JOURNAL OF CON'CHOLOGV. 313 



THE MOLLUSCAN FAUNA OF THE BOWDON 

 DISTRICT OF CHESHIRE. 



By J. G. MILNE and CIIAS. OLDHAM. 



(Read before the Manchester Branch, April 13th, 1893 ; and before the Conchological 

 Society, September 6th, 1893.) 



The district chosen for the purpose of this paper is so 

 much of Cheshire as lies within five miles of Bowdon Church. 

 This may seem to be arbitrarily defined, but it has been taken 

 as fairly typical of the Cheshire plain, and as a region which we 

 have worked with some care. Moreover, it has some natural 

 boundaries ; on the north side the river Mersey forms almost a 

 segment of a circle, about four and a half miles from Bowdon, 

 and here our district terminates Avith the county ; and, on the 

 south-west, the limit is practically coincident with the watershed 

 of the BoUin and Weaver rivers. To mark the circle, a few 

 points may be given. It leaves the Mersey at its confluence 

 with the Bollin, passes through Lymm, Nortliwood Hall, Over 

 Tabley, Lower Knutsford, skirts Lindow Common, and rejoins 

 the Mersey at Gatley Carrs. 



Geologically, the district looks unpromising for shells. 

 For the most part the soil is red marl, what stone there is being 

 new red sandstone ; a narrow strip of the upper mottled bed 

 extends west from Agden Brow, and the lower Keuper appears, 

 about a mile wide, at Millington, continuing thence towards 

 Lymm, and again from Timperley to Partington in a parallel 

 line of about the same width. The alluvial beds ol the Mersey 

 and Bollin cut through the marl, and supply a somewhat better 

 field for the conchologist. 



These remarks, of course, apply chiefly to terrestrial 

 moUusca ; in water the district is well supplied, and thus the 

 list of species is swollen. There are three large meres — Tatton, 

 Rostherne, and Mere, and considerable sheets of water at 



