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YORKSHIRE MARINE BIOLOGY COMMITTEE AT 

 ROBIN HOOD'S BAY— OCT. 12-14. 



F. H. WOODS. 



As far as shell-molluscs are concerned, the meeting at Robin 

 Hood's Bay must be pronounced a great success. The con- 

 ditions of tide and weather were excellent. Robin Hood's 

 Bay is an ideal hunting ground in low spring tide, and the 

 presence of our Chairman, Professor Garstang, added an ad- 

 ditional zest. Perhaps the most striking feature was the large 

 number of Chitonids. Of these no fewer than 5 distinct species 

 were found. One of them, discovered by Professor Garstang, 

 was identified by Mr. Sykes, of Weymouth, as IcBvis. The 

 other, found by Miss Cooper, of the Vicarage, Fylingdale, 

 proved to be onyx, surely a more appropriate name than 

 asellns, ' a young ass.' The other three more familiar species 

 were founcl in considerable numbers. Another interesting 

 feature was the number of borers or quasi-borers, which had 

 made their way into, or in the crevices of, the soft lias ; such 

 as, of course, ZirphcBa crispata, Saxicava and Modiolus, in 

 a very hairy condition, accounting no doubt for many of the 

 records of barbatus and phasioliniis on our coast, Kellia and 

 many others. One great advantage of this shore is that a 

 worker can go out at low spring tide to the very edge of the 

 laminarian zone without any clanger of being caught by the tide. 

 The shell sand also proved full of interest. Among the most 

 striking specimens was that of Lepeta fulva, a very minute shell 

 of which species I found at Scarborough last year, and so identi- 

 fied with some hesitation, as it had not been apparently recorded 

 for the Yorkshire coast. It is given neither by Mr. Hargreaves 

 in his list in the Conchological Journal, July, iQio, nor Mr. 

 Theakston in his guide to Scarborough, in which the list of 

 marine molluscs is said to have been drawn up by Bean. But 

 the specimen which I found at Robin Hood's Bay is quite 

 unmistakeable. Another very interesting shell is Ondina 

 obliqua, of which I found 2 specimens. It has hitherto, accord- 

 ing to Mr. Hargreaves, been only recorded for Scarborough, 

 where, in fact, I obtained two small specimens this year. It 

 is a shell, however, of a wide distribution. I have found it 

 in such widely different localities as Lerwick, Shetland, Holy 

 Island, Northumberland, and Whitesand Bay, Lands End. 

 Gibbida tiimida, though common enough in the south, as at 

 Tenby, I have not found before on the Yorkshire coast. Bela 

 trevelyana is also a very local species. Some of the records 

 were probably worn specimens of the common turricida which 

 is often confused with it. As a result of the meeting at least 

 five new species will be added to the Hull Museum collection. 

 As regards other branches of marine biology. Dr. Irving 



Naturalist, 



