180 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



A section had been cut through the ditch and rampart at 

 Cissbury, and during the cleaning out of the ditch Pitt Rivers 

 found that it had been dug through the filled-in shafts of several 

 of the old Neolithic mines. In the filled-in ditch he noted shells 

 of Oysters and large Snails in the upper layer, shells of sixteen 

 Oysters, two hundred large Snails, and about two hundred 

 H. nemoralis in the second layer, and a number of shells of 

 Oysters and Cyclostoma elegans in the third layer. Near the 

 bottom of one of the filled-in Neolithic shafts a skeleton was 

 found, together with a lot of animal bones mixed with quantities 

 of shells of Helix nemoralis. (It would be interesting to know if 

 these shells were bored.) 



In the early British pits and camp on Mount Caburn, near 

 Glynde, Oyster shells were present in the surface mould of the 

 pits, but in no case w"as a single Oyster shell or a shell of 

 H. aspersa found in the filling-in at the bottom ; but shells of 

 H. nemoralis were found in great abundance all through the 

 pits, and in one of them a layer occurred just below the turf. 

 Quantities of H. nemoralis shells were found near the bottom of 

 the entrenchment ditch, and in some pits they were associated 

 in considerable numbers with those of Oysters, Periwinkles, and 

 Cockles, also bones of various domestic animals. 



At Seaford Camp (pre-Eoman) Pitt Eivers noted quantities 

 of Oyster and Limpet shells in the mould capping the ditch, but 

 not lower. Two feet below the surface a Whelk shell was found 

 in association with a considerable number of shells of H. nemoralis 

 and H. hortensis. 



Shells of H. nemoralis and H. hortensis have been found by 

 Messrs. J. R. Mortimer, H. Toms, and others in connection with 

 ancient encampments in other parts of England, but the notes 

 given above are sufficient to indicate the interest that attaches 

 to the question raised by Mr. Toms. The evidence, as it stands 

 at present, rather points to the intrusion, in many cases, of the 

 shells into the pits and ditches by natural agencies. It must be 

 remembered that H. nemoralis is a common Mollusc on the 

 Downs, and during the gradual silting-up of the pits and ditches 

 their shells would become intermingled in some numbers with 

 the earth. Their occurrence, however, in such large numbers 

 in the middle layer at Cissbury gives strong support to Mr. 



