98 THE POST-PLIOCENE NON-MARINE MOLLUSCA OF ESSEX.
last list was given in 1880 in the Geological Survey Memoir on the
Neighbourhood of Colchester (21), a production which was very
adversely criticised in 1886 by Mr. A. Bell (23). In 1894 Mr
W. M. Webb (32) published in the Essex Naturalist a
Catalogue of species from Walton-on-the-Naze. The examples
on which this list was founded were presented to the Essex and
Chelmsford Museum by Mr. J. Brown many years ago (they
are now in the Museum of the Essex Field Club), and with them
was a printed slip stating that they were found "with the fossil
horns above at a part of the Essex coast five miles southward
of Walton Naze." After a due consideration of all the facts, we
have come to the conclusion that there is a printer's error in the
above, and that the correct reading should be ten miles instead
of "five," and that consequently the specimens come from
Clacton. In the first place no such deposit except Clacton from
which these shells would be likely to come is known, though
repeated search has been made in the locality indicated. There
are only two species in Mr. Webb's list which are not known
from Clacton, viz., Helicella caperata and Vertigo moulinsiana ; but
in the printed slip these are given as Helix concinna and Vertigo
pygmea, both of which are recorded from Clacton by Mr. S. V.
Wood, and the two missing species, Sphaerium corneum and Valvata
piscinalis, are in the Geological Society's Museum from Clacton.
With regard to the horns, Mr. J. Brown described in 1838 [Mag.
Nat. Hist. (ser. 2), vol. ii., p. 163] a large pair of horns found at
Clacton. Moreover, Mr. Brown was most careful in placing on
record the various geological sections in Essex, and it would
indeed be strange if he had omitted to describe so important a
section, judging by the fossils. The examples in the Natural
History Museum also described by Mr. Webb are undoubtedly
from Clacton. So that, taking the above facts into consideration,
it may be considered as certain that Clacton is the true locality,
and with this conclusion Mr. Webb concurs. The section is now
a thing of the past, consequent on the growth of the town, but
we have been able to examine five collections; consequently,
the verification of past records has not been difficult. There is
a fair collection in the Natural History Museum, one buried in
the Geological Society's Museum, the third (whose origin we
have just discussed) is now in the possession of the Essex Field
Club, whilst Mr. S. V. Wood's specimens are at present in the
Norwich Museum, and we must thank Mr. J. Reeve, the curator,
for his kindness in giving every facility for examining the