86 



NOTES OF SHELLS OBSERVED AND COLLECTED 

 IN EAST SUSSEX. 



By WILLL\:\r WMITWELL, F.L.S. 



(Ue:ul before the Societj", Dec. 12, 19C0). 



I SPENT three weeks in August last at tlie pleasant village of Horsted 

 Keynes in East vSussex, on the south-westerly slope from Ashdown 

 Forest to the valley (in its upper region) of the Ouse. My own special 

 work there was botanical, though I kept an open eye for uioUusca 

 everywhere. My nephew, J. W. Whitwell, enthusiastically devoted 

 himself to obtaining a complete series of the shells of the district. 

 Tlie resulting list is a very short one, though we examined roadside 

 banks, both rocky and herbage-covered, roadside ditches, nettle-cluinps, 

 copses, heaths, low-lying meadows, streamlet sides, pond margins, 

 and bogs. But short as it is, it contains, judging from Mr. L. E. 

 Adams' "Manual," no less than ten new specific record.s for vice- 

 county No. 14, Sussex East. 



The district we worked is entirely within that vice-county, and 

 consists wholly of Wealden sands and clays — the clays are reached 

 by the valleys which cut deeply down between the sandstone ridges. 

 It forms a large portion of the upper drainage area of the Ouse, and 

 seems to have been little explored by botanists or conchologists. 



Either the district is very unproductive as rt^gards slugs and snails, 

 or the season was specially unfavourable, or my nephew and myself 

 were personally unlucky or unskilful. As regards the weather, our 

 visit to Horsted Keynes followed upon the intense heat of July, but its 

 first days were signalized by the bank holiday with its drenching rains, 

 and we had several other experiences of humidity varied with heat, 

 such as might have been expected to bring out all the snails of the 

 country side. But though we made a point of going out in the 

 evenings after rain expressly to examine the hedge-banks, we found 

 not a single slug and of land-shells three specimens only, of as many 

 species. Our landlord stated that slugs and snails were almost 

 unknown in the garden. 



Subjoined is a complete list of our gatherings, which have been 

 submitted to Mr. J- W. Taylor, F.L.S. , who has kindly confirmed or 

 corrected our determinations. The new records for the sub-county 

 are marked with an asterisk, and specimens of them have been 

 deposited in the Society's cabinet. 



'I. Cojnc/usfick'us{'^l\X\\. ), one, in bed of 



stream below the village. 

 '2. Zonifoidcs excavata (Bean), one only, 



near Piplye, 

 3. Helix aspcrsa Miill. , one dead only. 



Phmorbis foiitaiiiis (Lightfool), in 

 pond on ridge between Horsted 

 Keynes and Lindfield ; Piplye 

 ponds. 



