DUBLIN KATURAL HI8T0BT 80CIETT. 145 



about by the swelling of an angry tea; however, it is to him alone that the cre- 

 dit of mailing this interesting addition to the Fauna of Ireland is due. 



MAT, 1854. 



CM HKLIX PI8ANA AND ITS LOCAUTIK8. BT CHARLS8 FABBAN, M.D. 



I consider a favourable opp9rtunity occurs in presenting a few specimens for 

 the acceptance of the Society, of bringing forward a notice of the beautiful and 

 extremely local shull, Helix pisana, ur, as it was formerly designated, "Cin- 

 gcnda." I am particularly anxious that this record should be identified with the 

 Proceedings of our Society, and that the vagueness of its recognition as an Irish 

 shell should be reduced to a certainty. I am led to this by having latelv read in 

 Mr. Gray's edition of** Turton's Manual of Land and Fresh Water Shells of the 

 British Islands" the following observations relative to Helix pisana: — *'It is 

 one of the most beautiful of our snails, and extremely local ; it is common in the 

 Sonth of Europe and Northern Africa, but is not found in the northern coun- 

 tries ; Wales may be considered its northern limit. According to Montagu, no 

 mean authoritv, it is one of our most rare species ; he only found it in one olace 

 — on the land west of Tenby, where it is confined to a small space ; and Mr. 

 Rackett has found it at St. Ives, in Cornwall." Mr. Gray concludes by observ- 

 ing: — ** It has also been said to be found near Dublin." If from Hfteen to 

 twenty miles be meant as near Dublin, I can answer, with perfect safety, that 

 such is the case. In early life I frequently visited the strand of Knockangin, 

 about a mile and a half north of Balbriggan, in purstiit of wild fowl, which were 

 abundant there at certain seasons. On one of those visits, fatigued with watch- 

 ing for the flight of the game, I sat down on the grassy bank bounding the tide. 

 My attention was soon attracted by the appearance of numbers of a beautiful 

 snail. Being an inexperienced conchologist at the time, I thought the best thing 

 to be done was to bring them under the notice of those better acquainted with 

 the subject. Accordingly, filling my pockets with them, I presented them to my 

 lamented friend, the late James Tardy, an enthusiastic naturalist, to whom we 

 are all indebted as giving the first impulse to natural history in Dublin. Mr. 

 Tardy subsequently brought the shell under Dr. Turton's notice, and I had the 

 pleasure, a short time afterwards, of pointing out the locality to Mr. Tardy. 1 

 regret to say that, on visiting Knockangin on Monday, the 3rd of April last, I 

 found that the cuttings of the Drogheda Railroad had completely obliterated the 

 favoured locality of this shell, and where, before this occurred, I could have ob- 

 tained them in any number, a couple of dozen of rather inferior specimens were 

 my only reward; however, I should say they may be procured '* longo inter- 

 vallo" at Laytown, Bettystown, and up to Drogheda ; those places, being conti- 

 nuous with Knockangin, may be considered as one localitv-^and, except this, we 

 have no authentic record of any other in Ireland. The late Mr. JNrCalla in- 

 formed me he had seen the shell in Bunowen, one of the extreme points of Con- 

 nemara, but ho did not exhibit a specimen ; and my friend Mr. Andrews has 

 lately informed me that he has had the shell from Kerry. Reasoning by analogy, 

 both those localities would be very likely to produce it, as they contain many 

 species of plants, molluscs, and shells found on the southern shores of Europe. 

 Connected with this shell, I should allude to a singular fact — the im)K>ssibility 

 that exists of preserving the animal when taken from its native soil, at least so 

 far as the experiment has been tried. I collected twenty dozen of the finest and 

 most vigorous specimens for the late Butler Bryan, Esq. ; half of those he dis- 

 tributed on his property in iho county of Meath, and the remainder in the de- 

 mesne lands of Ferns, county of Wexford, the scene of his appalling murder. 

 Mr. Bryan distributed them himself, assimilating the soil as closely as possible 

 to their own, but without success. He wrote to me that the experiment was ft 

 total failure, but he was determined to give it a more extended trial on a future 

 occasion. I tried the experiment at Feltrim, near Malahide, with the same re- 



