New YORK SHELL CLUB NOTES No. 240 March 1978 Page. 3 
which disappeared from Florida more than 100 years ago, but recently 
nas been found alive at Marathon, Florida, and off the lower Keys. 
With the aid of slides, he surveyed collecting on rocky shores; in 
specific locales that included Long Island, the Bahamas, Bermuda, 
and the Solomon Islands; freshwater shelling, and collecting with 
the snorkel, SCUBA gear, dredges and traps. Dr. Abbott also brought 
for display a large Cassis that bore the exquisite work of a master 
carver of a century ago. 
Milton Werner, Recording Sec'y 
SOME NOTES ON THE MOLLUSCAN FAUNA OF BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA 
-Morris K. Jacobson 
Part. rt 
Because of the sandy nature of the soil, I do not anticipate a very 
rich land snail fauna. So far I have seen the omnipresent Polygera 
cereolus Muhlfeld, but only in restricted areas like my garden. n 
addition 1 found some Zonitoides arboreus Say and a few as yet unde- 
termined zonitids. However, nearby there are some large swales with 
a thick growth of palm and other trees which look quite promising. 
A quick, incomplete survey of the available literature shows very 
few molluscan records of land and freshwater species from Brevard 
County. Pilsbry has only five citations from the county, most of 
them from Micco, a small settlement about fifteen miles south of 
Melbourne. Fred Thompson cites only five species of hydrobiids in 
his 1968 study of the Hydrobia of peninsular Florida. I am sure 
there are other published records, but for the moment the literature 
containing it is not at hand. 
As for the freshwater snails of the county, I have to date collected 
Physa cubensis Pfeiffer, Helisoma duryi Wetherby, and a few undeter- 
mined hydrobiids. I have also discovered a lively and extensive 
colony of the imported Asian species Melanoides tuberculatus Muller 
in the town swimming pool of Palm Bay City. Although a non-native 
snail, it appears to be by far the most numerous species in the pool, 
and represents one of my most successful mollusk captures in Brevard 
County since my recent arrival here. Fortunately I was able to col- 
lect a good lot of specimens before tragedy struck: 
Genocide in Old Brevard! 
In shallow water the bottom of the town swimming pond is of white, 
fine sand. This has always been criss-crossed by the twisting, in- 
tricate trails left by the snails apparently in their search for 
food, whatever that may be. On Wednesday, December 15th I went to 
the pond for my warm-daily swim (cold-daily swims I avoid) and I was 
astonished to find not a single living specimen of Melanoides which 
had been so prevalent only a few days earlier. Where had they all 
disappeared to? 
The mystery was soon cleared up. Superimposed upon the intricate 
snail trails were large numbers of clearly defined duck foot tracks. 
A few ducks were also seen floating satedly on the surface opposite, 
ducks I had not noticed on any of my earlier trips to the pond. I 
did not catch and dissect a duck to examine its stomach contents, the 
only accurate way of determining what it had really been eating. But 
