Freshwater Mollusca of Ireland. 3.3 



This species, most characteristically descrihed by Mr. Alder (Newc. 

 Trans, v. 1. p. 38.), is common, and generally distributed over Ire- 

 land. In the north I have found it chiefly among mosses in glens 

 and sheltered places. From two localities in this country I have seen 

 Helices of crystalline transparency, and in form intermediate be- 

 tween H. nitidula and H. alliaria. 



27. Helix radiatula, Alder. 



Zonites radiatulus, Gray, Man. p. 173. pi. 12. f. 137*. 

 This polished and well-marked species at every age — for when 

 very young the regular and strongly marked striae serve to distin- 

 guish it — has since 1832 occurred to me in the county of London- 

 derry, in the neighbourhood of Dublin, and in very numerous locali- 

 ties throughout Down and Antrim. I have seen specimens which 

 were collected at Annahoe (county Tyrone), by Edward Waller, Esq. ; 

 at La Bergerie (Queen's county), by Mrs. Patterson and the Rev. B. 

 J. Clarke ; and in the neighbourhood of Cork, by Miss Hincks. In 

 the North of Ireland the transparent greenish white var. H. vitrina, 

 Fer., as often occurs as the deep yellowish horn- coloured shell. 

 That this Helix is more widely distributed in this country than 

 would appear from the above notes, I have no doubt. At Dovedale 

 in Derbyshire, and Ballantrae in Ayrshire, I have met with it. 

 and by W. H. Harvey, Esq. have been favoured with specimens 

 which he collected at the Falls of Clyde in 1832. In moist spots, 

 in the wildest and bleakest localities, as well as in " woods," I have 

 procured it. In the stomachs of four out of seven Starlings (Sturnus 

 vulgaris) brought to a bird-preserver in Belfast at different periods 

 during one winter, T found specimens of this shell, of which some 

 were very fine and perfect. M. Michaud, when acknowledging spe- 

 cimens which I sent him, remarked that they were a var. of H. ni- 

 tidula, Drap. 



28. Helix lucida, Drap. p. 103'. pi. 8. f. 11, 12. 



.Zonites lucidus, Gray, Man. p. 174. pi. 4. f. 38. and wood-cuts, 

 p. 175f. 

 The H. lucida, described and figured by Draparnaud, and charac- 

 terized by Mr. Alder in the Transactions of the Natural History So- 

 ciety of Newcastle (vol. i. part 1. p. 38), appears to be in Ireland, as 

 in England, according to the latter author, " rare," and rather a lo- 

 cal species. In the rejectamenta of the rivers Lagan and Blackwater, 

 near Belfast, I in 1833 obtained a few individuals, and in Kilmegan 

 bog (county Down) have since procured a series containing the living 

 animal. I have seen specimens which were collected near Portar- 

 lington by the Rev. B. J. Clarke]:, and at Finnoe, in the north of 



* The form is well represented here. 



t Figures are hardly sufficient to enable us to determine this and some of 

 the closely allied species from each other ; actual comparison of specimens 

 is almost requisite to ensure certainty. 



I In a letter dated November 24, 1838, Mr. Clarke observed, in sending 

 me specimens of H. lucida, " It is only under one stone I ever got this shell • 



Ann. $ Mag. Nat. Hist. Sept. 1840. d 



