8.o 



NOTES MOLLUSCA. 



Lancashire Helices. — I was very pleased with Mr. T. D. A. Cockerell's 

 account of his September walk, especially the part relating to his progress through 

 my native county, but his remarks upon the scarcity of the Helices rather surprised 

 me, for the fact does not at all apply to those portions over which my own con- 

 chological researches have extended, and a few notes on the subject may perhaps 

 interest him and other conchologists. I have searched the coast line from Formby to 

 Blackpool, and find that H. nemoralis is very common on most of the sandhills. 

 Near Blackpool it is so abundant that it is almost impossible to walk along in some 

 places without treading the shells underfoot. Close to the town little heaps of 

 broken shells may frequently be observed, where some busy thrush has been 

 at work, hammering them to pieces on some convenient stone to get at the contents. 

 In some of the sand drifts I have seen dead shells blown together by the wind in 

 such numbers that they could be gathered by the handful. These dead shells are 

 collected by the town's children, and threaded alternately with Turritella com- 

 munis in long strings, and hawked about the streets for sale. I find that after the. 

 type, v. hbelhda ooooo and v. rubella 00300 are the most common forms found on 

 the sandhills. Var. rubella 00345, (12)3(45), and v. libellula 00300, 00345, 10345, 

 (123X45), and several others occur more sparingly. H. horiensis is not so common 

 here, and I have only found the type and v. lutea ooooo. All the above-mentioned 

 vars. occur pretty plentifully about Goosnargh and Newsham, and the neighbour- 

 hood of Preston, and from these localities I have collected v. casianea ooooo and 

 v. olivacea (123X45), of nemoralis; and H. hortensis v. incarnala ooooo and 

 v. lilacina ooooo. Just outside Southport, H. caperata — and, sparingly, its var. 

 omata — is abundant. H. ericetorum and H. virgata also occur there in limited 

 numbers. ,H. aspersa occurs at Walton-le-dale, Newsham, near Glasson Dock, 

 and by the Wyre, at Preesall, in abundance. At the latter place I may safely 

 say it might be collected by the wheelbarrow/til^ especially at this season of the 

 year, when large congregated masses of from a dozen to fifty shells, firmly cemented 

 together, may be picked up from the hedge banks ; and after a shower in spring or 

 summer, they may here be seen swarming upon the thorn bushes, which they climb 

 even to the topmost twigs, and present a curious spectacle. H. rufescens is the 

 most common land shell about Goosnargh, and its var. rubens is also plentiful 

 there. H. rotundata I have found common wherever I have collected, except 

 along the coast. H. arbustorum (type and v. flavescens) is found along the banks 

 of the Brock, and H. hispida at Farrington and Leyland. My own somewhat 

 limited experiences are embraced in these notes, in which I have quoted localities 

 where I have found the species most numerous, leaving unmentioned many others 

 where I have found various specimens in limited numbers. I am looking forward 

 to the discovery of many more localities during the coming season, when I purpose 

 to prosecute my researches in places perhaps hitherto unexplored. — R. Standen, 

 Swinton, Manchester, February 9th, 1886. 



Scarcity of Helices in W.E. Cheshire.— In reference to Mr. T. D. A. 



Cockerell's note on the scarcity of Helices in Lancashire, a few remarks on their 

 corresponding scarcity in north-east Cheshire may be of interest. In the plain of 

 red marl which stretches across the county southward from Runcorn and 

 Stockport, the only Helix that is generally distributed is H. rotundata. 

 H. nemoralis is found sparingly about the Bollin and Mersey valleys ; but all the 

 remaining species I have found north of the Weaver live where the marl is 

 overlaid with other deposits — H, aculeata in the marshes at Ashley Hall ; 

 H. aspersa on the sand at Bowdon ; H. hispida in the Rollin and Weaver valleys, 

 on alluvial soil ; H. pulchella in * the Bollin valley and on Hale Moss ; and 

 //. pygma>a in Knutsford Bog. On the carboniferous rocks, east of Stockport to 

 the county border, Helices are much more numerous. The distribution of Zonites 

 is very different ; all the British species are found in the north-east part of the 

 county, most o f them being common everywhere ; and all but Z. radialulus and . 

 Z. glaber are to be found within three miles of Bowdon Church. — J. G. Milne, 

 Bowdon, 14th February, 1886. 



Testacella haliotidea v. scutulum at Chester.— Mr. G. W. 



Shrubsole informs us that this occurs in the green lanes near some nursery gardens, 

 but not in them. Mr. Taylor and I have seen the fine specimen he is keeping in 



captivity.— W. Dexisox Roebuck, Sunny Bank, Leeds, February 1886. 



Naturalist, 



