The Mollusca Of Somerset

Author : Ernest W. Swanton
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781332158874
Total Pages : 146 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (588 download)

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Download or read book The Mollusca of Somerset written by Ernest W. Swanton and published by . This book was released on 2015-08-04 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Mollusca of Somerset: Land, Freshwater, Estuarine and Marine Shells have been poetically designated the "Medals of Creation." They occur in rocks of all ages, and everywhere tell their own story, e.g., in Somerset the huge ammonites of the oolite quarries indicate that countless years ago parts of the county were covered with a tropical sea in which cephalopods swarmed. Existing as well as fossil forms afford valuable evidence of a past order of things. The marine shells that occur in sandy and pebbly beds far inland on the moors are eloquent witnesses to the great alterations of the coast line of the county within comparatively recent times. The myriads of shells of Helicella barharn (perhaps better known under its old name of Helix acuta), which live in the hollows of the dunes between Burnham and Berrow, do not attract the attention of the majority of pedestrians, but to the conchologist they have a special interest. Their presence there is to him a link in the chain of evidence that certain elements of our existing fauna arrived from the continent by a land connection in the south-west, of which the Scilly Isles are vestiges. As with Helicella barbnra, so it is with all the other mollusca, there is not a single species whose life history is devoid of interest in some way or the other. It is stimulating to have a hobby, especially if it compels one to "Go forth under the open sky, and list To Nature's teachings." One of the most delightful of such hobbies is conchology, and it is never too late to start upon it. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.