290 
MR. J. HAWKINS’ COLLECTION OF GRANTHAM 
SHELES. 
G. S. CARTER 
Louth, 
In his presidential address to the Lincolnshire Naturalists’ 
Union, 1909, Mr. W. Denison Roebuck said that Mr. J. 
Hawkins of Grantham was ‘the first man who paid attention 
to our (Lincs.) shells since Lister’s time’ (17th cent.) and that 
‘the only regret we can have is that he has never published 
any account of the Grantham shells, and that there is therefore 
no record in print of the admirable work he accomplished 
during a long and well spent life.’ This latter I particularly 
endorse with the possible exception that in the year 1903 
Mr. Hawkins did contribute to The Grantham Journal a series 
of four interesting articles containing notes on some Grantham 
shells, under the title ‘A Tour in search of Land Shells,’ copies 
of which he very kindly sent me at the time. 
It was a great joy to me when on July 7th last, I received 
from the venerable Mr. J. Hawkins (now in his 97th year), his 
kindly greetings and his collection of shells obtained in 
Grantham and neighbourhood. 
The collection, though not large, is of such interest as to 
be worthy of record, especially as one species (Azeca tvidens) 
represented has not, I believe, been previously recorded for 
South Lincs. 
Mr. Roebuck in his address remarked ‘it was about 1854 
that he (Mr. Hawkins) collected Helix lapicida, the identical 
specimens being now in his,-collection—as also are those of 
Clausilia laminata, which>he found in Ropsley Rise Wood.’ 
Fortunately in this collection there is a tube containing 
H. lapicida and bearing a label cn which is written ‘ Harrowby 
Lane, Aug., 1855.’ Of this species Mr. R. Worsdale, in an 
interesting paper read before the Grantham Scientific Society, 
remarks ‘it is rare hereabouts and can be found in very few 
places round Grantham.’ 
Referring to Cecilioides acicula Mr. Worsdale said, ‘ Mr. 
Hawkins assures me that he found it in the Harrowby Lane 
some forty years ago.’ Probably these are the specimens 
in a small tube without locality or date but bearing the label 
“ V. minutissima.’ There is also a tube labelled “ Ropsley 
Rise Quarry, Sept., 1907,’ containing a number of C. acicula, 
evidently of Holocene age. Mr. Worsdale also remarked that 
‘ Clausilia rolphit is a rare variety for Grantham. Up to the 
present it has only been found in Ropsley Rise, and that by 
Mr. Hawkins, who secured it more than forty years ago, and 
was the first to re-discover it.’ As evidence of Mr. Hawkins’ 
keenness there is a tube labelled ‘ Clausilia rolphii, 1904, 

Naturalist, 
