1 50 DUBLIN NATURAL HISTOBT SOClETr. 



that many of our most rare Pelagian mollusca and Crustacea are met. I have 

 observed that the paucity of our information is attributable on the west coast to 

 the confined examination of the dredger, whose labours have principally been 

 engaged in the exploration of the bays and estuaries, and not to any depth of 

 soundings off the coast. Instances are recorded of many rare molluscs captured 

 on the lines of the fishermen on the great bank of Newfoundland, and also the 

 minor banks, as well as frequently taken from the stomachs of the cod fish. I 

 have taken fine specimens of Fusus Islandicus on the lines in eighty-one fathoms ; 

 and Dr. Farran informs me that Buccinum Zetlandicum has only been taken on 

 the fisherman's lines at a distance from the land sinking Urrisbeg mountain. 

 Animals enjoying life at great depths of the ocean are more extensively distri- 

 buted in different latitudes from the tmiformity of temperature ; while warm or 

 cold climates affect those animals that are peculiar to shoaler grounds. The 

 western shores of Spain and Portugal abound in marine animals, and it has been 

 remarked that the eastern shores of the American continent are barren in pro- 

 portion to its western coasts, which are plentifully inhabited by testaceous ani- 

 mals. The west of England affords nearly two-thirds of all the marine animals 

 yet discovered in Britain; and we may, therefore, conclude that the rich shores 

 of the west of Ireland may yet add largely to its Fauna. Among recent la- 

 bourers you witness this evening what has been accomplished by Dr. Farran, 

 and I may add, that from this coast much is to be expected from the well-di- 

 i«cted researches of Professor Melville of Galway. 



ON JANTHINA COMMUNIS COLLECTED ON THE "WEST COAST, WITH OTHEB 

 MOLLUSCS. BY W. HOPKINS. 



At your last meeting, when I had the pleasure of adding a few specimens of 

 Janthina communis to your collection of Irish mollusca, I was requested by Mr. 

 Andrews, your Secretary, to give a short paper on this interesting shell, and 

 now beg to bring the occurrence of this and other species on the west coast of 

 this country under your notice. In the month of August, 1851, being at Kilkee, 

 which I knew to be a locality where the Janthina is of tolerably frequent occur- 

 rence at certain seasons, I determined to watch closely for them. At length, 

 after ten days, during which time there was an uninterrupted succession of wes- 

 terly gales, I had the satisfaction of finding a single specimen of Janthina com- 

 munis and one of Spirula Peronii. This incited me to closer investigation. The 

 wind now veered to N.W., and, after three days more had elapsed, I was re- 

 warded with finding the Janthina communis, in large numbers, in company with 

 five specimens of Janthina pallida and three of Spirula Peronii, together with 

 large numbers of the velella and several species of anatifa and vitrea. From the 

 circumstance of the janthina being drifted in after N. W. winds, it is evident that, 

 though a native of the warmer latitudes of the ocean, these individuals must have 

 been"floating fully as far, if not farther north than Kilkee. The best locality for 

 them I found to be at the south side of the entrance to the bay on the Duggann 

 Reef, where I took them alive immediately after high water, floating on the sur- 

 face in pools situated in clefts of the rock. I would here remark, that from the 

 coast being so rocky, more than two-thirds of the specimens I obtained were, 

 unfortunately, irretrievably damaged. The animal, on being taken, exudes a 

 purple liquor, which stains the hand a dingy blue ; this stain it requires some 

 short time to remove. I placed several of the janthinae alive in a vessel of fresh 

 water, to which they immediately imparted a purple colour, and, after standing 

 six to eight hours, it assumed a dirty bluish-green hue. The float by which the 

 janthina is buoyed upon the surface of the ocean has occasioned many conflicting 

 opinions, and, among others, I will refer to Whitelaw and Walsh's " History of 

 Dublin" (London, 1818), in the Appendix to which is a catalogue of Irish shells, 

 and from a note to Helix janthina, by which name it was then known, I take the 

 following extract : — ** Brown in his * Account of Jamaica' gives the following ac- 



