20 



SHORT NOTES — CONCHOLOGY. 



Unio pictorum at Ossington, Notts— Some time ago I determined 

 to explore the ' Lake ' at Ossington, having heard that the water had been run off 

 for cleaning out purposes. I knew it was a case of ' now or never,' so set out to 

 hunt for shells yesterday (26th June). I found the whole of the muddy bottom 

 exposed, four and a half feet of as sticky a mass of filth as ever a man stuck fast 

 in, no water weed, and only two species of shells to be found, Anodonta cygnea and 

 Unio pictoruvi. These, near the sides at the lower end, were lying in and out of 

 the mud by hundreds, but the getting them was no agreeable task, off boots, &c., 

 and into the mud, knee-deep at the first step ! So I went no further, but raked in 

 the shells by means of the scoop. The Anodons vs'ere all of the type form, and 

 moderately large. The finest I got out was 6^ in. by 3I in. by 2 in., another, rather 

 more ventricose, measured 6 in. by 3 in. by 2,^ in. There were a few specimens, 

 apparently larger, out of reach. The Unios were monsters ; the largest I procured 

 is 4|f in, by 2.\ in. by if in. I got a good quantity of fine specimens of these 

 shells, but saw no others, not e\Qn Lininc?a peregra. — W. Gain, Tuxford, Newark, 

 June 27th, 1884. 



Paludina contecta in East Yorkshire.— in June of this year I found 



several living specimens in a small tributary of the Derwent between Breighton 

 and Wressle, thus again firmly establishing it as a member of the Yorkshire fauna. 

 It formerly occurred in the immediate neighbourhood of York, but appears now 

 to be extinct there ; and the specimens from Askern are merely subfossil shells of a 

 dwarfed form, occasionally turned up by the moles. In 1883, my friend, Mr. 

 Clarke, found a single dead example in the county, just upon the border of 

 Lincolnshire. It is, therefore, interesting to ascertain that it still exists in a 

 living state in the county. — Wm. Nelson, Leeds, July 15th, 1884. 



Slugs in County Durham —So little attention has been paid to these 

 animals that a record of specimens recently collected in one of our northern 

 counties will be interesting. Mr. Baker Hudson, of Middlesbrough, when staying 

 at Durham in April, sent me a large number of the common slugs he met with. 

 These included several specimens of the Tree-slug {Lehinannia arboriini), found 

 on the roots and boles of beech trees near the city ; of Limax niaxumis var. 

 cellai'ia, which were of large size, and were the usual form of the district, 

 found in many places. Of Limax agrcstis^ the Field-slug, the specimens sent 

 were of several varieties. Of the type (described as ' cinereiis, ivnnaculahis^ by 

 Lessona) there was but one, the prevalent form being the irregularly maculated 

 one which answers to Moquin's description of his variety sylvatica, but which 

 should, probably, have been considered the type ; there were also a specimen of 

 var. albida, pure white, from a lane near Old Elvet, and a very dark sepia-brown 

 individual, almost black, referable to var. tristis. Of the Arions there were 

 numerous and very puzzling specimens. The most remarkable was an unsym- 

 metrically marked example (from a coppice at Kelly mill) of Avion ater var. riifa ; 

 this had on the left side a very dark broad length-stripe, while on the right side of 

 the animal there was but the faintest shadow of a band. There were other and 

 adult specimens of this variety, and of the usual black type of the species. Of var. 

 inarginata there were three, and of A rion hortcnsis there were numerous and very 

 variable examples, including the typical form. In June, Mr. Hudson was in Upper 

 Teesdale, whence he sent me a specimen of LeJnnannia arbornm, taken on a wall 

 behind a cluster of hazels, near Middleton, on the Durham side of the Tees. — 

 Wm. Denison Roebuck, Leeds, June 23rd, 1884. 



♦ 



Zonites radiatulus var. viridescenti-alba in West York- 

 shire, — Yorkshire appears to be very fortunate in possessing habitats for this rare 

 variety, Mr. Whitwham having found it near Huddersfield, and Mr. W. West at 

 Shipley Glen near Bradford. To these localities I am able to add a third, having 

 found it at Crossgates, near Leeds, during January of the present year. — Wm. 

 Nelson, Leeds, July 15th, 1884. 



Naturalist,. 



