Il6 OLDHAM : LAND AND FRESHWATER MOLLUSCA OF CHESHIRE. 



Helix pygmaea Drap. Local but generally plentiful where it 

 occurs. Ashley Hall, and in the Bollin Valley at Butt's Clough 

 and Castle Mill (Milne and Oldham). Knutsford (T.R.). 

 Leasowe (WJ.F.). Compstall, Wythenshawe near Northenden. 



Helix aculeata Mull. In woods, generally plentiful where it 

 occurs. Hooton (F. P. Marrat, ' Naturalist's Scrap-book/ 

 p. 37). Ashley Hall, Butts Clough near Bowdon (Milne and 

 Oldham). Romiley, Compstall, Marple, Wythenshawe near 

 Northenden, 



Helix pulchella Mull. This species is fairly plentiful on the 

 coast in Wirral (cf. Byerley, and F. P. Marrat, ' Naturalist's 

 Scrap-book/ p. 37), but is rare elsewhere. Hale Moss, 

 Bollington near Bowdon (Milne and Oldham). Lower Peover. 



Helix pulchella v. costata Mull. Belters' figure and descrip- 

 tion of H. pulchella apply to this form. He records it from 

 Delamere Forest, Upton, and Liverpool Road, Chester. 

 Byerley gives as localities — Saughall-Massie, Hilbre, and 

 Hovlake. 



Helix aspersa Miill. North-east of a line drawn from Runcorn 

 through Northwich to Congleton this species is rare. Dyson 

 and Hardy record it from gardens at Bowdon and Dunham 

 Massey, where it is still to be found. Mr. E. Collier informs me 

 that in 1876 and 1877 it was abundant in a garden at Marple, 

 where it had probably been introduced. Professor T. D. A- 

 Cockerell found one specimen between Knutsford and Chelford 

 (* Naturalist/ 1886, p. 57). Throughout Wirral, and in tht 

 remaining part of the county it is fairly plentiful. 



Helix aspersa v. flammea Picard. Mouldsworth (Nixon Coll.). 



Helix nemoralis L. Dyson, writing in 1850, described this 

 species as plentiful in the part of Cheshire adjoining Man- 

 chester. Various causes, including, perhaps, the poisoning ot 

 the herbage by smoky rain, and the persistent persecution by 

 gamekeepers of birds of prey, which has resulted in an 

 enormous increase in the numbers of Blackbirds and Thrushes r 

 have, however, almost exterminated it in the north of the 

 county, and it is now an unusual occurrence to find even a 

 single specimen. In Wirral it is plentiful, especially on the 

 coast sandhills, where most of the specimens are of the typical 

 yellow colour with more or less coalescent bands. Throughout 

 the remainder of the county it is found in varying degrees of 

 plenty, but is nowhere as common as in the limestone districts 



of Derbyshire. 



Natural** 



