DISCOVERY OF A BALKAN FRESH-WATER FAUNA IN THE IDAHO 

FORMATION OF SNAKE RIVER VALLEY, IDAHO. 

By w. H. DALL. 

In 1866 Gabb 1 described Melania taylori and 

Lithasia antiq_ua "from a fresh-water deposit on 

Snake River, Idaho Territory, on the road from 

Fort Boise to the Owyhee mining country. 

Collected by ~fr. A. Taylor." He states that a 

small bivalve, perhaps a Sphaerium, was associated with them. 

In 1870 Meek 2 described two species of Sphaerium, one fron1 Fossil Hill, Nev. (included by 

King in his Truckee group), and one from Castle 

Creek, Idaho. Both these species occur in the 

Idaho material, and the presumption is strong 

that the two deposits are of the same age. In 

1877 Meek 3 redescribed and figured them, considering their age as probably Miocene. 

In 1882 C. A. White 4 added another species, Latia dall'i, from the Idaho deposits and 

referred the formation on King's authority to 

the Miocene. King 5 does refer his Truckee 

group to the :Miocene, but on another page 6 

he specifically refers the Idaho lake beds to the 

Pliocene. In this he is followed by Cope, 7 who 

proposes for these beds an "Idaho group," 

which he regards as of middle or lower Pliocene 

age. As the molluscan fauna of the Truckee 

formation is practically the same as that of the 

Idaho formation, this conclusion would carry 

at least part of the Truckee into the Pliocene 

column. 

In 1898 Lindgren 8 gave the name Payette 

formation to plant-bearing lake deposits in the 

lower part of the Snake River valley, which he 

referred to the Miocene on the evidence of the 

flora as deterntined by Knowlton, and stated 

1 Gabb, W. M., Paleontology of California, vol. 2, p. 13, pl. 2, figs. 21-22, 

1866. 

2 Meek, F. B., AcaJ. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia Proc. for 1870, pp. 56-57, 

1870. 

a Meek, F. B., U.S. Expl. 40th Par. Rept., vol. 4, pt. 1, p. 183, pl. 16, 

figs. 17-20, 1877. 4 White, C. A., U.S. Nat. Mus. Proc., vol. 5, p. 100, pl. 5, figs. 17-20, 

1882. 

• King, Clarence, U.S. Geol. Expl. 40th Par. Rept., vol. 1, p. 412, 1878. 6 Idem, p. 440. 

7 Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia Proc. for 1883, pp. 153-166, 1883. 8 U.S. Geol. Survey Eighteenth Ann. Rept., pt. 3, p. 632, 1898 

33372°-25-8 

that "this formation is probably not the same 

as Cope's Idaho formation, to which a Pliocene age was assigned." A footnote on the 

same page records the later conclusion that the 

Payette and Idaho formations represent two 

successive stages of the same lake and that it is 

not always easy to separate the two formations. 

In the latest publication on the Payette 

formation R. W. Chaney, 9 who has revised 

and added to the flora, concludes that the 

formation is Miocene, and states that this 

determination from the flora is also supported 

by the evidence of vertebrate fossils obtained 

by Buwalda. 

In a discussion of Pliocene mammalian faunas 

from the Pacific coast and Great Basin provinces John C. Merriam 10 says: 

The Idaho formation is not as yet satisfactorily 

separated from the Payette Eocene or Miocene and 

from a Miocene or Pliocene stage which may intervene 

between the Payette and the Idaho. It is, however, 

quite certain that there exists over a large area of 

southwestern Idaho a formation several hundred feet 

thick which may show evidence of deformation and 

which contains a fauna of a stage representing either 

the latest Pliocene or the earliest Pleistocene. 

The fresh-water molluscan fauna which is the 

subject of this paper apparently comes from the 

same beds that yielded the Pliocene or Pleistocene vertebrate fauna referred to by Merriam. 

