HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



163 



discussion which followed, Professor Boyd Dawkins 

 said that he congratulated the author upon the way 

 in which he had dealt with the phenomena which he 

 had brought before the Society. The bearing of his 

 remarks upon the sewage question was very im- 

 portant. The physical change implied by the 

 submarine forest in the area examined by the author 

 and which Professor Dawkins had studied for many 

 years, was to be observed all round our coast where 

 the shore was a shelving one. The forests of oak, 

 yew, and Scotch fir occupy a belt stretching from 

 about Ordnance datum to below low-water mark, and 

 he had identified the short-horned ox, goat, sheep, 

 and hog among the animals discovered in them at 

 various points. Between Porlock and Minehead he and 

 the Rev. H. W. Winwood had found numerous flint 

 chips and flakes. The forests, therefore, flourished 

 in the age of the domestic animals, or the Prehistoric 

 period, most probably in the Neolithic stage of that 

 period, and formed a belt extending from our shores 

 to an unknown distance seawards. With regard to the 

 section at Porlock Weir, he could not agree with the 

 author that there was a second bed of peat. It was, 

 as Mr. Godwin- Austen describes it, merely a surface- 

 growth of Iris. Dr. Hicks said that he could quite 

 confirm, from personal observation, the views of the 

 author in regard to the extension westward of the old 

 forests. That the mud went landward instead of 

 seaward was a point with important physical bearings. 

 He remarked upon the distribution of the materials 

 according to their weight and volume. Mr. Whittaker 

 said that the paper had an interest from the 

 analogies of the Severn deposits with others of 

 a like kind. He had recently been working near 

 the Wash, the low land bordering which was formed 

 of material deposited by the up-tide, so that the 

 materials were derived from the Yorkshire coast. 

 The sections of the Severn alluvial flats corresponded 

 with those of the Fenland. He thought it would be 

 better to say that submerged forests occur at the 

 junction of a river with the sea, rather than on a low 

 shelving shore, as stated by Professor Boyd Dawkins. 

 "Submerged forests" and " peat-beds " were sub- 

 stantially the same phenomenon. It was, however, 

 important to remember that the subsidence need 

 only be slight. He had lately heard some facts with 

 reference to the action of the tide in the Thames : — 

 experiments had been made with floats, and in some 

 cases the floats were found after a fortnight or more 

 to have travelled up the stream ; others, however, 

 had slowly descended. It was therefore evident that 

 much remained to be learnt about the tides. Pro- 

 fessor Sollas was glad to find that the results of his 

 study of this particular estuary were sufficiently in 

 harmony with Professor Dawkins's generalizations. 

 He differed, however, in two particulars ; the first was 

 with reference to the deposits immediately beneath 

 the peat, which he regarded as not fluviatile, but 

 tidal or marine ; and the next, as to the extent of the 



submergence which had taken place subsequent to 

 the formation of the peat ; he thought the land need 

 not have stood more than 20 feet higher than at 

 present for the growth of the first peat-bed, and 10 ■ 

 feet for the second. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Land Shells. — In reference to Mr. C. Ashford's 

 note in the April number of Science-Gossip, I 

 may say that hitherto I have taken H. obvoluta in 

 woods to a distance of five miles due west of 

 Winchester, but have never had time to search 

 further west. I don't know whether other collectors 

 have noticed the abundance of Claiisilia Rolphii this 

 year : here it is certainly the case, though C. 

 laminata and Helix lapicida are less common than 

 usual. Perhaps it is rather early for them. Cyclo- 

 stoma elegans occurs in plenty, while in the water I 

 have seen a great profusion of young L. truncatula 

 and stagnalis. — B. Tomlins. 



Land Shells. — List of land and fresh-water 

 shells taken during 1SS2 within a radius of twelve 

 miles of Middlesbrough - on - Tees : — H. aspersa,. 

 H. nemoralis, H. hispida, H. virgata, II. caperata, 

 H. pulchella, H arbustorum, H. hortensis, H. hybrida 

 (1 specimen), H. Cantiana, H.fusca, H. lamellata (1 

 specimen), H. aculeata, H. ericetorum, H. rotundata, 

 H. concinna, Claiisilia laminata, C. ritgosa, C. 

 diibia, Zua litbrica, Pupa umbilicata, P. muscorUm,. 

 P. Anglica, Carychium minimum, Acme fusca, 

 Helkella cellar/a, H. allaria, H. crystallina, II. 

 pura, H. nitidula, H. excavata, Vitrina pellucida, 

 Succinia elegans, Anodonta cygnea, Cyclas rivicola, 

 C. cornea ; C. cornea, var. Jlavescens ; Pisidium 

 pulcliellnm, P. amnicum, Valvata pisciualis, Bithynia 

 tentaculata (also pellucid white var.), Planorbis 

 carinatus, P. albits (1 specimen), P. marginatus, 

 P. spirorbis, P. vortex, P. contort us, \Limneus 

 pereger and vars. liueatits, ovata, and acutus ; H. 

 stagnalis (very rare and small), Aucylus fluviatilis, 

 A. oblongus, Paludina Lesterii (dead shell). Along 

 the coast-line of the Tees Bay commencing at Salt- 

 burn, we find the sand dunes occupied principally 

 by H. nemoralis and H. caperata, between Saltburn 

 and Redcar. Between Redcar and the Tees mouth, 

 II. virgata and H. aspersa greatly outnumber nemo- 

 ralis. North of the Tees, between the river and 

 Seaton, virgata thins out and nemoralis becomes 

 more abundant ; caperata ditto ; but near Seaton 

 and towards Hartlepool H. cricetorum takes the 

 lead. I have not found II. hortensis nearer to the 

 sea than about seven miles ; arbustorum comes 

 within a quarter of a mile of the sea in Saltburn 

 woods.— Baker Hudson. 



Helix aspersa. — I recently took one of these 

 snails with a bright pink lip to its aperture, and 

 should be glad to know if this peculiarity is of common 

 occurrence, as I have never observed it before. The 

 inside of the outer lip is as distinct and bright a pink 

 as sometimes may be observed in Helix pisana. — 

 J. IV. Cundal, Bristol. 



Strange Food of Slug. — Mr. J. W. Slater's note 

 on a predacious slug (Nov. 1877) calls to mind an. 

 instance of, perhaps, a stranger taste in an animal of 

 the same kind. In a city publishing-house, about 

 two years ago, I discovered that the (cloth) binding 



