129 



JOURNAL OF CONCHOLOGY. 



Vol. 12. APRIL, 1908. No. 6. 



THE MOLLUSCA OF WILTSHIRE. 



By E. W. SWANTON. 



(Read before the Society, February 13th, 1907). 



In 1884 the Conchological Society had not received any shells from 

 this county. The census of 1902 tabulated only forty-six species — 

 twenty-eight for the north, and thirty-two for the south division. Of 

 these, fourteen were recorded for North Wilts, only, and eighteen for 

 South Wilts. ; whilst Vitrea cellaria, P. rotundata, H. rufescens, 

 H. hispida, H. itala, H. virgata, ClaiisUia Mdentata, Cochlicopa 

 h(brica, Siiccinea elegans, Planorbis albus, P. utnbiHcatns, Limncea 

 pereger, Bithynia tentaailata, and SphcBrium corneum were common 

 to both. Only three slugs — Avion ater, Liniax maximus, and Agrio- 

 limax agrestis — found a place in the list, and no Vertigo. 



This remarkable paucity of information tempted me to spend part 

 of the summer vacation of 1905 touring in Wilts, collecting shells. 

 It being unfortunately (from the conchologist's standpoint !) a dry 

 season, very few slugs were seen, and only one species of Vertigo, 

 but I succeeded in adding nineteen species to the census records for 

 the northern half of the county, and thirty-two to those of the southern 

 half. During the past year much additional information was obtained 

 from a valuable little collection of land and freshwater shells pre- 

 sented to Dr. Jonathan Hutchinson's Museum at Haslemere by Mrs. 

 F. N. Townsend, the widow of the well-known critical botanist. It 

 contained thirty-two species, collected in the fifties by Mr. Townsend 

 at Great Bedwyn, in the north-east of the county. 



The earliest reference to the shells of Wilts, is probably that given 

 by John Aubrey, the antiquary, in his Natural History of Wilts. It 

 deserves quotation if only for its exceeding quaintness. He writes : — 

 " Snailes are everywhere ; but upon our downes, and so in Dorset, 

 and I believe in Hampshire, at such degree east and west, in the 

 summer time, are abundance of very small snailes in the grasse and 



K 



