THE LAND AND FRESHWATER MOLLUSCA OF 



ILFRACOMBE AND DISTRICT. 



SUPPLEMENTARY LIST. 



By H. BEESTON and C. E. WRIGHT, 



(Read before the Society, Febi-uary loth, 1904). 



Having spent part of August, 1903, in North Devon, we made the 

 collection and study of the mollusca the chief object of our rambles, 

 and have much pleasure in herewith recording the results of our 

 researches. 



In the Society's journal, sixteen years ago (vol. 5, p. 181-185, April, 

 1887) appeared a list of the shells of this district, by Mr. J. R. le B. 

 Tomlin, and to it we are indebted for localities of several species. 

 We were quite unable to find some species mentioned by Mr. Tomlin 

 in the spots indicated by him ; either they had migrated, or died out, 

 or our search was not sufficiently thorough, and consequently they 

 were overlooked. We arc also indebted to Mr. Fred Partridge, of 

 Barnstaple, for localities of several species, which we were glad to be 

 able to add to our lists (and cabinets). We have not consulted any 

 other lists, which might have assisted in making this one more com- 

 plete and comprehensive ; if any such exist for the district explored 

 by us — except that by Mr. Tomlin — we should like to say that this 

 one may be considered as supplementa^ry. 



The immediate vicinity of Ilfracombe (including the village of Hele 

 to the east) we searched quite systematically, and the number of 

 species discovered was very considerable. These taken together with 

 those from Mr. Tomlin's list, show the district to be fairly rich in 

 mollusca. The terrestrial species predominate, however, the paucity 

 of freshwater shells being caused by the lack of fresh water, streams 

 and ponds being almost entirely absent. The slugs we did not feel 

 particularly interested in, the species found being very few indeed, 

 hence we are unable to make any addition to Mr. Tomlin's list, with 

 the exception of varieties. Both Helix tie/iioralis and H. Jiortensis 

 were abundant in places, especially the latter, and from the list it will 

 be seen that we succeeded in finding most of the recorded and named 

 varieties. Places visited outside Ilfracombe were : — Lee to West; Woola- 

 combe, Braunton, and Braunton Burrows, to South- West ; Barnstaple 

 and Bishop's Tawton to South ; Hele and Berrynarbor to East ; Lyn- 

 ton and Lynmouth to the East. It will thus be seen that the ground 

 covered was rather extensive, and with the exception of Ilfracombe 

 and its immediate neighbourhood, only very cursorily explored. There 

 is very little doubt that if properly worked North Devon will compare 

 very favourably with many other counties in the richness of its mol- 



