254 



J^ield Notes. 



SHELLS. 



Cyclostoma elegans at Lincoln. — A few weeks ag^o, when 

 walking through a tramway cutting- at the ironstone workings 

 north of Lincohi, I found Cyclostoma elega?is fairly common in 

 the limestone rubble at a depth of from one to four feet below 

 the surface. Within the past few days I have again found this 

 beautiful land shell in limestone rubble dug out of post holes on 

 the river bank at Little Ponton. In the latter case they are 

 quite numerous and in fine condition, some having the oper- 

 culum in position. From the debris of two holes, each about 

 one foot square and two feet deep, I picked up i8 specimens. 

 I believe that" C. elegans has only been found in one locality in 

 Lincolnshire in a living state, and that the one for which 

 Dr. Martin Lister recorded it in 1678 — Burvvell Wood — and 

 rediscovered in 1886 by H. Wallis Kew, F.Z.S. We have now 

 eight localities where the dead shells have been found. ^ Why 

 is this? Evidently at some earlier period this land mollusc was 

 quite common. In dry weather it buries itself in the soil. Have 

 the seasons been so dry that the animal, after burying itself in 

 its usual fashion, has been unable to propagate its species ; or 

 have the climatal conditions changed and become unsuited to 

 so delicate a species? — Henry Preston, Grantham. 



[C elegans is difficult to find, especially in dry weather. 

 It is not improbable that the species still lives in many of the 

 localities cited by Mr. Preston. — Eds.] 



FUNGL 



New Yorkshire Mould : Myxotrichum deflexum Berk. — 



While visiting Woodhall, Copley, near Halifax, with the local 

 Antiquarian Society on 8th July, this interesting black mould 

 was met with. The ancient residence is at present untenanted 

 and becoming somewhat dilapidated, especially in the interior. 

 The mould was found in quantity on the rotting canvas backing* 

 of the wall decoration in one of the rooms. It differs from 

 Myxotrichum chartarum in having no sterile hyphce with curved 

 tips, neither are the branches of the fertile hyphas dichotomously 

 branched as in that species. — C. Crossland, Halifax, 15th July 



1905- 



* The localities, besides the two named, are: — Well Vale, Alford, 

 I2th June 1890, J. B. Davy; Svvaby, October 1891, J. B. Davy; Jericho 

 Plantation, Farforth, Aug^ust 1902, C. S. Carter; Steing-ot, west end of 

 Withcal tunnel, May 1904, C. S. Carter ; Whalebone Lane, Little Ponton, 

 May 1903, H. Preston. 



Naturalist, 



