lv PREFACE. 
will either fill them with despair or urge them to greater emu- 
lation,” did not take up the study of shells before his forty- 
fifth birthday had passed. 
There are no collections of Somerset shells likely to fill local 
conchologists with despair ; indeed, it should not be forgotten 
that the County Museum is without one. It is to be hoped 
that a committee of Somerset conchologists will undertake the 
formation of such a collection. 
The records set forth in the following pages indicate very 
clearly the wide field of investigation that still awaits future 
workers. Our knowledge of the marine species is particularly 
meagre, and will remain so, I fear, until an enthusiast can be 
found who will undertake systematic work with the trawl. 
It is my pleasure here to acknowledge the kind help of the 
following correspondents in the preparation of these records :— 
Miss M. Tanner (Bath); the Rev. H. H. Winwood (Bath) ; 
Messrs. H. Bolton (Bristol), H. Corder ( Bridgwater), H. L. F. 
Guermonprez (Bognor), W. Gyngell (Scarborough), N. G. 
Hadden (Malvern), W. Herridge (Bourton), C. D. Hegin- 
botham (Devizes), F. A. Knight (Winscombe), W. A. Knight 
(Bruton), W. H. Palmer ( Weston-super-Mare), J. Ponsonby 
(London), W. Denison Roebuck (Leeds), C. Tite (Taunton), 
and H. Watson (Cambridge). 
I am under obligation to Dr. Roger Hutchinson, of Hasle- 
mere, and George Hutchinson, of Sidecot School, for photo- 
graphs ; also to the Royal Geographical Society and Mr. 
W. B. Crump for permission to reproduce three illustrations 
from Dr. Moss’s monograph on “ The Vegetation of Somerset.” 
My best thanks are due to the Council of the Somersetshire 
Archeological and Natural History Society for so kindly 
undertaking the publication of this paper, and to Mr. H. St. 
George Gray for his great assistance in seeing the proofs 
through the press. 
BH. W. SWANTON, 
Flaslemere, 1912. 
