242 PROCEEDINGS OF THE MALACOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



THE MOLLUSCA OF THE ENGLISH CAVE-DEPOSITS. 

 By A. S. Kennaed and B. B. "Woodward, F.L.S., etc. 

 Read 9th April, 1897. 

 Although the vertebrate remains from our caves have been most 

 assiduously collected by numerous geologists, it has apparently never 

 occurred to them that the accompanying mollusca were of any interest 

 whatever; and though there can be no doubt that they have been 

 found in the numerous caverns which have been explored, more or less 

 thoroughly, with a pickaxe, it is only on one or two occasions that their 

 presence has been noted, and then they have been dismissed with the 

 remark that " numerous shells of iZ"<;'//x were found in the stalagmite." 

 This absence of record would, nevertheless, be no loss, had the speci- 

 mens been preserved, which, unfortunately, has not been the case. 

 Recentlv, however, through the generosity of Mrs. Pengelly, the 

 British Museum (Natural History) has acquired, amongst other cave 

 specimens, a small series of shells from the Happaway Cavern, near 

 Torquay. The only published notice of them is that by the late 

 Mr. W. Pengelly^": "Shells of terrestrial mollusca were more 

 numerous and varied, but those of Helix were the most prevalent." 

 The species are seven in number, viz. : — 



Vttrea cellaria, Miill. Ii:eUx wmoraUs, Linn. 



„ alliaria, Mill. ,, hortensis, Miill. 



Pyramidida rotundnfa, Miill, Pomatias elegans, Mull. 



Helicella caperata, Mont. 



Two examples of Vitrea lucida, Drap. (= V. Broparnaudi, Beck), 



were also in the collection, but they are obviously from the top soil. 



By far the most important cave- deposit in this country is the well- 

 known Ightham fissure, from which such a rich harvest of vertebrate 

 and invertebrate remains has, with infinite labour, been obtaiued by 

 Mr. W. J. Lewis Abbott, F.G.S., during the past few years. In his 

 paper describing this deposit,* seventeen species of mollusca are recorded 

 as having been found, but since then further material has come to 

 light, and this Mr. Abbott has very kindly placed at our disposal, 

 a 'kindness for which we would take this opportunity of cordially 

 thanking him. Twelve fresh records have thus been added, bringing 

 the total up to twenty-nine species, viz. : — 



Limax maximus, Linn. Vitrea cellaria, Miill. 



Agriolimax agrestis, Linn. ,, fulva, Drap. 



Vitrea crydallina, Miill. Pyramidida rotmdafa, JMull. 



alliaria, Mill. Melicella ericetorum. Mull. 



'^ Uelrctica, Blum. ,, caperata, IMont. 



,, nitidula, Drap. Byyromia Impida, Lmn. 



.. radiatula. Aid. „ umhrosa, Partsch. 



' Trans. Devon Assoc, 1886, vol. xviii, p. 165. 

 2 Quart. Joiim. Geol. Soc, vol. 1, pp. 18-2-18.3. 



