242 The Irish Naturalist. November, 



The shore of Lough Ree near Saint's Island, was disappointing, owing 

 to the height of the water in the lake, but Arion hortensis. Helix virgata^ 

 Physa fontinalis, Pianorbis marginatum in drains, P. carinatus dead on lake 

 shore, Valvafa cristata, Pythinia tentaculata and a Pisidiuiii were observed 

 for the first time during the day. In the ruined church on the island 

 or rather peninsula, the Helices showed signs of being particularly fine 

 but it being a late season they were still hibernating and required 

 (liggi"g out. The fresh-water list having so far been very meagre, I 

 pushed on towards Ballymahon, striking the Royal Canal at Pake's 

 Bridge near that place. As it was getting late in the day, and I was still 

 twenty-three miles from home, I could only spare time for a rapid 

 survey of the canal, which gave promise of being exceptionally rich in 

 molluscan life, as the following list will ^\iO\i -.—Snccinea elegans, Amphipe- 

 plea glutinosa, Limniea peregra, L, stagualis, L. palitstris, L. truncatula, Physa 

 fontinaiiSt Pianorbis carinatus, P. contort us, P. vortex, P. fontanus^ Valvata 

 piscinaliSf V. iristata, Pythinia tentaculata^ Neritina Jluviatilis, Sphcerium 

 corneum, Pisidium amnicuvi, and other species of the same genus. Amphi- 

 peplea was particularly common on the submerged stonework of the 

 bridge, with Neritina fluviatilis, a most interesting association. New 

 records for the day were Hyalinia pura and H. crystallina, both living on 

 the edge of the canal. 



Belfast. A. W. vSte;i,fox. 



Is Hyalinia helvetica, Blum, found in Ireland ? 



The above question put by Mr. A. VV. Stelfox in last mouth's Irish 

 Naturalist raises a point to which for some time past I have been giving 

 some attention. The shells referred to in my note in the Irish 

 Naturalist of February, 1894, which were sent by Dr. ScharfF along with 

 some of his from Bantry to the continental authorities, named and iden- 

 tified by them as H. helvetica, were not returned, and though I collected 

 in the same district on several subsequent occasions I could not procure 

 similar ones. It was not until within the past year or two that, on 

 receiving several sets of iY. //d'/wZ/Va from various English localities, my 

 attention was again drawn to the subject, and I collected specimens of 

 the genus in most of the southern Irish counties, but failed to find any 

 that I could identify with the English shells, though some from Kilrush, 

 Co Clare, superficially resembled them and diflfered so much from 

 tj'pical H. cellaria as to lead Mr. A. S. Kennard to describe them as a new 

 species under the name of Vitrea Scharffi. {Proceedings oj the Malacological 

 Society, vol. viii., p. 50). 



Towards the close of last year, after some correspondence with Mr. 

 Stelfox, he sent me for examination a very large series of Hyaliniae, com- 

 prising sets collected by himself and Mr. R. Welch in numerous northern, 

 and western localities, but //. helvetica was not among them. Early this 

 year, through the kindness of Dr. Scharif, Mr. Stelfox and I together 

 examined all the Irish specimens of the group in the National Museum, 