The fresh-water deposits in Serbia, Hungary, 

and other parts of southeastern Europe are 

sometimes referred to in the literature as 

Miocene but are generally called Neogene 

without attempting to discriminate between 

Miocene and Pliocene ages. They are characterized by very numer~ms species of the genera 

Limnocardium, Oongeria, Melanopsis, Neritina, 

and operculate forms related to Bythinia, none 

of which occur in North American lake beds so 

far as now known. In addition they contain a 

I 9 Notes on the flora of the Payette formation: Am. Jour. Sci., 5th ser., 

vol. 4, pp. 214-222, 1922. 

I 10 California Univ. Dept. Geology Bull., vol. 10, p. 432, 1917 

109 
110 SHOR-TER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1923-1924. 

number of genera strikingly different from any 

now living in the fresh waters of the globe, such 

as Valenciennesia, Velutinopsis, Papyrotheca, 

Orygoceras, and Baglivia. There are also a few 

of the smaller forms like Caspia which are found 

living or represented by close analogues in the 

Caspian Sea and Lake Baikal, both of which, 

it may be noted, are ''relicten Seen." 

The chief interest of the present paper lies in 

the discovery of some of these -anomalous 

fresh-water genera in American lake beds of the 

Idaho formation, together with one or two 

curious forms not represented in Europe. 

In 1909 A. A. Hinkley obtained from the 

wash of the Panuco River system, in the Mexican State of San Luis Potosi, some amnicoline 

shells which were recognized by H. A. Pilsbry 

as closely related to some of the forms from the 

Serbian lake beds, described by Brusina, and 

which were described by Pilsbry11 under the 

names Emmericiella and Pterides. It is not 

certain that these bleached specimens represent 

hving species, as they might have been washed 

out of unconsolidated marl. 

The genus Tryonia Stimpson, 1865, from the 

Colorado Desert fossil fauna, is undoubtedly 

an American type, but conchologically many 

of the shells named Prososthenia by N eumayr 

in 1869, from the Balkan lake beds, are almost 

identical with our Tryonia, which ranges from 

supposed Miocene deposits in Guatemala to the 

recent fauna of certain springs in California, to 

which it has retreated from the growing 

salinity of the former Lake Bonneville, now 

desert. 

The United States Geological Survey recently 

received from Prof. F. A. Thomson, of the 

Idaho School of Mines, a piece of rock collected 

by W. H. Campbell from Castle Creek, Owyhee 

County, Idaho, and containing numerous freshwater shells. 

A fine iconography of the Mollusca of the 

Balkan lake beds was published by the late 

Spiridion Brusina 12 in 1902, and an examination of the Idaho material showed at once the 

presence of some of the remarkable European 

forms hitherto unknown in the Western 

Hemisphere. 

The matrix consists of rather large rounded 

sand grains firmly cemented together and con11 The Nautilus, voi. 23, pp. 45-49, 1909. 

u lconographia molluscorum fossilium in Tellure tertiaria Hungariae, 

Croatiae, Slavoniae, Dalmatiae, Bosniae, Hertzegovinae, Serbiae, et Bulgariae inventorum, pp. x, 30, pl. 30, Agram, 1902. 

taining numerous fresh-water shells. The matrix is so flinty and the minute shells so extremelyfragile that several specimens crumbled 

during the attempt to extricate them, and subsequent work was confined to the recording of 

such descriptive data as could be derived from 

an inspec~ion of the more or less embedded 

individuals on the surface of the rock specimen. 

The interest excited by this 4iscovery led to 

an examination of all the material in the collection which had been obtained from this 

district, some of which had been tentatively 

reported on many years ago. Specimens were 

found which had been collected during the . 

Fortieth Parallel Survey, by I. C. Russell, 

G. R. Mansfield, G. H; Eldridge and others, 

most of which had a matrix of fine-grained 

sandstone or shale. Curiously enough, none of 

them showed any trace of the Balkan species, 

except one found near Glenn's Ferry, in the 

Snake River canyon, which contained a fragment now recognizable as part of a species of 

Orygoceras. Though fossils were abundant, 

they represented only a few species which had 

been described by Gabb, Meek, and White in 

the publications above referred to. Taken · 

altogether the number of lots is small, and their 

fossil content meager. 

