CORDEAUX : THE SPURN. 



7 



Torpedo {T. hebetans) was taken in the surf at Easington ; while in 

 1877, a Boar-fish {Capros aper) was caught at the mouth of the 

 Humber.^ 



As might be expected, the plants growing at Spurn are, as a rule, 

 such as flourish in maritime situations. The Sallowthorn {Hippopha'e 

 rhaninoides) grows abundantly, both here and on the Lincolnshire 

 coast, the dense thickets often swarming in September with migrating 

 warblers, and in October with the tiny Gold-crest. Many a Ring-ousel 

 and Redwing, after a weary sea passage across the /flint-grey flood,' 

 drops at dawn into the welcome shelter to find a breakfast ready 

 prepared in the crimson coronal of berries which adds so much to 

 the beauty of the shrub. The Sea Holly, with its spiny glaucous 

 leaves and grey blue-flowers, is a conspicuous plant, as is also the Sea 

 Bindweed, whose trailing stem and rose-coloured flowers adorn the 

 sand hillocks, and flocks of Twites and Linnets linger in the autumn 

 to feed on the seeds, as well as on those of Glaux maritima^ Are7ia7'ia 

 peploides, and the common Sea-purslane. 



There are few places where the pretty variegated shell of Helix 

 nemoralis can be found in greater numbers, and after a shower 

 of rain the stems of the seagrass swarm with them, as also with 

 Helix ericetoi'itm ; the latter everywhere a common heath and down 

 shell, and it is alleged its consumption by sheep in their ordinary 

 food gives the superior quality to down fed mutton. 



The geologist will find much to interest him in the fine section 

 of the purple boulder clay exposed in the cliffs at Dimlington, 

 containing derivative fossils and numerous erratics ice-grooved 

 and pohshed. In the 'basement' or 'shelly boulder-clay' which 

 underhes this, and is exposed along the beach at low-water mark, 

 shells of an undoubted arctic character have been found — twenty- 

 seven species in all. f 



To some, the daily life of the small colony on the Spurn may 

 appear uneventful and monotonous in its practical separation from 

 their fellows on the mainland. The naturalist, however, will not 

 share this view, for there are probably few situations on our northern 

 shores which offer greater attractions; we have rarely visited the 

 place without finding something to interest, it may be a waif or 

 stray of the sea cast on the beach, the arrival of migratory birds, 

 an insect, plant, or shell not noticed before. If all these fail, 



* We have to thank Mr. William Eagle Clarke for lists of the fishes and 

 insects which have occurred at Spurn. 



t For further information we would refer our readers to a paper by Mr. G. W- 

 Lamplough, published in the Geological Magazine, December, 188 1. 



Aug. 1884. 



