THE LINCOLNSHIRE COAST. 



BY V. M. BURTON, ESQ. 



In the early part of last August I visited several places on this coast 

 with a view to naturalizing, and as so few, who can make their choice, 

 ever think of going to so barren a locality, a short account of its products 

 may not be uninteresting. 



At Mablethorpe, about seven miles from Alford, I found several shells 

 in great abundance, such as Tellina solidula, Syndosmya alba, Mactra 

 Stultorum, and Solen siliqua. They inhabit sand and mud at low water, 

 and the several species are easily distinguished by the different marks they 

 make in the sand. The burrow of Tellina solidula is always indicated by a 

 small track from three to four inches long, as if cut by a blunt knife, 

 at one end of which it may invariably be found buried. That of Syn- 

 dosmya alba is usually a slight eminence under which it lies. Mactra 

 Stultorum buries itself from four to eight inches deep, and makes a small 

 hole in the sand, about the size of a pea, out of which it sometimes pro- 

 trudes its siphon; while the common Razor Shell, (Solen siliqua,) bores 

 down sometimes to the depth of two feet or more, and is easily discovered 

 by a hole about as big as a bullet, round which may generally be observed 

 the marks of the drops of water it has lately spouted up. Besides these 

 I found Syndosmya prismatica not uncommon, and a few Syndosmya inter- 

 media, also Tellina tenuis, Solen pellucidus, Mactra elliptica, Nucula nucleus 

 and radiata, Velutina laevigata, Trophon clathratus, Donax anatinus, Cylichna 

 obtusa, Gardium pygmceum, Artemis exoleta, Pholas Candida, and enormous 

 single valves of Pholas crispata; the white variety of Pecten varius, P. 

 tigrinus, and Mya truncata, besides species of the genera Trochus, Natica, 

 Nassa, and others. Sea-weeds and zoophytes were scarce. The common 

 Flustra foliacea sometimes came up in the dredge, which was remarkable 

 for having no scent, a quality which I have found it invariably to possess 

 elsewhere when alive. 



Vast quantities of Acalepha were floating about; the Ehyzostomce, con- 

 spicuous for their rich purple tinge, and each retiring tide left numbers a 

 prey to the little hopping scavenger Talitrus locusta, which swarmed at high- 

 water mark. The star-fishes were represented by the common Uraster rubens, 

 Solaster papposa, Ecldnus sphcera, and Amphidotus caudatus, and the only 

 interesting specimen I found among the Crustacea was Sulcator arenarius, 

 and it was rather abundant on sandy ridges laid bare at low water, lying 

 in a little hollow just big enough for its body; and to judge from the 

 number of empty holes, and the quantity of feathered footprints round them, 

 it is evidently esteemed a delicacy by Ring Dotterels and other shore birds. 