The condition of the matrix in the Thomson 

specimen is such that, while the generic relations of most of the fossils are determinable, for 

many of them it is not practicable to obtain 

sufficient data for specific determination, and 

some of the shells show evidence of having been 

worn or eroded before fossilization. 

In enumerating the fossils of the Balkan type 

I have retained the nomenclature of Brusina, 

leaving questions of synonymy, if any, to be 

determined later. 

PELECYPOD A. 

Genus SPHAERIUM Scopoli. 

Sphaerium rugosum Meek. 

Sphaerium rugosum Meek,·· Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 

Proc. for 1870, p. 56, 1870; U. S. Geol. Expl. 

40th Par. Rept., vol. 4, pt. 1' p. 182, pl. 16, 

figs. 1, 1a, 1877. 

White, C. A., U.S. Nat. Mus. Proc., ~ol. 5, p. 100, 

pl. 5, figs. 14-15, 1882; U.S. Geol. Survey Third 

Ann. Rept., p. 234, pl. 32, figs. 12~13, 1883. 

Fossil Hill, Kawsoh Mountains, Nev.; Meek. Castle 

Creek, Owyhee County, Idaho; W. H. Campbell. 

These specimens are identical with Meek's 

type. His locality was later included in the 

State of Idaho. 
BALKAN FRESH-WAT'ER FAUNA IN SNAKE RIVER VALLEY, IDAHO. Ill 

Sphaerium meeki Dall, n. sp. 

Plate XXVI, Figure 8. 

Castle Creek, Idaho; Campbell. 

A single valve of a small Sphaerium was 

obtained which is distinctly different from the 

preceding species. It is roundly rectangular 

in outline, the beak nearer the anterior end, 

low and smooth; sculpture of about ten cordlike 

concentric ridges with subequal interspaces, 

more crowded and less elevated toward the 

base; the valve thin, c01npressed, the anterior 

end somewhat more bluntly rounded than the 

other; the hinge and interior obscured by 

matrix. Longitude 5 millimeters; altitude 3 

millimeters. U. S. Nat. Mus. catalog No. 

333521. 

Sphaerium idahoense Meek. 

Sphaerium idahoense Meek, Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia Proc. for 1870, p. 57, 1870; U. S. Geol. 

Expl. 40th Par. Rept., vol. 4, pt. 1, p. 183, pl. 16, 

:figs. 1, 1a, 1877. 

White, C. A., U.S. Nat. Mus. Proc., vol. 5, p. 100, 

· pl. 5, figs. 12-13, 1882; U. S. Geol. Surv·ey 

Third Ann. Rept., p. 34, pl. 32, figs. 14-15, 1883. 

Castle Creek, Idaho, Meek; also Campbell. 

This species is a much heavier shell than 

any of the recent Sphaeria and according to 

Meek has a sinuation of the pallealline like the 

old world Cyrenas, while the recent American 

species have a simple entire palleal line. I 

have not been able to detect any sinuation in 

the specimens I have examined. Meek was 

uncertain to which genus to refer it but 

tentatively placed it in Sphaerium. The shape 

is more like Cyrena. 

GASTROPODA. 

Family LYMN AEIDAE. 

Genus LYMNAEA Lamarck. 

Lymnaea? sp. 

A shell having much the outline of Lymnaea 

. vetusta Meek, with a distinctly truncate pillar 

and a gyrate internal axis, was obtained by 

G. R. Mansfield from the Salt Lake formation . 

in theN. ! sec. 24, T. 10 S., R. 43 E., in Idaho. 

It is perhaps not a Lymnaea, but the form is so 

·obscured by a hard shaly matrix that a definite 

,determination of the genus is not practicable. 

Family PLANORBIDAE. 

Genus PLANORBIS Miiller. 

Planorbis? sp. 

Fragments and partial impressions of shells 

which may be planorboid are not rare in the 

material at hand, but they are not sufficiently 

well preserved to distinguish them from small 

or young specimens of Vorticffex. 

Subfamily POMPHOLIGINAE. 

Genus VORTICIFEX Meek. 

Vortijex Meek, Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia Proc. for 

1870, p. 59; type Carinifex (Vortijex) tryoni 

Meek, loc. cit., sole example. 

