356 



NOTES on LINCOLNSHIRE MOLLUSCA. 



North-west Lindsey Land Shells: Nettleton Parish. — I received 

 the following- shells on 23rd September 1901, from Miss Susan Allett, of 

 Nettleton House, Caistor. They were gathered in Nettleton Parish : — 

 Helix itala (from pit on Mansgate Hill, also from Nettleton Top ; very fine 

 specimens), H. rufescens and var. alba, H. virgata, Cochlicopa lubrica 

 (fields and g-arden). Helix caperata (one specimen, the same), H. cellaria, 

 H. arbustorum and var. flavescens , H. hortensis var. lutea 00000 and latea 

 12345. This species is curiously rare in Lincolnshire. I have never taken 

 it except at Crowland. H nemoralis vars. libellula and rubella, commonest 

 banding 02345 and (1 23X45). The most interesting specimens sent were 

 two very thin varieties of this last species. They may have come from the 

 neighbourhood of an 'iron pan' in the sand, or from the Claxby Ironstone 

 bed of the Neocomian, which forms part of the surface soil of Nettleton 

 Parish. — E. Adrian Woodruffe-Peacock, Cadney, Brigg, Lincolnshire, 

 24th September 1901. 



North-west Lindsey Mollusca: Cadney Parish.- 1 visited the 



Thirty-foot drain at Cadney on 1st June 1901. Helix nemoralis , H. cantiana, 

 and H. virgata were plentiful; H. arbustorum much rarer. In two cases, 

 within a few inches of one another, H. nemoralis var. libellula roseolabiata 

 02345 was in cop. with H. arbustorum. Within six inches I took five 

 specimens of this variety, which I have never found elsewhere in this 

 parish. Within two vards there were plenty of H. nemoralis with the 

 type lip ; and three specimens of H. arbustorum within the same distance. 

 On one of the buttresses of the outfall bridge, which has been used as 

 a Thrush-stone for the last ten years, I found two broken H. nemoralis var. 

 roseolabiata. One has a subdistinct white peripheral band. Another speci- 

 men was a beautiful var. albolabiata 00300. The lip was perfect in every 

 case. They were lying amidst a large mass of broken H. nemoralis and 

 H. cantia?/a, along with at least two broken H. arbustorum and the 

 unbroken valves of one Dreissensia. The river had been run off very low 

 and there were tens of thousands of D. polymorpha half open on the mud. 

 This was the only one carried to the Thrush-stone, thoug-h I saw a number 

 of Thrushes taking- their toll in the bed of the river. I sent my other notes, 

 with typical specimens of Unio and Anadonta opened by birds, to my kind 

 friend Mr. J. W. Taylor for use in the forthcoming monograph we are all 

 eagerly looking forward to. Helix arbustorum , being- rare on the Thirty- 

 foot drain banks, is not often to be found on the bridg-e Thrush-stone, while 

 H. nemoralis and H. cantiana, being- common enoug-h, are always in 

 evidence after snow, or when it is so dry that insects are rare. During 

 the burning- summers since 1892 tens of thousands of molluscs have paid the 

 penalty of being sweetly juicy and pleasantly edible for birds. In the river 

 bed itself much could be noted, for Rooks, Black-headed Gulls, a Crow, 

 and a Waterhen were all feeding within the range of a field-g-lass — the 

 latter on Sph&rium and Pisidium as far as I could make out. Specimens of 

 Unio pictorum and Anadonta anatina had died from being unable to escape 

 down the mud as the water fell. Some of the largest forms of both appeared 

 to have been too deeply buried in the mud to be in time to get away before 

 the water went off. In other cases Dreissensice had fastened their byssus 

 to them, and the united load was more than either Unio or Anadonta could 

 move. In a few instances the roots of the Reed {Phragmites communis Trin.) 

 or Bank Sedg-e (Carex riparia Curt.), and in one case the Bladder Sedge 

 (C. vesicaria L. ), had been attached to shells by the byssus of one or more 

 Dreissensice, and the frantic efforts of Unio and Anadonta , which were 

 clearly depicted on the mud, had failed to save them. Succinea elegans was 

 busy feeding- on dead and open Dreissensia polymorpha on my third visit. 

 The latter species, when no longer from the valve to the outer lip than 

 t/V of an inch was often attached in fairlv shallow water to the. Reed stems. 

 — E. Adrian Woodruffe-Peacock, Cadney, Brig-g, 1st October 1901. 



Naturalist, 



