May, 19 1 8. The Irish Naturalist. 69 



IRISH FOSSIL MOLLUSKS. 



BY R. LLOYD PRAEGER. 



A VERY valuable paperl dealing with the post-Pliocene Land 

 and Fresh-water Mollusca of Ireland, which has been in 

 preparation for many years, has recently been published by 

 Messrs. Kennard and Woodward. As the subject has a 

 direct bearing on both faunistic and floristic studies in this 

 country, some account of its nature and scope may be 

 acceptable to readers of the Irish Naturalist, especially since 

 the Journal in which it appears is not readily accessible to 

 many Irish workers. 



This paper is without question one of the most important 

 contributions to our knowledge of the Irish non-marine 

 Mollusca which has as yet appeared. While it represents to 

 a great extent pioneer work, on account of the present 

 incompleteness of the study of the smaller fossils 

 of recent deposits, particularly in Ireland, it contains 

 at the same time a great body of detailed informa- 

 tion, and forms a wide foundation on which further 

 study can be based. The authors have wisely recognised 

 its preliminary nature, and have avoided to a great extent 

 hazardous generalizations based on the present materials ; 

 the major part of the paper is taken up with detailed records 

 of sections and of their contained fossils. It should be 

 noted at once that the responsibility of the authors stops 

 with the determination of material which was sent to them, 

 and with a discussion of the origin of the Irish non-marine 

 molluscan fauna ; neither of the authors claims to have 

 studied the Irish fauna, either living or extinct, on the 

 ground. For the material, both geological and zoological, 

 on which the paper is based they acknowledge their in- 

 debtedness to a large number of collectors ; it may be said 

 without injustice to the rest that for the description of 

 sections and the collection of the fossil fauna Mr. Welch is 

 mainlv resoonsible, as are Mr. Phillips and Mr. Stelfox for 



^ A. S. Kennard and B. B. Woodward : The Post-Pliocene Non- 

 marine Mollusca of Ireland. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 

 vol. XXVIII., pp. 109-190, 191 7. 



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