180 .FAUNA OF THE SHELL-MOUNDS. 



Jfefaa; strigella, Mull, and 

 Carocolla lapitida, L. 



It "is remarkable that the specimens of the first seven 

 species are well developed, and decidedly larger than any 

 now found in the neighbourhood. This is especially the case 

 with the Cardium edule andLittorina littorea, while the oyster 

 has entirely disappeared, and even in the Kattegat itself 

 occurs only in a few places ; a result which may, perhaps, be 

 partly owing to the quantities caught by fishermen. Some 

 oysters were, however, still living in the Isefjord; at the be- 

 ginning of this century, and their destruction cannot be alto- 

 gether ascribed to the fishermen, as great numbers of dead 

 shells are still present ; but in this case it is attributed to the 

 abundance of starfishes, which are very destructive to oysters. 

 On the whole, their disappearance, especially when taken 

 in connexion with the dwarf size of the x)ther species, is 

 evidently attributable . in a great measure to the smaller 

 proportion of salt in the water. 



Of Crustacea only a few fragments of crabs have hitherto 

 been found. The remains of vertebrata are very numerous 

 and extremely interesting. In order to form an idea of the 

 number of bones, and of the relative proportions belonging 

 to different animals, Professor Steenstrup dug out from three 

 different parts of the shell-mound at Havelse square pillars 

 with sides three feet in length, and carefully collected the 

 bones therein contained. In the first pillar he found 175 

 bones of mammals, and 35 of birds; in the second pillar he 

 found 121 of mammals and 9 of birds ; in the third 309 of 

 mammals and 10 of birds. The pillars, however, were -not 

 exactly comparable, because their cubic contents depended on 

 the thickness of the shell-mound at the place where they 

 were taken, and varied between seventeen and twenty cubic 

 feet. On the whole, Prof. Steenstrup estimates that there 

 were from ten to twelve bones in each cubic foot. It will be 



