Oct., 1889. 
WAYSIDE NOTES. 
243 
!3t<tpbe ftotes. 
Midland Union of Natural History Societies. —The annual meeting 
took place at Oxford on Tuesday and Wednesday, September 24th and 
25th, but so close to the time of our going to press that our report of 
the proceedings cannot appear until November. 
The Synthetic Philosophy.— Mr. F. Howard Collins, of Edgbaston, 
has for some years past been engaged in epitomising the ten volumes 
in which are contained all that is published of Mr. Herbert Spencer’s 
Synthetic Philosophy. The arduous work is now completed, and will 
be published about the middle of October in a handsome volume. 
This epitome has been prepared with Mr. Spencer’s hearty approval, 
and he has written an interesting preface to it. We shall review this 
important book in an early number. 
Pupa anglica (Fer) in Carmarthenshire. —Several specimens of 
this species were sent me last year from near Langharme, in this 
county, by Mr. G. W. Mellors. The species is new to the county; 
the only previous Welsh record, I believe, is for Anglesey. The 
specific name anglica is here given instead of ringens (Jeff.), because 
it has priority and is the name now used in the National Collection.— 
J. W. Williams. 
A Specimen of Paludina contecta (Mill) with a Double 
Peritreme. —In a batch of P. contecta , which Mr. Mayfield has 
kindlj 7 sent me alive, from Norwich, for dissecting purposes, I find 
one dead and empty shell which is worthy of note. The peritreme 
is double, each division being complete and divided from its fellow by 
a space of about 025 mill. I can get a fine probe between the 
divisions for the length of a millimetre ; at this distance from the 
aperture the two divisions join. The inner division formed the 
aperture at the time of the death of the animal, as is evinced by 
the fact that it is more produced than the outer one. Unfortunately, 
the operculum is missing.—J. W. Williams, Mitton, Stourport. 
Differences between the Embryonic Shells of Paludina 
vivipara (Linn.) and P. contecta (Mill).— The configuration of the 
shells of the young of our species of land and fresh-water Mollusca 
should be more studied, for often it is a hopeless task—to even the 
most experienced conchologist—to give a definite and positive answer 
to which a young specimen should be referred out of two or more 
species. The young forms of these two species under note are very 
different and characteristic. In P. vivipara , when the little animal 
is extracted, the shell is hyaline and unbanded, the spire is very 
depressed, the body-whorl is slightly globous and slightly keeled. 
Comparatively speaking the peritreme is large, and, though somewhat 
obliquely placed, is more at a right angle to the body-whorl than in 
the adult shell. The special feature is the great depression of the 
spire. In P. contecta, on the other hand, the young shell shows 
distinct traces of its future banding; the spire is not depressed, but 
characteristically elevated, the apex is sharp, the body-whorl globous, 
in a ratio with P. vivipara as 5-2, and the upper portion of the 
peritreme comes off from the body-whorl at a right angle. The 
operculum of P. contecta is more depressed at its centre than that of 
P. vivipara. The distinctness specifically of P. contecta and P. vivipara 
has been many times disputed, and is not yet laid to rest. I have 
examined a large number of the embryonic shells of these two species, 
