Shores of Tasmania . 
335 
The Warrenah, (Turbo sp.) which is very common in many 
situations, seems to have been a very favorite article of food. At 
Cape Grim there is a heap, several feet in thickness, of this shell, 
formed on the top of the Cape. 
Limpets (Patella sp.) On the south and west coast these 
attain to a very large size. I do not recollect to have observed 
any shells of the Parmophorus Australis in the heaps, although 
from the size of the fish I would have expected to have found 
them much prized. 
Fasciolaria trapezium ? This shell I saw principally in the 
small heaps, on the north coast; it is there abundant in the cre¬ 
vices of the rocks. 
A species of Purpura occurs occasionally in the heaps near 
Circular Head. 
A species of Cardium , and some of the smaller bivalves, were 
used on the Derwent, where these shells are common; but, as 
already observed, the beds of shells usually consist of those still 
existing close by. 
Some of these heaps—as at Spring Bay, on the east coast— 
have recently been opened out, and burnt for lime; but they are 
in general too much mixed with earthy matter, charcoal, &c., to 
make the lime of good quality ; and the period of time which 
has elapsed since the shells were removed from the sea (in most 
cases the latest must be upwards of thirty years), joined to their 
partial calcination by the aborigines in roasting, has caused their 
decomposition to be considerable. 
In conclusion, I shall here allude to some banks of shells which 
exist on the east side of Barren Island, one of the Hunters 
Group, and which must not be confounded with the work of the 
aborigines. 
These banks, or beds, (they arc all on the same level, but 
separated by points of rock) extend for about a quarter of a 
mile along the beach, are six to nine feet thick, and composed 
almost exclusively of a species of Pectunculus (like P. glychne- 
risjj sparingly intermixed with sand. A few other species of 
shell occur, such as Fasciolaria , and a large kind of Cypraa , 
now very rare ; but, these latter lie principally on the top. 
