434 American Work in the Department of [June, 
European in its distribution, and not known from any part of 
America. 
In Prof. Wetherby’s Notes on Limnzide, previously mentioned, 
he claims to have for the first time correctly identified Planorbis 
glabratus Say, since it was originally described, and characterizes 
as new P. (Helisoma) duryi, both coming from Florida. 
In Science News for April 15, 1879, Mr. Arthur F. Gray notes 
the comparatively recent spread of Litorina litorea L., which, first 
described as American from Nova Scotia specimens, doubtless 
was brought over on ballast, and has reached as far south as 
Stonington, Connecticut. The writer can positively state that 
twenty years ago it was not found on the shores from Beverly to 
Boston, though now rather common there, and such records of its 
migration as the above are interesting and valuable. 
In the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 
(Sept. 1879) pp. 282-288, Dr. J. G. Cooper publishes “ Notes on 
some land-shells of the Pacific slope.” This is chiefly a criticism 
of some of Mr. Binney’s work. Dr. Cooper thinks that the little 
Alaskan Patula is not pauper of Gould, but a comparison with 
Gould’s types would have led him rather to sustain the identifica- 
tion of Binney and Bland, as the specimens are precisely similar 
and from a similar faunal region. 
The shells of the Colorado desert are the subject of an article 
by R. E. C. Stearns in the March number of the AMERICAN NAT- 
URALIST. Although fossilized shells, the paper has a right to men- 
tion here, from the fact that it is a matter of doubt whether all these 
species are fully extinct even in America, while Dybowski has 
described large numbers of Zryonie (under other names) from 
Lake Baikal, one species of which is hardly distinguishable from 
T. clathrata Stm., figured by Stearns. 
Mr. W. W. Calkins, who has repeatedly visited Florida on 
scientific tours, published a paper on the “ Marine Shells of 
Florida,” in the Proceedings of the Davenport Academy of 
Sciences in 1878, comprising a catalogue, descriptions of sup- 
posed new species and some remarks on the distribution of spe- 
cies included in his list. 
This paper was noticed in Science News of February 15, 1879, 
and in the number for April 15th, Mr. R. E. C. Stearns points out | 
some errors of identification which occur in Mr. Calkins’ paper, — 
whereby West American and Floridian species were included 
under one name. 
