32 



THE NAUTILUS. 



After this month of collecting, fishing, music, opera and lec- 

 tures with the Sierra Club we hit the trail for another month 

 with H. D. Gill, one of our packers acquainted w T ith every corner 

 of the range. We gave other lakes and peaks of that vicinity a 

 thorough combing, via Rae lake, down the south fork of the 

 Kings river, returning by the Giant Forest, Mineral King, and 

 Rattlesnake Gulch, and Volcano creek and the Cottonwood 

 lakes, to have a better acquaintance with the golden trout, 

 (roosevelti) . I also dropped off at Las Vegas, Nevada, and 

 picked up a few shells. 



The opportunities for collecting with the Sierra Club were 

 excellent. When the party moved it was but a ten-mile journey 

 for the day. The packers with about 100 horses and mules 

 carried our baggage, provisions and cooking-ranges. A dozen 

 elderly people and the packers had riding horses, the rest of us 

 men, women, boys and girls walked. There were five good 

 cooks and several commissaries, and our only stunt in drudgery 

 was to pick out a soft spot in the timber at evening, unroll the 

 sleeping bag, and roll it up again at five in the morning. At 

 the most attractive points camp was made for a day or two, or 

 sometimes longer. 



In this portion of the Sierras at least, the snails cling to the 

 meadows and wet ground about the springs. We had no suc- 

 cess in the rocks or timber. Strangers to the habits of California 

 snails, much time was wasted in our efforts to catch them. A 

 Sierra meadow is much the same as the eastern peatbog and 

 though apparently dry in spots, appearances are deceiving. It 

 is all wet collecting. Wood-fungi, Pisidiums, Physas and land 

 shells were found under the same sticks and all apparently 

 thriving in the wetness. 



Nevada is more upon the plan of Arizona and Utah. Shells 

 were found plentiful at timber line under stone and decaying 

 vegetation. As to moisture and cover the Sierra Nevada is 

 favorable to snail growth, travel, distribution. Simply, it seems 

 one of those situations where the large snails had never been — 

 never settled. The collections for the season were identified by 

 Dr. H. A. Pilsbry and myself jointly as follows : 

 [All stations are within Tulare county, California except when 

 otherwise noted.] 



