VOL.37 NO.1 APRIL 2007 - British Shell Collectors' Club

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PALLIDULA Page 10 There are decorated snuff boxes, a round box with minute mussels and green Pea <strong>Shell</strong>s, another black oval box covered in Nerita zebra and a pink oval box with soft pink cones and opercula. Sometimes Peter makes a creation as a table arrangement or ornament, such as “Temple of Venus” which is named after the Venus Comb shell from the murex family. This is set on a red platform with red pillars and white Fusinus, white murex and little green sea urchins. One box is actually a casket which is revealed from all sides by the mirrors. It is a 17 th century fabric casket, sumptuously embroidered with shells, pearl flowers and foliage in the most heavenly pink, mauves, pale greens and turquoise blues. Opened it reveals a conservatory filled with wonderfully delicate flowers and a small fountain. It is hard to choose from all the works, as to which is the most stunning, extraordinary, amazing. I would say the shell flower arrangements are a testament to Peter’s eye for detail of the natural world and selection of the best shells to create flower form. One arrangement is a spectacular seven tiered floral tower of over 100 varied flower heads and one butterfly. I confess I was so stunned at the 100 flowers I have yet to find the butterfly. These shell flower petals are made from different Tellinas, mussels, scallops, Nucellas and blue limpets, whereas sea urchins, urchin spines, small Gibbula or other tiny gastropods form the flower nucleus and stamens. Peter even makes his own leaves. Recognisable are the yellow, pink or peach roses, pink camellias, chrysanthemums, passion flowers and lilies yet all made from shells. Peter’s work is an inspiration to anyone who has too many shells of one species, or part fragments of specimens, as well as those strange fishy components left on beaches, such as, sharks teeth, jaws, urchin spines, shrimp claws, seaweed and coral. It is a must for anyone who is interested in shell art to see what can be done with time, creativity, patience and lots of artistic flair! There are postcards of the works for sale, shell books and shells suitable for shell art. The museum is open from 12 noon to 5pm daily, Thursday to Sunday, Easter to the end of September. Admission is Adults ₤2.00; concessions ₤1.50; accompanied children under 16 free. For more information see the society’s website www.sheringham-preservation.org.uk
PALLIDULA Page 11 Assiminea grayana Fleming,1828 Found on the West coast of England by Dave Charlton and Carl Ruscoe We had gone out to check the canal near the back of Fiddlers ferry power station, a few miles up the river Mersey from the Runcorn bridge; with very little being found we were about to leave and I said to Carl, “should we walk over just to check the river Mersey banks, gullies and salt mashes”. “OK” he said and off we went. We found a few small shells that looked a bit like Hydrobia at first glance but the taper angle was much less sharp and these shells were a shorter and wider shape. We found our first few on an old driftwood log lying in the marshy ground, half way across the flats and quite a few right on the banks of the river Mersey at the base of a small soil cliff of about 18” – 24” high on wet to moist soil / mud and drifted old decaying vegetation which we think they were eating or just browsing on; however, they were moving on it anyway. We were quite near what looked like a sewer pipe outlet. There was very soft mud about 3 feet below them. When we arrived they were above the tide level of the River Mersey by 6-8ft but still below the very high spring tide marks which was about four hundred yards away over the flats. We found nothing in the small ponds or water filled gullies, and the vegetation over the top of the flats was very heavy, making it difficult to look for them. We have identified a few food plants of differing small habitats. We subsequently identified these snails as Assiminea grayana Fleming, 1828. Until we know more about the population/s we have decided to keep it quiet to protect them. Reading the information from other books, this little snail is locally abundant in salt marshes and estuaries at or just above high tide level either in brackish pools or more frequently out of water, (it is more a terrestrial than an aquatic mollusc) on wet to moist mud. As far as we are aware, this species has never been reported from this side of the Country, only from the east coast, from the Humber down to the south east coast of Kent. It was discovered in the Shannon estuary in Ireland in 1991. Diagnostic features: A small shell, rich reddish brown in young or clean specimens going to dark bluish grey-blackish looking in what I think are the older specimens. Size of about 4 - 5mm high and 3mm broad, like a squat cone, nearly strait sided in profile with only a slight suture, shell is semitransparent and thin but quite a solid shell, aperture rather small, 40-45%, body whorl about ¾ of the height. Cephalic tentacles form short rounded lobes, each has a large eye at the tip, 6-7 whorls, body grey to white, the foot has some dark marks down head. We only collected about 8 live specimens although we did however see a lot more. I have kept them alive in a small box to study them for a few weeks. Assiminea grayana Fleming, 1828 (image courtesy of www.conchology.be) The area where these shells were collected had all the usual vegetation but surprisingly seemed to be totally devoid of other molluscan fauna and after a long day’s collecting, dredging in freshwater habitats, it would have been very easy to retreat back to the car. Making that bit of extra effort with a walk down to the river bank paid dividends as we came up with a new species for both of our collections and possibly discovered a new population of Assiminea grayana which might not have been seen before by shell enthusiasts. It also showed that you can never rule out an area for finding molluscs, and as Dave quoted “<strong>Shell</strong>s are where you find them”. After a good long look around the area over 2 years we have now found they are very widespread and in very large numbers in a few places on both sides of the River Mersey and over a range of about seven miles in length.
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Page 3 and 4: PALLIDULA Page 3 A PROPHETIC PAINTI
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Page 15 and 16: PALLIDULA Page 15 E. onyx succincta

VOL.37 NO.1 APRIL 2007 - British Shell Collectors' Club

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