Vorticifex tryoni Meek. 

Carinifex (Vortifex) tryoni Meek, Acad. Nat. Sci. 

Philadelphia Proc. for ·1870, p. 59, 1870. 

Carinifex (Vorticijex) tryoni Meek, U. S. Geol. Expl. 

40th Par. Rept., vol. 4, pt. 1, p. 188, pl. 17, figs. 

10, 10a-10c, 1877. 

White; C. A., U.S. Nat. Mus. Proc., vol. 5, p. 100, 

pl. 5, figs. 8-9, 1882. 

Fossil Hill. 

Vortifex, according to Meek, 1877, was a 

typographic error. It is extremely doubtful 

whether this form and its Pleistocene relatives 

have any distinctive characters separating thern 

from Pompholyx Lea (not Gosse), Pompholopsis Call, and Parapholyx Hanna. 

Generally the large Oarinifex binneyi has 

been figured as typical of Vorticifex, but Meek 

did not originally place it in this group, which 

consisted only of the present species and its 

varieties. 

An examination of the large series of recent 

Pompholyx in the National Museum reveals a 

great amount of variation. Nearly every lot 

of the recent shells contains a few more or less 

distinctly umbilicate specimens, though the . 

typical form is imperforate. The Pleistocene 

specimens are smaller, more solid, and generally 

umbilicate; the Pliocene ones more distinctly 

so. One must recognize in this material, as 

with many other fresh-water gastropods, either 

one form with a multiplicity of varieties merging into one another, or a lot of species that 

can not be diagnostically separated. 
112 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1923-1924. 

Genus MEGASYSTROPHA Lea. 

Megasystropha Lea, Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia Proc., 

2d ser., vol. 8, p. 5, January, 1864. Type, 

Planorbis newberryi Lea, 1858. 

Carinifex Binney, W. G., Smithsonian Misc. Coli. No. 

143, pt. 2, p. 74, September, 1865. Type, 

Planorbis newberryi Lea, Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia Proc. for 1858, p. 41, 1858. 

December 9, 1863, while Mr. W. G. Binney 

was engaged in preparing an account of the 

land and fresh-water shells of the United States 

for the Smithsonian Institution, desiring the 

opinion and .criticism of his colleagues, he induced Professor Henry to send out a set of 

proof sheets (not for sale) to a few persons who 

were interested in the study of mollusks. In 

the preface to these sheets Professor Henry, 

while explaining their purpose, remarks: "As 

a mere proof which will undoubtedly receive 

many corrections, these pages should not be 

quoted as authority or referred to as a published work." 

These proofs were in page form printed on 

one side of the paper, and on the eleventh sheet 

occurs the absolutely nude name "Garinifex 

newberryi Lea." There was, prior to the issue 

of this proof, an Ancylus newberryi Lea, 1858, a 

Planorbis newberryi Lea, 1858, a Melania newberryi Lea, 1860, and a Goniobasis newberryi 

Lea, 1863, but no Garinifex newberryi, nor was 

there in the proof sheets referred to any indication which of the above-named species might 

be intended by Binney's Garin~fex newberryi. 

The first publication of the genus Garinifex 

occurred, as indicated in the preceding synonymy, in September, 1865. But Lea's name had 

been fully diagnosed and published in January 

or February, 1864. It would seem that, under 

the circumstances and according to the rules, 

Megasystropha should be accepted. 

Megasystropha binneyi Meek. 

Carinifex binneyi Meek, Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 

Proc. for 1870, p. 59, 1870. 

Carinifex (Vorticifex) binneyi Meek, U. S. Geol. Expl. 

40th Par. Rept., vol. 4, p. 187, pl. 17, figs. 11, 

11a, 1877. 

Fossil Hill. 

Meek, in 1877, attempted to make this species 

the type of Vorticifex, but as it was not included in the subgenus as originally proposed, 

this, under the rules, can not be accepted. 

