1907. Welch & Stei,Fox.— Cork Con/erence.—Mollusca. 275 



conditions for fully studying the mollusca and more especially 

 the slugs, and although collecting results were comparable in 

 quantity to what would be got in favourable localities in the 

 north of England, yet probably, owing to the warmth of the 

 weather and the dryness of the ground, we did not find 

 land-shells in the immense numbers in which they undoubtedly 

 occur in some parts of Ireland, but to which abundance we 

 in England are almost strangers. 



One feature that strikes the English collector in the south 

 of Ireland is the scarcity, and almost absence of Helix rotwi- 

 dala, a species which in the north of England is ubiquitous 

 and found beneath almost every stone. 



The total absence of Clausilioe, except for the occasional 

 occurrence of C. bide?itata, was also very noticeable, while the 

 abundance of Hyalinia excavaia among luxuriant undergrowth 

 in company with other woodland species, was to us very 

 remarkable, as in Yorkshire it is almost confined to barren 

 and inhospitable ground, mostly on the Coal-measures, and 

 usually only with Hyalinia alliaria and Helix rotundata as 

 companions. 



That the district examined during the Conference is a com- 

 paratively primitive one, as regards its molluscan fauna, was 

 shown by the presence at Aghada of a fine adult Arion ater 

 which distinctly and clearly retained the juvenile or primitive 

 character of dark lateral banding on the body, a feature which, 

 moreover, is comparatively common in Ireland, and also to an 

 extent characteristic of the species in the Iberic peninsula. 



This distinction is strengthened by the great abundance on 

 the rocky slopes at Eough Allua of the var. fuliginosa of 

 Avion subfusais, a. form first described as Portuguese, and 

 which has also been very appropriately dedicated to the 

 enthusiastic naturalist Mr. R. A. Phillips of Cork. 



These somewhat primitive elements in the fauna were still 

 further emphasized by the capture in the fir wood at the same 

 place by Mr. Roebuck of a fine adult example of Limax ci?iereo- 

 ?iiger var. vera, which is the very first Irish record of this 

 form, and only the second instance of its occurrence in the 

 whole of the British Isles. 



Several Milaces, which were found during the Conference 

 gathering, offered field for discussion as to their specific 



