MARSHALL: ON SOME NEW BRITISH SHELLS. 1 89 



The figures have been admirably drawn by Chas. T. 

 Musson, Esq., F.L.S., and lithographed by Messrs. Taylor 

 Brothers, and leaves nothing to be desired as a faithful repro- 

 duction. It is also figured in Sowerby's new edition of the 

 " Illustrated Index of British Shells," published this month. 



I am afraid its probable size cannot be satisfactorily 

 determined until more specimens are found. Both shells, 

 though dead, were quite fresh, as much so as if just vacated by 

 their tenants. The home, also, of the species must at present 

 remain doubtful ; it is probably in deep water, though not 

 necessarily. Argiope capsula was very rare until a few years ago, 

 when my friend Mr. Duprey found it comparatively abundant at 

 Jersey, under stones between tide-marks ; and T. caput-serpentis, 

 which is quite common in many parts of Scotland, was unknown 

 as British until a stray example was brought up on the anchor 

 of a vessel in Loch Broom, which led the late Dr. Jeffreys to 

 get his first dredge made and undertake a search for it, when 

 he was rewarded with hundreds of specimens. It is therefore 

 natural to hope and_expect that more specimens may be found 

 of this interesting little shell, as the brachiopoda are a gregarious 

 family. 



Perhaps its non-discovery hitherto may be owing to the 

 Lincolnshire coast not being a promising one for naturalists. 

 Beyond a few hauls of the dredge from the Lynn Deeps, which 

 I examined about twelve years ago, I do not know of any 

 dredgings having been undertaken on this part of the British 

 coast. The character of the sea-bed is that of a submerged 

 forest deposit for many fathoms, with a peaty soil, much 

 burrowed by Pholas, and so far not conducive to Brachiopoda, 

 which are usually found on rocky and stony ground. A vast 

 quantity of Hydrozoa [Sertularidce^zoophytes) together with the 

 sandy cases of annelides and other rejectamenta, are thrown up 

 after storms, which are sometimes very severe, exposed as the 

 coast is to the full fury of the North Sea. 