This species differs from the typical Megasystropha in having the spire deeply sunken instead 

of elevated, and the peripheral edges rounded 

in~tead of carinate. This gives it a much more 

planorboid aspect. It may typify a section 

Paradines. Pompholopsis Call, 1888, typified by 

P. whitei Call, may form another section for 

fossil forms more turbinate, solid, and umbilicate than the recent type. The relations of 

Ghoanomphalus Gerstfeldt, a re~ent form of 

Lake Baikal, to the present group are in need 

of elucidation. 

Subfamily PAYETTINAE. 

Genus PAYETTIA Dall, n. gen. 

Payettia dalli (White). 

Latia dalli White, U. S. Nat. Mus. Proc., vol. 5, p. 100, 

pl. 5, figs. 17-20, 1882; U. S. Geol. Survey 

Third Ann. Rept., p. 45, pl. 32, figs. 37-40, 

1883. 

Fifty miles below Salmon Falls, Snake River; White. 

Castle Creek, Owyhee County, Idaho; Campbell. Also 

various other localities in the Idaho formation~ 

This is one of the relatively few species which 

appear to be widely distributed in the lake-bed 

deposits. 

Though White recognized the differences between the Australasian and Japanese genus 

Latia and the present fossil, he nevertheless 

tentatively referred the fossil to the same genus. 

Latia is a small fresh-water shell, with a short 

deck from which a prominent spurlike process 

projects. Payettia, on the other hand, has a 

simple deck like a Grepidula, but relatively 

smaller, and the shell grows to many times the 

size of Latia and is thin and undulated. The 

geographic distance between the two faunas 

alone would suggest the probable generic distinctness of the two forms, which is definitely 

confirmed by the shell characters. Payettia, 

however, is not represented in the Balkan fossil 

fauna. 

Family ANCYLIDA·E. 

Genus ANCYLUS 0. F. Mtiller. 

Ancylus undulatus Meek. 

Ancylus undulatus Meek, Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 

Proc. for 1870, p. 57, 1870: U. S. Geol. Expl. 

40th Par. Rept., vol. 4, p. 186, pl. 17, figs. 12 

a-b, 1882. 

White, U. S. Geol. Survey Third Ann. Rept., p. 

45, pl. 32, figs. 10, lOa, 1883. 

Fossil Hill .. 

I have not seen this species. 
U, S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 132 PLATE XXVI 

2 

4 

7 

X6 

6 3 

5 

X4 

9 10 11 

FOSSILS OF THE IDAHO FORMATION. 

1. Lithoglyphus campbelli Dall. 

2. Lithoglyphus aniiquus (Gabb). 3. Orygoceras (Ibicicornu) idahoense Dall. 4. Orygoceras (Ibicicornu) crenulatum Dall. 5. Orygoceras (Ibicicornu) arcuatum Dall. 6. Apical whorls of Goniobasis taylori (Gabb). 

7. Aphanotylus whitei Dall. 8. Sphaerium meeki Dall. 

9. Goniobasis taylori (Gab b). 

10. Goniobasis taylori (Gabb), upper part of spire. 

11. Goniobasis (taylori var.'?) calkinsi Dall. 

BALKAN FRESH-WATER FAUNA IN SNAKE RIVER VALLEY, ID~HO. 113 

Family ORYGOCERATIDAE. 

Genus ORYGOCERAS Brusina. 

Orygoceras Brusina, Beitr. PaHiontologie Oesterr.-

Ungarns u. des Orients, vol. 2, p. 33, Wien, 

1882; Iconographia molluscorum fossilium, p. 

viii, pl. 2, 1882. 

Fischer, Manuel de conchyliologie, p. 735, fig. 504, 

1885. 

This extraordinary genus, resembling Parastrophia of the Caecidae among marine mollusks, but probably not operculate, is divisible 

i~to several quite distinct sections. No type 

was selected by the author, and therefore I 

select the example figured by Fischer, 0. cornucopiae Brusina, as representing the typical 

section. 

I. Section Orygoceras (strict sense). Shell tubular, 

with a small spiral apex, straight or slightly arcuate, 

cylindrical, gradually expanding, sculptured with regularly spaced transverse lamellae. Type 0. cornucopiae 

Brusina. 

