ORIGINAL ARTICLES. 



On Dinocochlea ingens, n.gen.et sp., a gigantic 

 Gastropod from the Wealden Beds near Hastings. 



By B. B. Woodward, F.L.S., F.G.S. 

 (PLATES X AND XI.) 

 "PvURTNGr the construction by the Hastings Corporation of a new 

 -^ arterial road to the north of .St. Leonards, near Silver HUl^ 

 not far from the Old Roar Waterfall, and close to the quarry dubbed 

 by Mantell the " Iguanodon Necropolis ", the cutting passed through 

 some sandy beds of the Wadhurst Clay Series. In these there was. 

 one particular stratum that had been a pale blue concretionary 

 calciferous sandstone, but which had been altered for the most part, 

 by the percolation of water into a rusty-brown ferruginous saud- 

 rock.^ Numerous large, typical concretions occurred in it, but 

 besides these Mr. H. L. Tucker, who was then acting as engineer 

 to the contractors for the work, noticed the presence of certain 

 huge spiral bodies that seemed to differ from the ordinary concretions.. 

 These bodies generally lay in cavities, or " moulds " in the 

 surrounding sandstone, but unfortunately no part of these moulds 

 was preserved. 



Mr. Tucker called the attention of Mr. A. Belt (Chairman of the. 

 Hastings Museum Committee), Mr. W. Ruskiu Butterfield (Curator 

 of the Hastings Museum), and others, to these bodies, but no definite 

 conclusion being reached locally concerning their nature, specimens, 

 were forwarded to the Natural History Museum, where Dr. A. Smith. 

 Woodward, the Keeper of the Geological Department, at once 

 recognized the possibility of their molluscan origin and consequent 

 interest and value. Dr. Woodward very kindly invited me to under- 

 take their descrijDtion, and has aided in every way in the matter, 

 including the grant of the assistance of his Preparator, Mr. L. E.. 

 Parsons, who has been most willing and helpful. 



Unfortunately, by the time that the importance of the discovery 

 had been recognized, the destruction of the best specimen, begun 

 by the " shot " that revealed it, had proceeded apace, and much of 

 the material had been dispersed in various ways. Fragments, 

 were received from the Hastings Museum, whilst Mr. W. J. Lewis 

 Abbott sent up such portions as were in his possession, with an 

 interesting series of other fossils, etc., from the same horizon, as 

 well as notes on the deposit. Further, we are indebted to Mr. H. T. 

 Pottinger, of Oxford Street, Stepney, for the use of a photograph he 

 took showing the greater part of the principal specimen as it lay 

 where found (Plate X). 



That these spiral bodies, some with dextral, others with sinistral 

 twist, are not ordinary, or even abnormal concretions, is shown by 

 the similarity of the specimens and the regularity of their coils.. 

 Mineralcgical colleagues to whom they have been shown unanimously 

 discard them as concretions. Their horizontal position in the deposit, 

 further precludes the possibility of their representing excentric,, 



^ See Note by Mr. W. Campbell Smith appended to this article. 



