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Pulley, director of this museum and lecturer in biology at r ice university, will conduct us on a preview tour of the new wing of the museum , due to open about november. we have all been looking forward to more space in the museum, particularly for mollusks and other sea life. the meeting will be at 8:00 p.m. (be sure to note this time change!), and you will enter through the front door where someone will be stationed to let you in, as the museum is not open this night to the pub- lic, we have made arrangements to have all our meetings this year at the Museum . Reminder to Subscribers We remind our subscribers who did not yet do so to remit $2.00 before October 1st, 1969. No COPIES OF the Conchologist will be mailed out after that date unless the subscription fee has been received. Dues are payable to: Houston Conchology Society c/o Mrs. George D. van Erp 1 1 306 Surrey Oaks Lane Houston , Texas 77024 Santa Barbara Malacological Society Shell Show On October 10th. 11th, and 12th, the Santa Barbara Malacological Society will hold its shell show and auction featuring educational and competitive exhibits and displays of rare or outstanding shells. major attractions will be the legendary conus glor1amaris on loan from the santa barbara museum of Natural History, and a perfect specimen of the even rarer Austroharpa PUNCTATA WHICH WAS THE BEST SHELL OF THE SHOW IN THE 1967 AUSTRALIAN SHELL Show, Yeppoon . Queensland. New Bivalve In the Veliger for 1 July, Vol. 12, No. , p. 40-42 has appeared the description of a new bivalve: macoma pulleyi boyer. th is bivalve occurs off the coast of Louisiana and Texas. Several lots are present in the collection of the Museum of Natural Science of Houston, dredged off Galveston and Freeport. The species has been named for Dr. Thomas Pulley, director of the Museum. At our next meeting the species will be on exhibit. Page 1 PUBLISHED BY THE HOUSTON CONCHOLOGY SOCIETY HOUSTON, TEXAS EDITOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR Helmer Ode'- MO 4-9942 Lloyd F. Meister • WA 6-3812 4611 Broeborn Drive 6520 Avenue I Belloire, Troot 77401 Houston, Texas 77011 REPORTING REPORTER PROFESSIONAL •.•#JHA.mm , CONSULTANT - CIRCULATING J. one Dash. ell SU 1-2728 D r . T. E. Pulley Celeste Petti bone - 664-1 392 Subscription fee to the TEXAS CONCHOLOGIST is S2.00per year for non-members. Any member or subscriber may hove more than one copy of the publication sent regularly by remitting S2.00 per year for each extra set desired. Bock issues moy be purchased for 30c per copy at this time. NOTES CONCERNING TEXAS BEACH SHELlS Helmer Ode Mrs. Anne B. Speers Family V itrinellidae This interesting family of small gastropods is represented by many species in the beachdrift of texas. because of the minute size of these shells almost all species have until recently escaped the attention of Texas beachcollectors . The most convenient way to collect these shells is to pick samples of fine beachdrift under a binocular micro- SCOPE . Most Texas species were first described from Florida. It is now clear that a large number of these species will also be found in the western Gulf of Mexico. A review of the Gulf of Mexico species of this family has been presented in the doctoral thesis of d. r. moore . whose nomen- clature we here follow. so far over 20 species, divided over 11 genera have been found in beachdrift. Cyclostremiscus suppressus Dall 1889. This is a common bay species which is easily collected from drift on galveston island, and around port aran- SAS and Port Isabel. It is virtually absent in offshore dredge samples. in: , . figs. 5-5a. Figured Nautilus , Vol. 59(3) pl 8. Previous references : 19 Localities: Fairly common along entire Texas coast. Cyclostremiscus pentagonus Gabb 1873. Formerly this species used to be known as c_. trilix bush and before that as aoeorbis supranitidus wood. The latter is however a western European fossil. At Galveston . C . PENTAGONUS