36 



THE CONCHOLOGIST, 



A VISIT TO COOPER'S HILL, 

 GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 



By William Nelson, 



Hon. Curator to the Conchological SocietY of Great 

 Britain and Ireland. 



AT an early hour on the morning of 

 April 19th, 1867, Mr. J. W. Taylor 

 and myself started from Camp Hill Station, 

 Birmingham, for Cheltenham. On the 

 journey we noticed some fields near King's 

 Norton almost yellow with the splendid 

 flowers of the daff"odil, and in some places 

 the banks of the railway cuttings were 

 liberally besprinkled with the flowers of the 

 cowslip. On arriving at Cheltenham, at 

 about 8 a.m., we at once made our way 

 to the Painswick Road, and, on arriving 

 here, we commenced our search for shells. 

 In a small damp ditch we found examples 

 of Linnuva inmcatithi ; a little further on 

 the road we obtained specimens of Helix 

 rufescens and some nice varieties of Helix 

 fie/iiomlis and If. hortensis (alas! those good 

 old days when the conchologist had not to 

 give a varietal name to nearly every indi- 

 vidual specimen he collected, but was 

 content to swear by Jeff'reys). Hie two 

 latter species were at about a foot from the 

 ground in the hedgerows, generally a sure 

 sign of a wet day. Amongst the H. 

 nemoralis was one of abnormal form. It 

 had the normal reflected lip of all adult 

 shells of this species, but after completion 

 it had begun to enlarge its shell, and had 

 made the growth in a very rough and 

 unfinished manner, which it had continued 

 for about half a whorl. We made a halt 

 by the side of a rippling brook a little 

 past Shurdington, where an unsuccessful 

 search was made for water shells, and 



turned our attention to the land species. 

 At the base of some willows we obtained 

 examples of Helix pulchella, H rotundata, 

 and FuJ)a umbilicata. Crossing a field, we 

 now took to a footpath which leads direct 

 to the hill. Beside a garden bank we 

 stayed and searched, and obtained a few 

 specimens of Cycloslonia elegans, and one 

 or two specimens of Clausilia rolphii ; and, 

 whilst turning over some dead leaves, I dis- 

 turbed a slow-worm, which quickly glided 

 away. Entering the wood at the side of 

 the hill, we examined a dry but moss- 

 covered wall, where we found Helix rupestris 

 to be very common. Going further into 

 the wood, we came to a large damp hollow, 

 near to the remains of the Roman villa ; 

 here we stayed and made a prolonged 

 search amongst the dead leaves of the 

 beech, which lay nearly a foot deep in this 

 part of the wood. By careful searching we 

 secured about twenty examples of Clatisilia 

 rolphii. A heavy downpour of rain neces- 

 sitated our leaving our position, which had 

 been one of lying at full length, face 

 downwards, examining the dead leaves, 

 which serve to hide the Clausilia, which 

 so very closely resemble their surroundings 

 in colour. The Cyclostoma elegans obtained 

 here were much larger in size, and paler in 

 colour, than those obtained on the garden 

 bank, where they are exposed to the in- 

 fluence of the sun. During our search here 

 we secured examples of Vitrina pellucida, 

 the large flattened form depressiuscula, Jeffreys, 

 Zonites celtarius, Z. fiitidulus, Z. crysiallinus, 

 Z. fulvus, Helix rufescens and its variety 

 albeda, H. liispiJa, H. r,>tundata, H. lapi- 

 cida, Bulifuus ohscurus and its variety alba, 

 Carychiuni minimum, Vertigo edenfula, and 

 Cochliocopa lubrica. Climbing to the top 

 of the hill we found Helix virgata, but 

 of only small size (one of the specimens 



