^Ije girt^lj llaturalt^t. 



VOLUME VI. 



THE LAND MOLLUSCA OF BALLYCASTLE AND 



DIwSTRICT, CO. ANTRIM. 



BY ROBERT STANDEN. 



(Read before the Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland? 



loth December, 1S96.) 



Early in the month of September last I visited Ballycastle, 

 Co. Antrim, in company with Dr. G. W. Chaster and Mr. J. 

 Ray Hard}^ and we were there joined by Mr. R. Welch, whose 

 recommendation had induced us to choose this place as the 

 scene of our investigations ; and to his hearty co-operation 

 and prior knowledge of the district we are indebted for no 

 small portion of the success and pleasure attending our trip. 

 The Antrim Arms Hotel was chosen as our headquarters, and 

 I would strongly advise any naturalists, who may feel in- 

 clined to follow our footsteps, to put up at this comfortable 

 old hostelry — which is just " home" — where they w411 find the 

 genial host and hostess, Mr. and Mrs. Hunter, most kindly 

 disposed to wink at the various "messes" inseparable from 

 the cleaning and preliminary preservation of specimens, and 

 other operations of the naturalist, which my brother-collectors 

 must know the difficulty of carr>dng out at an ordinary hotel. 

 Our chief object was to obtain as full and complete a 

 knowledge as possible of the molluscan fauna of the 

 district, both marine and non-marine, and during our 

 week's stay most of our time, when not engaged in marine 

 work, was devoted to searching the surrounding country for 

 land-shells. By using a car to convey us quickly to any 

 desired point, and then working across country to another 

 point where our car caught us up, we were enabled to get 

 over a considerable extent of ground during a day, and, 

 altogether, we worked about sixteen miles of the coastline 

 and intervening ground pretty thoroughly. Our researches 

 extended on the one hand over the magnificent promontory of 



A 



