224 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
recent number of tbe American Naturalist. Mr. Jobn Ford exhibited to the 
Conchological Section, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, speci- 
mens of Gemma gemma, remarkable as having fallen accompanied by rain, 
in a storm which occurred at Chester, Pennsylvania, on the afternoon of 
June G, 1869. The specimens were perfect, but very minute, measuring 
one-eighth inch in length by three-sixteenths inch in breadth. Though 
most of the specimens which fell were broken, yet many perfect ones were 
collected in various places, sheltered from the heavy rain which followed 
their descent. A witness of the storm, Mr. Y. S. Walter, editor of the 
Delaware County Republican , assured Mr. F. that he noticed the singular 
character of the storm at its very commencement, and, to use his own words, 
“ it seemed like a storm within a storm.” A very fine rain fell rapidly, 
veiled by the shells, which fell slower and with a whirling motion. Judg- 
ing from the remains of animal matter attached to some of the specimens, 
together with the fresh appearance of the epidermis, it is highly probable 
that many of them were living at the moment of transition. This minute 
species resembles a quahaug shell, and is common on the seashore between 
tide marks. 
