SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



119 



he had found many years before. There are in 

 the Natural History Museum, two single valves 

 and a pair of united ones, and Mr. Spurrell has a 

 few fragments, and so far as I can ascertain these 

 are the only remains known. At Crayford, on the 

 other hand, it is fairly common, examples with the 

 valves united being frequently met with. The best 

 examples come from the brick earth, though it 

 occasionally is to be found in the sand ; young 

 examples are very scarce. At Grantchester and 

 Barnwell Abbey it was also common. The shells 

 are rather narrower and not so thick as the Cray- 

 ford specimens. Cropthorne, near Worcester, is 

 one of the localities given by S. V. Wood in " Crag 

 Mollusca," on the authority of Mr. H. C. Strick- 

 land, and. there are specimens from this place 

 preserved in the Museum of the Geological Society. 

 During the excavations for the foundations of the 

 new Admiralty ofhces at Spring Gardens, West- 

 minster, a fine section of pleistocene beds was 

 exposed, from which Mr. W. J. Lewis Abbott, 

 F.G.S., obtained thirty-one species of Mollusca, and 

 amongst them was Unio Uttoralis. Unfortunately, 

 the only perfect example was destroyed, but a 

 dorsal margin was preserved sufficient for identifica- 

 tion, and Mr. Abbott adds that the destroyed 

 example was of the Crayford type. The only 

 record for Ilford was by Professor W. Boyd 

 Dawkins, in 1867. No examples are known, so 

 in all probability it is a printer's error. The 

 Brentford specimens were obtained by Mr. T. Belt 

 from a spot near Avenue Road, Windmill Lane. 

 Some of the examples had their valves united and 

 are in the Natural History Museum. Clacton is 

 another of S. V. Wood's localities, and here the 

 species was very common. This section is, how- 



ever, I believe, a thing of the past, the growth of 

 the town having destroyed it. In the " Essex 

 Naturalist " for 1S94, is a list of Pleistocene 

 Mollusca from Walton-on-the-Naze, and Unio 

 Uttoralis is included. The examples in question 

 were presented by the late Mr. John Brown, F.G.S., 

 of Stanway, to the Chelmsford Museum, and on a 

 printed slip it is stated that they were found "at a 

 part of the Essex coast five miles southward of 

 Walton-on-the-Naze." If for five we read ten the 

 locality would be Clacton, and there can be no 

 doubt that this is another error for which the 

 printer is responsible, and that Clacton is the true 

 locality. In the Geological Society's Museum is 

 an example labelled " Stutton." This place is not 

 to be confounded with Sutton, the well-known 

 locality for coralline crag fossils. It is situate a 

 few miles south-east of Ipswich, and was worked 

 for many years by the late Mr. S. V. Wood, but he 

 has never recorded this species. It is, of course, 

 quite possible that the specimen is correctly marked, 

 but it is better, perhaps, to mark it as doubtful. 



To sum up, of the places quoted as producing 

 Unio Uttoralis eight are correct, viz. : Erith, 

 Crayford, Clacton, Brentford, Crapthorne, West- 

 minster, Grays, Barnwell and Grantchester ; one 

 is doubtful, Stutton ; and two are errors, Ilford 

 and Walton-on-the-Naze. Occurring as it does in 

 localities so widely apart, there can be no doubt 

 that it was in Pleistocene times a common and 

 a widely-distributed species in this country. At 

 the present time, though extinct with us, it is found 

 in nearly all the rivers of France, and has been 

 recorded from Sicily, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, and 

 the Euphrates. 



Baunden, Mackenzie Road, Bcckenham. 



IN QUEST OF THE ERNE. 



By Robert Godfrey. 



"TOURING a tour in Shetland last summer, I was 

 exceedingly anxious to see the erne, or sea- 

 eagle, in her native haunts, and, in my constant 

 ramblings from place to place, ever made this bird 

 one of my chief objects of enquiry. The natives 

 appeared to be familiar with it as a spring migrant, 

 and were generally able also to refer to one or 

 more eyries reputed to be occupied by these birds. 

 I was told of at least thirteen different eyries 

 distributed amongst six islands, but, as a fair 

 number of these were traditional, we may safely 

 limit the number of existing eyries to six or seven. 

 For several weeks I met with no success, being 

 either prevented from reaching particular eyries at 

 all, or finding those I did reach forsaken at the 

 time of my visit. 



One morning in July I set out to examine a line 

 of cliffs asserted to contain an eyrie, and, as by 

 this time my prospects were being dimmed by the 

 continually decreasing extent of the country still 

 untraversed, I searched this rocky shore with the 

 mingled feelings of fear and hope more deeply 

 emphasised than hitherto. Following the zigzag 

 course of cliffs is a slow proceeding, but the only 

 sure one of discovering a rare and local species. I 

 relied on noise to frighten up the more war}' 

 tenants of the cliffs, and regularly hurled down 

 stones as I advanced. The cliff's were irregular 

 with stony and grassy patches upon them, and 

 were tenanted chiefly by herring-gulls and a few 

 lesser blackbacks, with the inevitable shags. 

 Other rock-frequenting species, as hooded-crow. 