II. Section lbicicornu. Shell longitudinally subcarinate, with a dextral twist. Type 0. fistula Brusina. 

III. Section Bovillina. Shell smooth, with circular 

section, more or less arcuate. Type 0. corniculum 

Brusina. 

IV. Section I ncilicornu. Shell nearly straight, longitudinally finely striate, slightly twisted near the apex. 

Type 0. leptonema Brusina. 

Members of sections I and IV have not yet 

been detected in America. 

Orygoceras (Ibicicornu) idahoense Dall, n. sp. 

Plate XXVI, Figure 3. 

Castle Creek, Owyhee County, Idaho; Campbell. 

Shell minute, nearly straight, except the 

spiral nucleus of about one whorl, beyond 

which the whorl describes a sen1icircular arc 

equal to about half a revolution, beyond which 

the slowly enlarging tube becomes nearly 

straight; on the basal side of the spire a low 

rounded carina is initiated, which continues 

as far as the anterior end of the tube, making 

about half a revolution around it, the su:dace 

behind it appearing slightly flattened, the total 

aspect indicating a twist of the tube; the transverse section of the otherwise smooth tube, 

except for the slight indentation at the end of 

the carina, being circular. Longitude about 7 

millimeters; diameter 1.5 millimeters. U. S. 

Nat. Mus. catalog No. 333522. 

This resembles O.jistula Brusina but is longer 

and has the apex arched loosely, whereas in the 

Balkan species the apical part joins the nearly 

straight tube without an open arch. 

Orygoceras (lbicicornu) crenulatum Dall, n. sp. 

Plate XXVI, Figure 4. 

The apical portion and part of the succeeding 

tubular part of another species was found with 

the shell described above. The spiral apex is 

somewhat less involved, and the arch narrower; 

above the arch the periphery of the tube has 

four or five prominent transverse crenulations; 

the succeeding portion of the tube, in addition 

to the chief carina, has the beginning of a 

feebler second carina above it and near the 

periphery of the tube. The remainder of the 

shell was buried in the matrix and inaccessible. 

The length of the visible portion is about 3 

millimeters. U. S. Nat. Mus. catalog No. 

333523. 

Orygoceras (Ibicicornu) arcuatum Dall, n. sp. 

Plate XXVI, Figure 5. 

Castle Creek, with the preceding species. 

Shell minute, smooth, arcuate, rather rapidly 

enlarging, the spiral part reduced to a minute 

bulb at the apex of the tube, the carina feeble 

but evident and becoming obsolete anteriorly; 

the twist in the tube well marked. Longitude 

7.5 millimeters; diameter 1.7millimeters. U.S. 

Nat. Mus. catalog No. 333524. 

This is nearest to 0. cnemopsis Brusina but 

is at least one-third longer, is less angular, and 

increases more rapidly in diameter. 

Orygoceras (Bovillina) tuba Dall, n. sp. 

Castle Creek, with the preceding species. 

Shell small, smooth, ecarinate, the apex 

loosely coiled, forming hardly more than onehalf of a revolution; the cross section of the 

earlier part of. the tube is slightly compressed 

laterally but later becomes circular; the aperture has its sides slightly arcuately produced, 

the edges receding between them; there is no 

trace of a carina, but a slight twist is perceptible. Longitude 8 millimeters; diameter of 

aperture 2 millimeters. U.S. Nat. Mus. catalog 

No. 333525. 

This is nearest to 0. corniculum Brusina, 

which is only 3 millimeters long and has a less 

even arcuation and a closely coiled nucleus, 

with no arch to speak of. A fragment of 0. tuba 

on another piece of rock, without apex or aperture, is 7 millimeters long and indicates that a 

perfectly adult specimen might reach a length 

of over 10 millimeters. 
114 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GE·NERAL GEOLOGY, 1923-1924. 

Family MELANIIDAE. 

Genus GONIOBASIS Lea. 

The forms described below are devoid of the 

anterior angularity of the margin of the aperture which suggested the generic name, but in 

a large number of the recent species now 

referred to the genus this feature is also absent, 

so it seems more probable that the fossil forms 

are related to the American genus than to the 

exotic typical Jtfelania, which is not represented 

in the recent American fauna. 

