6i 



A PRELIMINARY CONCHOLOGICAL SURVEY OF 



MONMOUTHSHIRE, 



With some Notes on Brecknockshire. 



Bv F. H. SIXES, M.A. 



(Read befoi-e the Society, June cth, igcg). 



A FORTNIGHT of leisure, and a request from the Recorder of the 

 Monograph were the two pre-disposing causes that induced me to 

 turn my attention last Easter to Monmouthshire, and, indeed, one 

 cannot help wondering, when one thinks that it has for its eastern 

 boundary the most beautiful of British rivers, namely, the winding 

 Wye, that more conchologists have not, before this, been tempted to 

 take a trip, in which the study of shells and scenery could be profit- 

 ably combined. 



At any rate, the ill wind which has left so many gaps in the census 

 list blew me some considerable good, and at the end of the tour I 

 was able to add 28 fresh records to the Monmouth list and 11 to that 

 of Brecknock. 



My head-quarters were made at Chepstow, Monmouth, and 

 Abergavenny, in order to include as much of the county as possible, 

 and I have set down a full list of the shells found, in case any other 

 collector may wish to make a more systematic survey than was 

 possible in the time at my disposal. 



Should this be the case, I should recommend the beautiful 

 Piercefield Woods at Chepstow, the ponds by the railway at Troy, 

 Monmouth, and the Clydach Valley, which extends to both counties, 

 as being likely to produce some of the still missing species.* 



The weather was fine when I searched there and so far as could be 

 made out some of the species (e.g. Fomatias elegans) had not come 

 out, and in addition I could only give part of a day to each place. 



Perhaps one might add that many of the previous records were due 

 to Mr. E. J. Lowe, who lived at Chepstow, but, as I was there 

 informed, when asking for his address, he has been dead some years. 



All the shells and slugs have been sent to Mr. W. D. Roebuck. 

 * = Monmouthshire records ; f = Brecknockshire records. 



Arion ater. — Common. 



var. castanea. — Wynd Cliff, Chepstow; Piercefield Woods, 

 Chepstow ; Clydach Valley, Brecon. 



var. succinea. — Wynd Cliff, Chepstow ; Piercefield Woods, 

 Chepstow ; Monmouth. 



var, bicolor. — Piercefield Woods, Chepstow. 



