THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



[July 



water species in habitat, and occurs right up to the Shetlands. No 

 variation seems to occur except in size (from 3 to 5 mm.) R. costata 

 Adams is by no means an uncommon shell, dead, among the ordinary 

 shore drift and especially in dredgings, but scarce to get alive. It 

 will at once catch tlie eye amongst a lot of small shells by its dead- 

 white colour, and the very prominent, revolving, sharply-cut, 

 longitudinal {i.e. in the direction of the length of the shell) ribs, which 

 are wide apart and number nine on the body-whorl. The same 

 features are presented as in R. zetlandica with regard to the peristome 

 and oblique twdst of the last whorl : the exact effect of this twist it is 

 difficult to describe, but it can be most clearly perceived by laying the 

 shell for examination with the plane of the aperture at right angles to 

 that of the table or other surface. Round the base of the shell runs a 

 strong keel, cutting off the ribs before they reach the edge. Most of 

 the shell is covered with striae,, running with the growth of the shell, 

 hardly noticeable to the naked eye. The length seems pretty constant 

 at 3 mm., though Monterosato characterises two form varieties as var. 

 major and var. minor. There is no other variation. — B. Tomlin, 

 Llandaff. 



NATURALISTS OF THE DAY. 



VI.— The Late JAMES CHARLES DALE, 



M.A., F.Z.S., F.C.P.S., ETC. 



James Charles Dale, of Glanviiles Wootton, in the county of 

 Dorset, was born in the year 1791. He was sent at an early age to 

 Wimborne Greene School, and afterward to a private tutor at 

 Enborne, in Berkshire. He took his first degree at Cambridge in 

 1815, and became M.A. in 1818. In the same year he became a 

 Fellow of the Linnaean Society, and compounded for his annual 

 subscription. His mother, who was born in 1768, was a daughter of 

 Stephen Barton, whose mother was a sister and co-heir of the 

 celebrated Sir Isaac Newton. Stephen Barton's sister married John 

 Wallop, ist Earl of Portsmouth. Mr. Dale commenced a journal in 

 1808, which is the most continuous diary in existence, the last entry 

 being dated February 6th, 1872, the last day of his life. Some 

 butterflies he took when at school are still in his son's possession. In 

 1825, he, in conjunction with John Curtis, made an expedition to 

 Perthshire and added no less than thirty species to the British list. 

 Many now are considered common, but in those days entomologists 

 were not in the habit of going on expeditions beyond the environs of 

 London. It is in connection with John Curtis that the name of J. C. 

 Dale will be handed down to posterity. In the " British Entomology'" 

 iiis name is on almost every page, and it was from his collection that 

 Curtis derived a vast portion of the material from which his elaborate 

 work was drawn up. He also assisted Curtis with specimens, 

 information, and the money to carry on his work. The Dalean 

 collection is therefore of importance to enable the student to verify 

 Curtisian species, 



