forty-cight 
fathoms, and Mr. Smith regards its occurrence only as evidence 
that Mysis is another to be added to the list of genera common to 
fresh and salt water. Dredging was carried on down to one hun- 
dred and sixty-nine fathoms, the deepest known point in the lake, 
and water brought up from that depth was perfectly fresh. The 
temperature in all the deeper parts of the lake is near 39°, OF 
about that of the maximum density of fresh water. 
* Mysis relicta Lovén, and Pontoporeia afinis Lindst., both liying in Lake Wetter in 
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