324 HELIX CANTIANA. 



walks witli that learned but modest Naturalist, Mr. Jas. Bagnall, seen it 

 plentifully distributed along the canal bank at Holywell, about four 

 miles from Henley. Mr. Slatter, of Redditch, says it is common at 

 Littleton, near Evesham ; and we have taken it near Evesham Railway 

 Station. In all these places it extends for a considerable distance along 

 the road. Neai-ly all the shells are rufous and white, white shells being 

 uncommon ; for, although Reeve says " the lower half of the shell is 

 always tinged with a rufous foxy rust colour," it is not so ; pure white 

 shells are not uncommon in the south-eastern counties on the chalk, and 

 occur occasionally wherever the species is plentiful. 



The shells vary in size and texture, according to the nature of the 

 creature's habitat ; specimens from the chalk or hmestone, where the 

 plants upon which it feeds contain abundance of lime, are large and 

 smooth, while those from the sparsely clad sand-dunes of Deal are 

 stunted and rough. We have examples in our cabinet of a truly minor 

 form, its dimensions are B. 0-55, Alt. 0-35, the ordinary size being B. 0-70, 

 Alt.' 0--10. We have shells B. 0-80, Alt. 0-50. 



Dr. Tui-ton says this species was introduced by " coUiers " into 

 Northumberland, where it occurs on the banks of the Tyne. In the 

 "Quarterly Journal of Couchology" for August, 1878, our excellent 

 correspondent, Mr. J. S. Gibbons, M.B., notes its occurrence on the 

 Chalk Cliffs, near Flamborough Head, in Yorkshire, " in a locahty so 

 retired that it is impossible to suppose it otherwise than indigenous ;" it 

 is very common in some districts of central Yorkshire, and it is possible, 

 therefore, that it may be found in Durham. 



The locality, "near Dublin," is given in Gray's Turton, (p. 36,) 

 probably on the authority of its being named as occuiTing there in 

 Welsh and Whitelaw's History of Dublin ; but Dr. J. Gwyn-Jeffreya 

 says " subsequent writers on Irish Conchology have not conlii-med the 

 correctness of such statement." 



Reeve says (p. 67) Mr. Guise believed it to have been introduced into 

 Glamorganshire, where he found it between Swansea and Oystermouth. 



We shall be very pleased to receive any further notes of the occurrence 

 of this species in places not known to us. 



G. SnERRtFF Tyb. 

 Handsworth, Birmingham. 



A PIECE OF CHALK. 



BY FRED. F. GEENSTED, MAIDSTONE. 



Only a piece of chalk, of no appreciable value, and yet it hag 

 preserved a decipherable record of marvellous events which happened 

 numberless ages ago ! Judging by analogy, where England now stands, 

 water a mile or two in depth was " once upon a time " lashed into ocean 

 waves by the passing wind. TraveUing in thought to the bottom of this 