IS PROBABLY THE MOST COMMON VlTRINELLID. THE MAJORITY OF BEACH SPECIMENS IS CHALKY AND WORN, AND FRESH MATERIAL IS RELATIVELY UNCOMMON. This is a dweller of the sandy parts of the SURFZONE AND IN- in and its lets , as shown by its much lesser abundance the inner bays complete absence in offshore waters. Figured in: 3.4.7 Previous references: 12.14,19 localities: on all texas gulf beaches. Cyclostremiscus jeannae Pilsbry and McGinty 1945. This species replaces both above mentioned ones in the texas offshore waters, where it is fairly common in dredge samples taken at about 10 fms . because of its Page 2 i deeper habitat it hardly ever reaches the beach, but a single specimen is known from beachdrift from matagorda beach (coll . ode.) . Figured in: Nautilus, Vol. 59(3), pl . 8, figs. 4-4a Previous references: Tex. Conchol. Vol. 4, p. 38 Localities: Matagorda Beach. Cyclostremiscus beau Fischer 1857. One of our largest species of which only a few times empty shells have been found in beachdrift at port isabel (SPEERS and others). Figured in: 3 ,4 ,6 ,7 Previous references: none Localities: Port Isabel solariorbis infracarinata gabb 1881. this species used to be known as solar- - iqrbis euzonus . at galveston it is much less common than cyclostremis cus suppressus but dead and some rather fresh material is known from San Luis Pass. It is common in drift around Port Aransas and Port Isa- bel. TO JUDGE FROM ITS DISTRIBUTION IN SAMPLES IT MUST BE A BAY SPECIES but live material is as yet unknown. Figured in: 7 Previous references: Thesis Dr. D. R. Moore Localities: Galveston, Matagorda Bay, Port Aransas , Port Isabel. solariorbis blakel rehder 1 944. this is one of the smallest vltrinellids of the Texas Coast, immediately recognized by the small radial riblets which extend to only halfway the whorl from the suture , when viewed from above, and its very narrow umbilicus. it is found occasionally in beachdrift all along the texas coast. it probably prefers to live in the sandy environment of the surfzone and inlet areas. Figured in: Nautilus , Vol. 57(3), p. 97, pl. 9, figs. 1, 2 Previous references: Thesis Dr. D. R. Moore Localities: Galveston, Freeport , Matagorda, Port Aransas , Port Isabel solariorbis mooreana vanatta 1904. both s. infracarinata and s. blakel are absent in offshore waters and are apparently replaced along the texas coast by s_. mooreana and_s_. terminal1s . the latter is so far not known from beachdrift, bu t s. mooreana has been collected several times, although it must be considered quite uncommon. Figured in: Thesis Dr. D. R. Moore Previous references: Thesis Dr. D. R. Moore Localities: Sabine Beach, Galveston, Port Aransas, Port Isabel. Teinostoma biscaynense Pilsbry and McGinty 1 945. This very characteristic , small vltrinellid is one of the most abundant on the texas coast . in mature specimens the last whorl envelops the previous ones and the um- bilicus is completely filled by a callus. we suspect that it prefers the ecology of . the surf zone and inlet areas we have seen very fresh , but not live material. figured in: . 1 nautilus, vol 59, pp. 1-13; pl. , fig. 4 Previous references: Thesis Dr. D. R. Moore Localities: In drift all along the Texas Gulf beaches. Page 3 RlSSOINA CATESBYANA ORBIGNY 1842 by H . Ode In several publications reference is made to the occurrence of EITHER RlSSOINA breyerea montagu or rlssoina chesnell mlchaud in the fauna of texas. in his checklist of the marine mollusca of texas. pulley makes the notation; "some unidentified rlssoina from port aransas may belong to this species. but they appear to be more closely allied to rlssoina breyerea montagu " . later also Parker has mentioned the same species under the name Rissoina chesneli from the coastal bay system around rockport , texas. at galveston the species is extremely rare . but shells of this particular species appear in quantity on the Texas coast in Matagorda Bay and become more common around Port Aran- sas AND FURTHER SOUTH AT PORT ISABEL.