122 Holocene Shells at Ruckland, near Louth, Lines. 



Ccscilioides acicula. Many of the shells of this species are 

 exceedingly fine examples. 



An interesting, very small form of Pnpilla muscorum was 

 found, of which Mr. Kennard writes : ' similar very small 

 forms occurred in the Holocene of Cissbury, Sussex.' 



I have collected a similar small form living in Haugham 

 Pasture, a wood a short distance to the north of Burwell Wood, 

 which is within three miles of Ruckland, and I have also re- 

 ceived other examples of this form from the veteran collector, 

 Mr. J. Hawkins, collected near Grantham. 



Clausilia roiphii. Of this species, Mr. Kennard writes : — 

 ' this is an extremely interesting form since it is extremely 

 rare in a fossil state.' This species was first recorded for North 

 Lines, by Mr. W. Denison Roebuck, in his pioneer list, ' Lincoln- 

 shire MoUusca,' The Naturalist, August, 1887; the specimens 

 having been discovered in that year (1887) in Burwell Wood, 

 Haugham Pasture and the neighbouring Maltby Wood, by 

 H. Wallis Kew. At that time these localities were the most 

 northerly from which it has been recorded. Since then it 

 was found (in 1905) in Claxby Wood, north from Market 

 Rasen. It was collected more than fifty years ago by Mr. J. 

 Hawkins in Ropsley Rise, near Grantham, South Lines. 



Pomatias elegans, though a common species in this deposit, 

 is now rare living in the district, Burwell Wood being the 

 nearest, and until a few years ago the only locality in North 

 Lincolnshire, where it has been found alive, although keen 

 search has been made for it in other places where dead shells 

 have been found. This species is also of particular local historic 

 interest, for in 1678, Dr. Martin Lister recorded that he found 

 it in Kent, Yorkshire and ' also at Burwell Woods, in Lincoln- 

 shire ' (De Cochleis terrestribus, p. 120), where it was re-dis- 

 covered in 1886 by Mr. H. Walhs Kew. 



Acicula lineata. This species, as far as I know, has not 

 been previously recorded for Lincolnshire, nor has it yet, I 

 believe, been found alive. 



It is significant that the three commonest species, H. vir- 

 gata, H. caperata and H. gigaxii — now living within a few 

 3^ards of this deposit, have not been found therein. It is also 

 noteworthy that although extremely abundant in the East and 

 South-east of England at the present day, Helicella virgata and 

 H. caperata are quite unknown from any Holocene deposit which 

 can be shown to be Roman or earlier, clearly proving that 

 these two species are quite modern immigrants, though there 

 can be no doubt that they are truly native in the South West. 

 Helicella gigaxii may also be a modern introduction into the 

 neighbourhood, though in Kent it occurs in undoubted pre- 

 Roman deposits. The absence of Helix aspersa is noteworthy, 

 for as a rule it is a constant associate with Roman remains. 



Naturalist^ 



