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CONCHOLOGICAL NOTES, 



Bnlinms aCUtUS. — The only Sussex record that I am aware of is that of 

 Mr. Langdon, who is said to have found it near Eastbourne in 1874, and this 

 locality seems no longer to produce the species, for Mr. J. H. A. Jenner, of Lewes, 

 writes to me as follows : — ' As I have recently searched the whole coast between 

 Lewes and Eastbourne, on several occasions, for B, aaihts, without success, I am 

 obliged to conclude that the Eastbourne specimens were somehow introduced. They 

 are larger than Torquay specimens, and dull whitish.' Moreover, I have myself 

 recently explored the coast of Sussex from Bognor to Littlehampton, and from 

 Worthing to Brighton, and although H. virgata was common enough, no B. acuhis 

 turned up. 



Another point I will venture to refer to is the generic position of the 

 species in question. It seems to me that it ought undoubtedly to be placed in 

 Helix, close to H. virgata, and not in Bidimus at all. (Kobelt places it in the 

 sub-genus CocJiUcella, with Helix conoidea^ &c.) Its habits are similar to those of 

 the group of Helix known as Xerophila, to which H. virgata belongs ; and, more- 

 over, there is an almost complete series of forms existing which fill up the gap 

 between the two species. For instance, on looking at my own collection, I find 

 Helix maritivia, an elegant form very similar to virgata, but having the spire a little 

 more raised ; then come specimens of H. pyramidata from Algiers, showing a 

 slightly more raised spire, with compressed whorls and a smaller umbilicus, and 

 this species varies in its banding in the same way as virgata, for in my four Algiers 

 specimens the first has a band-formula 00300, with a very well-defined band ; the 

 second has a similar formula, but the band is pale ; the third belongs to the var. 

 alba, being white and bandless ; and the fourth has a forrnula 00340, with the 

 merest trace of the fifth band. A still more conical form is H. conica from Malta, 

 while some forms show a keeled periphery, such as H. tej'restris from Algeria, 

 H, elata from Capri, and H. tuberculosa from Sinai. But disregarding these 

 diverging forms, we may easily trace H. acuta {Bulimus acutus) by the help also 

 of Mogador specimens of H. conoidea, which form another of the many connecting 

 links between this and H. virgata. — T. D. A. Cockerell, 51, Woodstock Road, 

 Bedford Park, Chiswick, December 3rd, 1884. 



Bulimus acutus in South Wales.— In addition to the counties you 

 note for B. actitics, I have found it at Cardiff, in Glamorganshire. It occurs plenti- 

 fully on the moors along with H. virgata, but whether it has been introduced or 

 not, as so many species have in this locality, I am not prepared to say. I have 

 never seen any traces of it at any of our Lancashire watering-places, but do not see 

 why it should not be found, and hope it may ultimately turn up. — Edward 

 Collier, 3, Friday Street, Manchester, February loth, 1885. 



Mussels Eaten by Animals and Birds. — We have evidence 



proving this fact, occurring in several places in Nottinghamshire. i. On the 

 canal banks close to Nottingham we find broken shells {A. cygnea, U. tuniidus, 

 U. pictorum, and D. polyviorpJia) occurring in such positions and under such 

 circumstances that leave no doubt about the fact that Rats (Water Voles ?) have 

 brought them up alive from the mud to feed upon them in little nooks on the 

 canal banks. 2. At Sutton-in-Ashfield the water in the mill dam is very low, 

 and one can get well amongst the Anodons. Here we find many specimens that 

 have had holes (varying in size from that of a threepenny-bit to a crown piece) 

 pecked through the shell by the birds (? species) for the purpose of getting at the 

 animal, as proved by circumstantial evidence. Here also animals of some kind 

 have also feasted on the Mussels {Anodouta cygnea only present in the dam), for 

 the ventral and posterior margins of many of them have been bitten away in pieces, 

 leaving a kind of scolloped edge. Rat dung is plentiful on the mud, which has 

 dried too hard for the ' spoor ' of small animals to be left as marks ; and most of 

 the specimens obtained were found stranded, owing to the shrinking of the water. 

 (See note on large Anodons in Notts.) 3. At Ossington Lake, to which I paid 

 a visit with my friend Mr. Gain of Tuxford, many of the Mussels i^A. cygnea and 

 U. pictorum), left exposed owing to drainage of the lake for cleaning purposes, 

 were broken at the posterior end in a way that led us to suppose that it was 

 the work of Rats or other animals. — C. T. MussoN, November 1884. 

 March 1885. 



