May, 1908. Thehish Nahiralist, 89 



VKRTIGO MOULINSIANA, DUPUY. 



An Addition to the Irish Fat^na. 



BY R. A. PHILLIPS. 



(Pirate 3.) 



This rare and interesting little molkisk, apparently through 

 confusion arising from a similarit}^ in its shape and dentition 

 to those of V, Liiljebo7gi, has on previous occasions been re- 

 corded as occurring in Ireland. Thus, a shell found b}^ Dr. 

 J. G. Jeffrey's in 1845, at Ball3'nahinchj Co. Galwa}^ was 

 named b}^ him F. motilinsiana {British Conchology^ vol. i., 

 p. 255), this name being afterwards corrected to V. Lilljeborgi^ 

 West. {A^inals a7id Magazine of Nat, Hist., 1878, p. 380) It 

 was also included by Dr. Scharff in his list of '* Irish Land 

 and Fresh-water Mollusca" (/.A^., 1892, p. 136), he, at that 

 time, looking on V. Lilljebo7oi as a variety of V. vioulinsiana^ 

 a view taken also by some recent British authors, and by the 

 compilers of the Conchological Society's census. The re- 

 discovery of V. Lilljeborgi at Ballynahinch by Messrs, Chaster 

 and Tomlin in 1902 settled all doubt as to what the shell 

 found by Jeffreys really was, and careful comparison of the 

 specimens then obtained with F. 7}ioiilinsiana showed that 

 the two are quite distinct. As a result of this discovery, Dr. 

 Scharff withdrew the latter species from the Irish list, saying 

 in a note on the article announcing it (/A^., 1903, p. 14) : — 

 '' When I wrote my paper in the Irish N'aturalist, vol. I., on 

 the ' Irish Land and Fresh-water Mollusca,' I had not seen a 

 specimen of V. Lilljeborgi^ and a shell I took on the Aran 

 Islands seemed to me to agree more closely with the descrip- 

 tion of V. motdijisiana, but as my onh' specimen has unfor- 

 tunately been lost, I cannot now compare it in the light of 

 more recent researches. Possibly both species may occur on 

 the west coast of Ireland, but until a specimen of V. niouliii' 

 siana is forthcoming it would be better to omit it from the 

 Irish list." 



Under these circumstances, I have now much pleasure in 

 definitely recording V. 771021 lin siana ^ Dupuy, as a member of 

 the Irish fauna, having, early in October last, discovered 



A 



