DTTBLIN NATUBAL KI8T0BT 80CIETT. 28 



Bulla hi/datii, and where, in the year 1854, I sought in vain for it, 

 eponding hours on hours in search of it, hut failing ; I had some vain 

 hopes, when I threw out the dredge, I should again meet it ; hut the 

 result proved I was wrong. In addition to all this, Mr. Barlee, who had 

 investigated most critically Birterbie Bay, surprised at the size of some 

 specimens which I had forwarded to him, expressed his astonishment 

 how it had fallen to my lot to discover such a treasure, after his having 

 ransacked every nook and comer of the bay. 



I now exhibit specimens from the collection of my friend, T. W. 

 "Warren, Esq., from the locality of Baldoyle, county of Dublin; of course 

 they represent the shell of its average size and appearance ; one speci- 

 men from my own collection, from the same locality, designated by 

 Mr. Barlee and the late Professor Forbes as a ** monster specimen;" 

 and specimens from Roxmdstone Bay, obtained exactly opposite the creek 

 in Birterbie Bay, and, in a right line, not more than a quarter of a mile 

 from it ; and also, the giants themselves. I exhibited to every natu- 

 ralist in Dublin, who wished to see them, those extraordinary shells. 

 Whether this discovery excited in their minds any interest, it is not for 

 me to determine ; but I can safely assert that it was received by my 

 friends elsewhere with something more than surprise. 



I shall select from numerous communications the observations of 

 two of the most accomplished conchologists in England — Mr. William 

 Clark, of Bath, and Mr. Barlee, of Exmouth — to whom I had sent spe- 

 cimens, and those certainly not the very finest. Mr. Clark observes: — 



"You have indeed favoured me with a most desirable addition to my 

 collection. Mr. Barlee mentions in a letter that you had met with some 

 Goliaths of the Bulla tribe ; but my imagination failed to represent spe^ 

 cimens of such gigantic proportions. The animal of the Akera htdlata 

 is of so delicate a texture, that the character of the external and general 

 configuration escape correct observation from spirit specimens ; these 

 points can only be correctly observed by one who has the opportunity of 

 seeilig the animal contract and display itself immediately on its capture. 

 The presence or absence of a gizzard, and others of the internal points, 

 would admit of a closer examination. If again these creatures should 

 come into your hands, notes bearing on these points would form a bright 

 page in the annals of Natural History.'* 



And in another communication Mr. Clark says he feels great plea- 

 sure in contemplating the colossal molluscan growth of some of the spe- 

 cies of the Irish seas, which he apprehends results fit)m the stimulus of 

 their being exposed without interruption to the pure Atlantic wave. 



Mr. Barlee writes to me thus : — 



" Your take of the Ak&ra bullata (which is fully three times as lai^ge 

 as I ever saw it), so near, I presume, from your account of the sjwt you 

 ran into for shelter, to the place where I took them the year before, is 

 remarkable — that is, remarkable that I did not fall in with some of those 

 monsters. I had two years' dredging all round that locality without 

 taking the species at all, although about five miles up the bay, in rather 

 shallow water. I once dredged several dozen of what I contodered very 



