A HALF-DAY'S RAMBLE ON THE LINCOLNSHIRE 



COAST. 



H. WALLIS KEW, 

 Louth, Liticobishire. 



At three o'clock on the afternoon of Saturday, the 3rd of April, a 

 ticket for Mablethorpe was taken at Louth Station, and in the course 

 of half an hour I found myself upon the line where the North Sea 

 meets the eastern border of Lincolnshire, with just three hours to 

 spend in making observations. 



First of all the broad sandhills were searched ; these hills are 

 covered with strong grasses, particularly the marram-grass (Ammo- 

 phila arundinacea), without the widely-creeping roots of which much 

 of the sand would be blown away by the winter gales ; and in some 

 places the sallow-thorn or sea-buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) is 

 very abundant, forming tangled thickets which cannot be passed 

 through. 



The shells found during the afternoon here were Helix aspersa 

 Mull., H. nemoralis L., H. hispida L., H. caperata Mont, and var. 

 ornata Pic, H. pulchella Mull., Pupa umbilicata var. alba, P. mar- 

 ginata Drap., Cochlicopa lubrica Mull, and var. minor Fisch. 



On the sandhills hard substances on which birds can break shells 

 are often few and far between, and when a stone or piece of broken 

 pot was come across it was sure to be surrounded by large numbers 

 of Helix aspersa and Helix nemoralis, which had been dragged 

 from their hiding places and preyed upon by the birds. There 

 were literally hundreds of shells round some of the stones noticed. 

 On the hills south of Mablethorpe the most plentiful variety of 

 Helix nemoralis was rubella 00000 ; but on the north side of the 

 village vars. libellula and rubella, with three to five bands, were most 

 abundant. Six specimens of libellula which I took home exhibited 

 the following band-variation: — 12345, (12345), (12)3(45) two speci- 

 mens, 023(45) two specimens. Three examples of var. castanea 00000 

 were noticed. 



Only two species of Spiders were observed j one was a dark- 

 brown species, which I failed to capture, and the other was the Tibellus 

 oblongus Bl. It was named by the Rev. O. P. Cambridge, who says 

 it is ' an abundant marsh species.' 



Of Coleoptera the following were noticed : — 



Dromius melanocephalus L. At the roots of grass. 



Calathus melanocephalus Dej. At the roots of Senecio Jacobaa. 



Tachyporus solutus Er. Very common at the roots of grass, &c. 



June 1886. 



