130 JOURNAL OF CONCHOLOGY, VOL. 12, NO. 6, APRIL, I908. 



corne, not much bigger than small pinnes' heads. Though this is no 

 strange thing among us, yet they are not to be found in the north 

 part of Wilts., nor on any northern wolds. When I had the honour 

 to waite on King Charles [II.] and the Duke of York, on the top of 

 Silbury hill, his Royal Highnesse happened to cast his eye on some 

 of these small snailes on the turfe of the hill. He was surprised with 

 the novelty, and commanded me to pick some up, which I did, about 

 a dozen or more, immediately, for they are in great abundance. The 

 next morning, as he was abed with his Dutches, at Bath, he told her 

 of it, and sent Dr. Charleton to me for them, to shew her as a 

 rarity." 



Colonel Montagu's "Testacea Britannica" (1803) contains many 

 references to Wilts. moUusca, as may be gathered from the fact that 

 at Lackham alone he found thirty-five species. Lackham is four miles 

 east of Corsham, on cornbrash soil, which is always so abundant in 

 moUuscan life (as we know from experience in East Somerset). Here 

 Montagu discovered Claiisilia lammata and Ena viontana — the latter 

 he christened Helix lackhamettsis. All his records are noted in the 

 following list. 



In 1867 Dr. H. P. Blackmore contributed to the tenth volume of 

 the Wiltshire Magazine a very valuable paper " On the Recent Dis- 

 covery of Flint Implements in the Drift of the Valley of the Avon." 

 Describing the drift at Milford Hill, he remarks : — " Some few years 

 since a good section of this drift was exposed on the south-eastern 

 side of the hill in a cutting made for the London and South-Western 

 Railway ; and here, near the base of the gravel, a narrow seam of 

 loose light-coloured sand containing shells was discovered. The 

 shells in this spot existed in the greatest abundance, and although 

 extremely friable, were generally unbroken. They consisted princip- 

 ally of Helix hispida in all stages of its growth, a few specimens of 

 Helix arbustoruin, and a single individual of Ziia subcylindrica. All 

 these shells are terrestrial, and in every way agree with examples of 

 the same species still living in the adjacent fields." Thirty species 

 were found, one being Succinea oblonga, which no longer exists in 

 the district. A series of shells from this interesting section may be 

 seen in the Blackmore Museum at Salisbury. 



In the Museum of the Wilts. Archaeological and Natural History 

 Society at Devizes is deposited a collection of land and freshwater 

 shells, made by Miss Anne Cunnington. They were, for the most 

 part, collected in the neighbourhood of Devizes, between 1843 ^"^d 

 1850, and comprise sixty-six species. Localities are given in a manu- 

 script book ; these are incorporated in my list, with some necessary 

 alterations in nomenclature, and with notification of varieties. 



