48 The 1) ish Naturalist. [February, 



Vertigo antivcrtlgo In Ireland. 



The current number oi \X\^ Journal of Coiichology contains a note by Mr. 

 Welch recording the occurrence of a large colony of this little shell in 

 rushy ground, near Shaw's Bridge, Belfast. Mr. Welch obtained 400 

 specimens with ver_y little difficulty, by cutting off bunches of stems of 

 the rushes that abounded, and shaking them over a newspaper. 



Amphipeplea glutfnosa, lYIuIler, in Ireland. 



In 1871 the late Charles Ashford, a well-known English conchologist, 

 recorded in Science Gossip the finding of this very rare freshwater shell in 

 the River Brosna, King's Co., and in W\Q.Joiirn. of Conchology for 1879 its oc- 

 currence in the Newry Canal, Co. Down, M'here only two specimens were 

 obtained, though it was plentiful in the first localitj' named. Since then Dr. 

 Scharff informs me that Mr. Farran obtained one dead specimen on the 

 shores of Lake Derevaragh, Co. Westmeath, and on looking over some 

 shells Mr. W. F. de V. Kane collected lately in Lough Arrow, on the 

 borders of the Counties Sligo and Roscommon, I find a half grown 

 specimen. 



To these records I am now able to add another. Mr. Wm. Green, of 

 Belfast, who has lately taken up the study of mollusca, discovered three 

 specimens in two drains on the edge of the Bann River, North of Porta- 

 down, Co. Armagh, on December 25th last. Theywere living among dead 

 Duckweed and plant debris on the surface of the water. Some of the 

 shells were almost full-grown, and were kept alive for some days in 

 order to examine the way in which the expansion of the mantle covers 

 the shell Jeffreys, Adams, and other writers state that though very 

 local it is sometimes abundant. Though not quite such a local species 

 QiS, Linnuva involiita, Aiuphipcplea glntinosa must be considered as one of our 

 rarest freshwater shells, and both Mr. Green and Mr. Kane are to be 

 congratulated in adding a new locality to those alread}- known. 



Belfast. R. WEI.CH. 



FISHES, 



Blue Sharks in Killala Bay. 



One day towards the end of October as Captain Kirkwood was walking 

 along the sands at the western end of Bartragh, he found a large Blue 

 Shark {Sc/ac/w maxima) thrown up by the surf at high water mark ; the 

 fish was dead, but quite fresh, and was one of the largest I have heard of 

 on the Irish coast, measuring between nine and ten feet in length. 

 .Another specimen of this species of shark was taken in the estuary 

 (about the 22nd November) by two persons who were out shooting wild 

 fowl ; as they were passing between the islands they heard a splashing 

 some distance astern, and rowing to the place from where the noise 

 proceeded, they found the fish floundering about in the shallow water 

 where it was aground. Having shot it, they took it into their boat with 

 some difficulty, as it was about eight feet in length, and very heavy. 



Robert Warren. 



Moyview, Ballina. 



