OBSERVATIONS ON THE HABITS AND REPRODUCTION 

 OF PALUDESTRINA TAYLORI. 



By JOHN W. JACKSON and FRED TAYLOR. 



(Read before the Society, November ii, 1903). 



This species was first discovered on April 28, 1900, in the canal near 

 Fairfield Locks, Droylsden, Lancashire, by one of the present writers, 

 associated with Paludestrina jenkinsi, of which species it was at first 

 thought to be a variety. On Sept. 23 of the same year, numbers of 

 P. taylori were taken in a short arm of the Peak Forest Canal at 

 Dukinfield, Cheshire, just across the River Tame; and from this point 

 it was found to occur at intervals along the canal as far as Woodley, 

 being very abundant in the luxuriant bed of reed meadow grass 

 {Glyceria aqiiatir.d) near the bridge, over which passes the main line 

 of the Great Central Railway. Living specimens from Dukinfield 

 were submitted to Mr. Edgar A. Smith, in October, 1900, who 

 described them under the name of Paludestrina taylori} He, how- 

 ever, made no mention of its life-history or reproduction, and as the 

 following observations relate thereto, they will be interesting. 



The species very much resembles Bithynella {Bydrobia) steeni 

 V. Martens, and Mr. J. T. Marshall, with whom we have been in 

 correspondence, is of opinion that it is undoubtedly that species, 

 which, he says, he has had in his collection for years under the name 

 oi Paludestrina steeni, his specimens coming from Soro, S. Denmark. 



In answer to our request, Mr. E. A. Smith procured specimens of 

 B. steeni from the author, sending him in return specimens of^. taylori 

 for his inspection. Prof v. Martens replied that, in his opinion, P. 

 taylori is specifically distinct, to use his awn words: — "It differs well 

 from my Bithynella steeni by its more conical broader form." Mr. 

 Smith, however, on comparing the two shells, cannot see any reason 

 for separating them, but he goes on to say: — "In a genus where 

 the shell characters are so ill defined it becomes necessary to see 

 what an examination of the living animal might reveal, before we can 

 say that shells, apparently the same, are conspecific, and until this is 

 done in the case of B. steeni, I see no reason for departing from the 

 name of P. taylori}^ 



It will be interesting to mention here that Mr. R. Bullen Newton 

 records the occurrence of ^. steeni in post-pliocene strata in England. - 

 In the early summer of 1901, whilst collecting P. taylori in the reed 

 bed at Dukinfield, small egg-capsules were found attached to the 

 decaying stems of the reeds in the shallow water, and with the idea 



1 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (7), vol. 7, p. 191, Feb., 1891. 



2 /. Conch.., vol. 10, p. 62, April, 1901. 



