THE MOLLUSCA OF OUNDLE. 



By the rev. C. E. Y. KENDALL, B.A. 

 (Read before the Society, February 12th, 1919) 



( Conchided from p. 244). 



Woodlands of the second series are of course wanting here. There 

 is a certain amount of woodland of the first series, while the great 

 hulk of the woods belongs to the third series. This series may be 

 sub-divided into three types — {a), Ash-Oak Wood ; {b), Pure Ash 

 Wood ; (r), Beech Wood. Of these types there is no Pure Ash 

 Wood and very little Beech Wood, but of the Ash-Oak Wood type 

 there is a very great area and that is certainly natural and indigenous 

 to the soil. Probably there is no primitive woodland, i.e., woods 

 untouched by human agency from time immemorial, but certainly 

 the whole of the Ash-Oak is natural and the successor of many gener- 

 ations of such woodland on the same area ; for in ancient days 

 Rockingham Forest covered the whole of the north-western part of 

 the county of Northampton, and many of our woods are remaining 

 fragments of it. The characteristic tree of the whole district is the 

 Ash (^Fraxifws excelsior) which is dominant, appearing everywhere in 

 abundance in woods, fields and hedgerows. The oak natural to the 

 district is the pedunculate oak {Querrus pedunculatci). In all the 

 woods the Ash is mostly coppiced, being of great value in the work- 

 shop, while the oaks are left to grow as " standels " until their timber 

 chances to be needed. In the majority of the woods there is a great 

 amount of Hazel {Corylus avellana), also commonly coppiced. The 

 Beech Wood belonging to this same series is really indigenous on the 

 chalk, whether that in this district is natural or artificial is very hard 

 to say, but such woodland is found natural on the Oolite in the south- 

 west of England. No account is taken in this paper of purely arti- 

 ficial woods formed by the planting- of various trees for timber or 

 preservation of game. 



§ I . Alder- Willow Woodland. 



There is no great development of this type, but here and there 

 along the river-side small patches of it, composed largely of Willow 

 with a certain amount of Alder. The soil in these woods is exceed- 

 ingly damp, often flooded, and usually with pools and rivulets draining 

 into the river. 



Characteristic : — Zo7iitoides nitidus and Succinea elegans. 



Associated with : — Agriolimax Icevis, Hyalinia cellaria, H. radia 

 tula, Eiiconulus ftilvtis, Hygrojuia hispida, Vallonia costata, Cochlicopa 

 lubrica, Carychiuvi minimuin, and Pisidittm personatum. 



