258 THE DISPERSAL OF SHELLS. 



the single dead-shell referred to. He had picked up the 

 specimen while collecting mosses on the Newcastle 

 sandhills, but only discovered it (at the roots of a tuft of 

 a Hypnuni) when he proceeded to examine the con- 

 tents of his vasculum, at Belfast, in the evening; subse- 

 quent searches on the same sandhills had proved un- 

 successful, and therefore he did not regard the species 

 as British, and was of opinion that its name ought to be 

 excluded from our lists. It was improbable, he thought, 

 that the specimen had been imported with ballast, for 

 there were no ballast-heaps about the little port, and 

 the shell was found a long way from the quay ; but, as 

 he added, *^ Newcastle is one of the most popular 

 watering places in the North of Ireland, and it is no un- 

 usual occurrence for people to stop there for a time who 

 have also been at watering places on the continent. 

 Shell collecting is one of the amusements of such resorts, 

 and it is quite likely that some person, having foreign 

 shells, dropped the specimen about which I write." ^ 



BULIMUS EXILIS Gmel. A dead shell of this animal, 

 a West Indian species, found on the shores of Lough 

 Carra, county Mayo, Ireland, was recently exhibited at 

 the Conchological Society on behalf of Miss Warren." 

 The specimen was gathered by one of her friends 

 from amongst quantities of dead shells cast up on 

 the shores, and its presence in such a locality is 

 certainly surprising, especially as Carra is an inland 



^ J. G. Jeffreys, "Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist.," (4), vi. (1870), pp. 

 423-4 ; S. A. Stewart, " Science Gossip," xix. (1883), p. 159. 

 » Proc. Conch. Soc. " Journ. of Conch.," vi. (1891), p. 387. 



