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THE NATURALISTS 7 JOURNAL. 
COLLECTING PALUDINA CONTECTA. 
On a fine Saturday afternoon in July, I started off in com¬ 
pany with my friend, J. W. Briggs—who I am endeavouring to 
initiate in the mysteries of Conchology—to visit a pond in 
which we hoped to find specimens of the Paludina contecta. 
Having got our scoop and other implements ready, with a little 
scheming we fastened them to the handle bars of our steel 
steeds. Such articles as are used by the conchologist are not 
calculated to add much to the good appearance of a bicycle ; 
we, however, put up with this, and started off. It was a beautiful 
day, calm, clear and bright. The hedgerows on either side were 
gay with wild roses and honey-suckle, and here and there the 
purple flowers of the thistle were just coming into bloom. On 
our right hand lay the whole of the fertile vale of Sabden, with 
the Forest of Pen die, dotted here and there with white-washed 
farm houses, and the old halls ; also the villages Higham, Fence, 
and Wheatley Lane ; while below we could see the little stream 
known as Pendle Water, hastening downwards with its load of 
filth and dirt, from the great town of Burnley, to do its share in 
polluting the noble river Ribble ; the pamorama being bounded 
in the distance by the magestic form of Pendle Hill. On our 
left the view was entirely obscured by the rocky and frowning 
heights of Hambledon. As we rode at an easy pace along the 
dusty road, enjoying the refreshing breeze and the smell of the 
new-mown hay, we could hear the reverberations of the rifles 
of the Accrington Volunteers practising at the targets at the 
foot of the hill. 
After passing through the village of Huncoat, we found our 
further progress arrested by a gate across the road. Leaving 
our machines in the care of some village lads, we took our 
tackle and after a short walk along a foot-path arrived at the 
pond. It was a small triangular pond, bounded on one side by 
a few stunted oak trees, on two of which were boards with the 
legend:—“ trespassers will be prosecuted with the utmost rigour 
of the law 77 —not a very comforting assurance this ! However 
we wanted some shells and were determined to have them, so 
over the wall we went. We found some difficulty in getting 
at them, as the sides of the pond were very soft and muddy, and 
often, in our eagerness to reach a particularly fine looking 
specimen we slipped over shoe-tops into the mud. The pond 
was nearly choked up with the American water w^eed Anacharis 
alsinastrum , on which the Paludinas were feeding, along with 
Lininoea peregra and Plano? bis albus. The scoop brought up a 
few specimens of Sphoenum corneum and Pisidium pusillum and 
these were all the species of mollusca we found. There were 