Goniobasis taylori (Gabb). 

Plate XXVI, Figures 6, 9, 10. 

Melania taylori Gabb, Paleontology of California, vol. 

2, p. 13, pl. 2, fig. 21, 1865. 

White, U. S. Nat. Mus. Proc., vol. 5, p. 100, pl. 

5, fig. 3, 1882; U. S. Geol. Survey Third Ann. 

Rept., pt. 3, p. 55, fig. 3, 1883. 

Goniobasis tayloriana Pilsbry, Nautilus, vol. 13, p. 66, 

1899. 

Castle Creek, Owyhee County, Idaho; A. Taylor, 

W. H. Campbell. Near Glenn's Ferry; I. C. Russell. 

The typical G. taylori has sharp sculpture 

with the arcuate axial ridges sharp and prominent, usually with wider interspaces; on the 

last whorl there are six, on the preceding two 

whorls three, and on the earlier whorls two 

sharp spirals. The spire is elongate, tapering 

to an acute apex, and comprises ten or twelve 

whorls. The earlier ones are often eroded and 

appear nearly or quite smooth. 

A variety of this species, more abundant at 

Castle Creek than the typical form, has the 

axial sculpture inconspicuous, the nodulation 

at the intersections rounded, and behind the 

last whorl all the whorls of the spire have three 

similar spirals. This may take the name G. 

taylori var. calkinsi (Pl. XXVI, fig. 11). This 

was also collected in the Snake River canyon 1 

mile east of Slick Bridge, on the south side of 

the river, by F. C. Calkins. U. S. Nat. Mus. 

catalog No. 333526. 

Genus MICROMELANIA Brusina. 

Micromelania Brusina, Fossile Binnen-Mollusken aus 

Dalmatien, Kroatien und Slavonien, p. 133, 

Agram, 1874. Type, M. cerithiopsis Brusina. 

These are small s:ubcylindric shells with 

numerous whorls and well-impressed suture. 

The aperture is simple. The original type is a 

sculptured shell, but of ten species figured in 

his Atlas, Brusina shows only one with pronounced sculpture. In the matrix of the 

tp.aterial from Castle Creek there are a number 

of internal casts and fragments which might be 

referred almost indifferently to this genus or to 

Pterides, but in no specimen is the aperture . 

preserved. 

Family HYDROBIIDAE. 

Genus CASPIA Dybowski. 

Caspia Dybowski, Mal. Bla.tter, neue Folge, Band 10, 

p. 34, 1887. First species C. baeri Dybowski, 

p. 36, pl. 3, figs. 4 a-b, which may be taken as 

the type. 

This small operculate is found living in the 

Caspian Sea, and numerous species occur in the 

Balkan fresh-water deposits. Internal casts 

which might belong to a species like that 

(unnamed) which is figured in Brusina's 

Atlas, Plate XI, Figures 14-15, occur in the 

Castle Creek material but can not be positively 

identified. · 

Genus NEMATURELLA Sandberger. 

N ematurella Sandberger, Conchylien der Vorwelt, p. 

575, 1874. Sole example, N. ftexilabris Sandberger, p. 575, pl. 20, figs. 24, 24c. 

Brusina, Atlas, p. viii, pls. 9, 11, 29, 1902. 

Two worn specimens from the Castle Creek 

material are very close to the unnamed species 

figured in Brusina's Atlas, Plate XI, Figure 26, 

but are hardly well enough preserved for 

description. 

Genus SANDRIA Brusina. 

Sandria Brusina, Atlas, p. ix, pl. 9, figs. 22-27, 1902. 

Type, S. kochi Brusina, pl. 9, figs. 22-24. 

These are small shells, much resembling 

minute Bythinella. I have not been able to 

find a reference to the earlier description of 

S. lcochi or the genus Sandria. Three species 

in a more or less imperfect state of preservation 

are represented in the Castle Creek material if 

their resemblance to Brusina's figures may be 

trusted. · 

Subfamily LITHOGLYPHINAE. 

