2 1886,] ls Littorina litorea Introduced or Indigenous ? 9 33°, 
have assured me that they have ‘ qften picked the periwinkle, the 
}_— same as the English one,’ on the shores contiguous to Halifax 
when they were only school-boys.” 
The only other evidence that has been found to show that the 
shell was known in Nova Scotia, previous to 1857, comes ina 
private letter to the writer from Mr. E. Gilpin, of Halifax. He 
_ Says: “ Historical evidence in the shape of old English settlers , 
shows it to have been known in the province as far back as 1800.” 
How much reliance can be placed upon the unscientific evi- 
dence of old settlers is a question ; but granting that they did 
not confound it with the native form, and that they actually saw | 
it previous to 1857, nothing more is proved than that the shell 
‘existed in Nova Scotia some years before Willis found it. Simi. 
larly it may be said of the fact that Dr: Dawson “ collected it 
~ More than thirty years ago in the Gulf of St. Lawrence,” that it 
Proves (if granted) only that thejshell was to be found there ear- 
lier than any published record shows. Or it may be that, if intro- 
duced, it was introduced at more than one point. ol 
It is somewhat remarkable, however, that, as will be shown 
farther on, no other collector found this conspicuous shell in the 
— gulf until after 1870, although Dr. Dawson must have found it at 
_ ast as early as 1844. We know that it increases with great 
= fapidity wherever introduced. Why then, if it existed there, did 
it not increase sufficiently to enable some other collector to find 
es it? None of the lists of Bell, Whiteaves or Dr. Dawson him- 
_ Self mention it until after 1870. It is to be regretted that we 
-~ _ have not some record of Dr. Dawson’s discovery of the shell so — 
far back, besides the note by Professor Verrill who doubtless 
Writes from memory. AE i 
o this shell be indigenous to our shores, it must have bed <<: 
Confined, previous to say 1850, exclusively to the Nova Scotia 
feast. That this must be so ix shown as well by other facts as | 
by the many lists we have of New England and Gulf of St, Law- 2 i 6 
the latter could have been present but “overlooked by collectors” - ae 
altogether out of the question. It is a much larger and more = 
icuous shell than the native forms, has the same habitats, , 
wherever it occurs at all occurs abundantly, e p 
convenience we will consider these two to be distinct species, although they | i 
