227 



NOTES ON KENTISH MOLLUSCA. 



Hv REV. CANON ]. W. IIORSLEY 



(Head before the Society, November loth. igao). 



Mr. H. C. Hnggins in " Notes on Kentish Mollusca " says that 

 Helix hortetisis is more dominant than H. 7iemoraIis. I am interested 

 to know that this is the case on the northern slope of the downs, l:)iit 

 it is not the case on the southern slope on which I live. I have been 

 here (Detling) for nine years, and have not seen H. liortensis yet, 

 while H. 7iemoralis is rare, and nearly all the specimens I have found 

 have been in my garden. The difference may arise from soil, as we 

 have chalk and chalk rubble, while from the top of the " Piackbone 

 of Kent " down to the estuarine marshes clay and sand prevail. The 

 rarity of H. nemoralis and the absence of H. hortensts is probably 

 due to the abundance of chickens, wood pigeons and pheasants. I 

 do not remember having found broken H. hortensis round a "thrush 

 stone," The smaller and thinner shell may not require smashing. 



He does not mention H. pomatia, although it is found on his side 

 of the downs in places, e.g., Ospringe and Doddington. Common 

 along the Pilgrims Way, through the parishes of Westwell, Charing, 

 and Lenham ; it then disappears, although the conditions of soil, 

 aspect, and vegetation remam the same, and reappears only after 

 fifteen miles or so (the Medway intervening) in the Shoreham and 

 Dartford country. I have tried to colonize it in my garden, but with 

 the usual result. To show where it has been found, I have coloured 

 a map of Kent, with the parochial divisions, and should be glad to 

 know of authentic additions. The eastern locus includes Lenham, 

 Charing, Westwell, Otterden, Stalisfield, Throwley, Eastling, Ospringe, 

 Newnham and Doddington; the western, Sevenoaks, Otford, Kemsing, 

 Woodlands, Brasted, Shoreham, Eynsford, Cudham, Down, and Kes- 

 ton. I have not included the Surrey habitats which no doubt join on 

 to this locus. 



Pomatias elegans (Aluller) at Llandudno.— In face of Mr. Beeston's state- 

 ment on page 143 of the January number, I think it may be woitli recording that 

 I found several living specimens of Pomatias elegans on the banks alongside tlie 

 .Marine Drive (Great Orme's Head) between the Happy Valley entrance and the 

 disused copper mines in May, 1920, and that amongst the dead shells sifted from 

 a rainvvash at the same place by far the most numerous species was P. eleg'aus, 

 many of the shells being comparatively fresh, and opercula being common. — A. K. 

 Lawson {Read before the Society, February and, 1921). 