Genus LITHOGLYPHUS Mtihlfeldt. 

Lithoglyphus (Miihlfeldt MS.) Hartmann, in Sturm's 

. Fauna Deutsch!., vol. 6, Heft 5, p. 57, 1821. 

Ziegler, in Menke, Synops., p. 42, 1830. Type, 

Paludina naticoides Ferussac. 

Lithoglyphus antiquus (Gabb). 

Plate XXVI, Figure 2. 

Lithasia antiqua Gabb, Paleontology of California, vol. 

2, p. 13, pl. 2, fig. 23, 1865 . . 

White, U.S. Nat. Mus. Proc., vol. 5, p. 100, pl. 5, 

fig. 4, 1882; U. S. Geol. Survey Third ~nn. 

Rept., Jtt. 3, p. 59, pl. 32, fig. 4, 1883. 

This is one of the most widely distributed 

and conspicuous members of the fresh-water 
BALKAN FRESH-WATER FAUNA IN SNAKE RIVER VALLEY, IDAHO, 115 

fauna of the Idaho formation. It is a typical 

Lithoglyphus and the first genuine member of 

that genus to be reported from the Western 

Hemisphere. The species reported by authors 

from South America in the Recent fauna belong 

to quite different genera. 

Lithoglyphus campbelli, DalJ, n. sp. 

Plate XXVI, Figure 1. 

Mouth of King Hill Creek near Glenn's Ferry, Snake 

River canyon, Idaho, U. S. Geol. Survey station 3486: 

I. C. Russell; very abundant. 

Shell small, solid, with a rather acute apex, 

a pustular nucleus, and about five well-rounded 

whorls; suture distinct, the whorl in front of it 

flattened a little, giving a slightly turrited 

aspect to the spire; last whorl much the largest, naticoid; surface smooth except for incremental lines; base rounded, imperforate; aperture subovate, simple, the margins sharp, the 

inner and outer lips connected over the body 

by a thick layer of callus. Altitude, 11 millimeters; maximum diameter, 8 millimeters; 

aperture, 6.5 millimeters. U. S. Nat. Mus. 

catalog No. 333527. 

Named in honor of W. H. Campbell, collector of the Castle Creek material. 

Family VALVATIDAE. 

Genus VALVATA 0. F. MUller? 

Brusina refers to Valvata a considerable number of turbinate shells from the Balkan deposits, figuring them on his Plates XIII and 

XIV. In general, they appear heavier and 

thicker than the recent shells familiar to us, 

and some of them with a different type of 

sculpture remind one of the marine trochoid 

Machaeroplax Friele. One sueh specimen occurs partly embedded in the Castle Creek material, the aperture and base inaccessible, the 

upper surface showing about three whorls encircled by two inconspicuous carinae. It is 

probable that with a better knowledge of these 

animals a portion at least of the speci~s will 

prove to be separable from typical Valvata. 

Genus APHANOTYLUS Brusina. 

Aphanotylus Brusina, Jour. d·e Conchyliologie, vol. 41, 

pp. 179, 182, 1893. Type, A. cossmanni Brusina, op. cit., p. 185; Atlas, p. v, pl. 14, figs. 

22-27, 1902. 

These are minute planorboid shells with a 

closed or nearly closed umbilicus, having aremarkable resemblance to the marine genus 

Pseudorotella Fischer. 

Aphanotylus whitei Dall, n. sp. 

Plate XXVI, Figure 7. 

Castle Creek, Owyhee County, Idaho; W. H. Campbell. 

Shell minute, of about two whorls, the nucleus hardly raised above the flattened spire, 

the surface smooth, the suture inconspicuous, 

the last whorl rather rapidly enlarging; the 

aperture subcircular with sharp-edged margin 

and no lirae internally; base well rounded, imperforate. Diameter, 1.6 millimeters; height, 

1.2 millimeters. U. S. Nat. Mus. catalog No. 

333528. 

Another species, represented by broken 

specimens in the matrix, has a raised cord running spirally in front of the suture and somewhat separated from it. It is a larger shell 

than A. whitei.