PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 149 



as far as possible, his specimens with those in the British Museum, and entirely 

 coincided with Professor Bell's judgment, and begged to congratulate the Society 

 on possessing such a fine series of Irish bats — as their collection now included 

 V. Nattereri, V. mystacinus, and V. Daubentonii, of which the two first were as 

 yet unique as Irish. 



The thanks of the Society having been given to the several donors, Mr. Andrews 

 read a letter from William Compton Domville, Esq., dated London, expressive of 

 the usefulness that the " Natural History Review" would be to the Society, and 

 that he had placed the proceedings upon the table of the Zoological Society of 

 London. 



Mr. Andrews noticed the great interest of the collection in the grounds of 

 San try House, formed by Mrs. Domville, and which contained many rare birds 

 among the waders and natatores, in the finest condition and plumage. The arrange- 

 ment extended over a space of five acres. It is hoped that any of the members 

 that have the opportunities of obtaining living specimens would assist Mrs. Dom- 

 ville by adding to her collection. 



Dr. Farran then gave his paper on 



HELIX PISANA AND ITS LOCALITIES. 



He said, I consider a favourable opportunity occurs in presenting a few specimens 

 for the acceptance of the Society, of bringing forward a notice of the beautiful and ex- 

 tremely local shell, Helix pisana, or, as it was formerly designated, " Cingenda." 

 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 lately read in Mr. Gray's 

 edition of u Turton's Manual of Land and Fresh-water Shells of the British 

 Islands," the following observations relative to Helix pisana : — w It is one of the 

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

 Europe and Northern Africa, but is not found in the northern countries ; Wales 

 may be considered its northern limit. According to Montagu, no mean authority, 

 it is one of our most rare species ; he only found it in one place — 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 observing, u It has also been said 

 to be found near Dublin." If from fifteen to twenty miles be meant as u near 

 Dublin" I can answer, with perfect safety, that such is the case. In early life 1 

 frequently visited the strand of Knockangin, about a mile and a half north of Bal- 

 briggan, in pursuit of wild fowl, which were abundant there at certain seasons. On 

 one of these visits, fatigued with watching for the flight of the game, I sat down on 

 the grassy bank bounding the tide ; my attention was soon attracted by the appear- 

 ance 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 enthusi- 

 astic naturalist, to whom we are all indebted as giving the first impulse to natural 

 history in Dublin. Mr. Tardy subsequently brought the shell under Doctor 

 Turton's notice, and I had the pleasure, in a short time afterwards, of pointing out 

 the locality to Mr. Tardy. I regret to say, that on visiting Knockangin on Monday, 

 the 3rd of April last, I found that the cuttings of the Drogheda Railroad had com- 

 pletely obliterated the favourite locality of this shell; and where, before this occur- 

 red, I could have obtained them in any number, a couple of dozen of rather inferior 

 specimens were my only reward | however, I should say they may be procured 

 11 longo intervallo" at Laytown, Bettystown, and up to Drogheda ; those places 

 being continuous with Knockangin may be considered as one locality — and, except 

 this, we have no authentic record of any other in Ireland. The late Mr. M k Alla 

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

 nemara, but he 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, molluscas, and shells found on the southern shores of Europe. 



