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THE POCKET DREDGE. 
Sep., 1889. 
In Mr. Garner's “ History of Staffordshire,” he includes the follow¬ 
ing species, but these have not been met with in recent years :— 
“Helix cantiana— not rare in Dovedale and Wetton Valley.” 
“ Helix fusca—Stoke-on-Trent; dell at Oakamoor.” 
“ Helix lamellata—among leaves in a valley at Oakamoor ; only 
three specimens found in October living : Mr. Carter.” 
“ Succinea oblonga—Staffordshire ; Birmingham Museum.” 
“ Clausilia biplicata—Alton Castle ; Mr. Carter.” 
“ Limnea glutinosa—common, Stoke-on-Trent.” 
“ Planorbis laevis (glaber)—occasional in pools.” 
“ Planorbis lineatus—canals, Stoke.” 
“ Paludina contecta—canals.” 
“ Pisidium obtusale (pusillum)—frequent, Betley Pool.’’ 
THE POCKET DREDGE. 
BY E. W. BURGESS. 
Having many times been much put about when travelling on 
the seas, and for the purpose of dredging having to make use 
of zinc-pans, or tinned-meat cans loaded with the log-lead to 
weight the article used, and the log-line to draw it up to the 
vessel, I have found much inconvenience in the use of such 
utensils ; and hearing that Mr. David Robertson, of Millport, 
Scotland, had made a dredge 7in. wide, I thought I would 
also try to do the same. Therefore I wrote to Mr. W. P. 
Marshall to get the particulars of the Birmingham Natural 
History Society’s dredges ; and he gave me a sketch of the 
smallest of these to scale, with a few hints about making it. 
But as I had great trouble in having one made by the black¬ 
smith I applied to, I gave him up and tried another way, by 
making a model in wood, and getting it cast in brass. I 
drilled holes in each side to join the head to the bag with 
copper-wire, and also curved the bars connecting the scrapers, 
so that the scraping edge should be wider than the inside, 
and used sacking-canvas for the bag 12in. long, and connected 
the head to the dredge-rope by two wire handles. 
The line attached to the dredge was a strong water-line 
Jin. in diameter, nearly the thickness of a black-lead pencil, 
marked in six-feet lengths (fathoms), each five fathoms in 
similar coloured worsted or a combination of colours twisted 
through the strands—such as, the first five fathoms red ; the 
next five yellow, &c.—for the convenience of counting the 
depth of the water dredged. 
I found at times a little trouble ; the bottom was very rocky, 
the dredge getting fast and requiring the boat to return over 
the dredge to free it. In using the dredge, I had a piece of 
wire-rope nearly the same size as the other, and 4ft. long, 
attached to the dredge, and at the end furthest from the 
