J909. PHii,r,iPvS. — Paludcsiri7ia coiiiusa, Fraiicnfdd. 1^3 



PALUDESTRINA CONFUvSA, FRAUENFKLD, 



An Addition to the Irish Fauna. 



by r. a. phii,i,ips. 



In August^ 1907, while collecting shells near New Ross 

 Co. Wexford, I found in a small tidal tributary* of the river, 

 Barrow a few specimens of a Paludestrina, or Hydrobia, 

 which at the time I was unable to identify. They were 

 subsequently included among other shells sent to Mr. W. 

 Denison Roebuck as a contribution towards the completion 

 of the Conchological Society's census. Through the Society's 

 referees they were finally submitted to Mr. E. A. Smith, of 

 the British Museum, who has made a special study of the 

 genus, and he at once identified them as Pahidestriiia confiisa, 

 Fran. This is the little brackish-water mollusk formerly 

 better known as Hydrobia similis, Drap. In Mr. L- E- 

 Adams's '' Collector's Manual" (Ed. 2, 1896), it is said to be 

 almost extinct in the lower Thames marsheSj which for many 

 years was its only known British station. Mr. A. S. Kennard, 

 however, informs me that it has lately been found at Blyth- 

 burgh and Oulton Broad in Suffolk, and at Saltfleetby in 

 Lincolnshire. 



The botanical features of the lower Thames, as described 

 by the earlier naturalists, are in many respects similar to 

 those of the Shannon — for instance, Leiicojnm crstiviivi and 

 Sdrp7is triqueter are among some rare plants characteristic 

 of both — and it struck me that a similarity in the fauna of 

 each of the tv;o rivers might also be looked for. Accordingly, 

 Dr. George Fogerty and I recently visited the Shannon l:)elow 

 Limerick and at once found P. confnsa extremely abundant 

 all over the tidal marshes and in brackish drains, its 

 associates being Paludestrina Jejikinsi^ Limncea pahistris, L. 

 h'lincaHila ^ Plano^^bis spirorbis and Succinea elegans. 



Dr. Scharff, who has kindly worked out its foreign distri- 

 bution for me, states that it occurs in France only in the 

 south, in the stagnant waters of the Rhone and generall}- 

 between the Alps and Pyrenees. It is also said to occur in 

 Sardinia, Sicily, Spain, Algeria and Morocco. Being so rare 

 in Great Britain and such a thoroughly southern species 

 elsewhere, its occurrence in Ireland is of special interest. 



Cork. 



A 2 



