THE MARINE FAUNA OF THE HUMBER DISTRICT 



AND THE HOLDERNESS COAST. 



By T. Petch, B.Sc, B.A. 



[Read August 20th, 1902). 



FOR many years the study of marine zoology seems to 

 have been neglected by Yorkshire naturalists ; indeed, 

 so far as our particular district is concerned, there is 

 no evidence that any systematic investigation has ever been 

 commenced, for, with two exceptions, the only available 

 records relate to dead polyzoa, &c, gathered on the tide- 

 mark. We may plead, with considerable justification, that 

 the Holderness coast is uninviting to non-ornithological 

 zoologists ; the sandy shore from Bridlington to Spurn, and 

 the belt of mud along the Humber, possess none of those 

 characters which make corresponding areas in other 'districts 

 attractive. But a few brief explorations have shown that by 

 taking advantage of the numerous coast defences we can 

 demonstrate the presence of a number of species in addition 

 to the mud fauna proper, many of them living under con- 

 ditions which suggest extremely interesting problems, and I 

 venture to record' the results of these expeditions as a pre- 

 liminary list for the Humber district in the hope that the 

 subject will be undertaken by others. 



With the exception of a single visit to the Western 

 Reservation in August, 1902, when Nereis pelagicu and 

 Corophium longicorne were taken, my excursions have been 

 confined to localities east of Hull ; the frontage of the Hull 

 docks, or even the docks, may provide additions to the list. 

 As far as I can ascertain no species of the usual dock fauna 

 has been recorded for the Hull district. 



Saltend and Paull, about three miles east of Hull, furnish 

 our first hunting ground. Here, in the shallow pools on the 

 grassy flats outside the bank, which are reached only by tides 

 over 27 ft. 6 ins.,* we find a prawn [Palcemonetes varians), an 

 amphipod with abnormally large antennae {Corophium long- 

 icorne), and an isopod {Sphceroma rugicaudci), which rolls 



* Albert Dock. 



