Freshwater Mollusca of Ireland. 27 
hardly differs more from the ordinary state of H. hispida than the 
specimens of it common to the North of Ireland do, and which are 
considered by Mr. Alder and M. Michaud only varieties of the spe- 
cies bearing this name. I cannot look upon it otherwise than as a 
var. of H. hispida. 
13. Helix hispida, Mull. Gray, Man. p. 154.* pl. 4. f. 41; Turt. 
Man. p. 57. f. 41. 
This species is generally distributed over Ireland. It is one of the 
most common land shells in the North, and may be found under 
stones, fallen trees, decaying leaves, &c. from the sea-shore to the 
most elevated chalk districts, and both in moist and very dry situ- 
ations. It is most variable in colour; from beneath the same stone 
I have procured specimens varying from a crystalline transparency 
to dark reddish brown, and in these differences the animal partici- 
pates with the shell ; like H.rufescens, Mont. and some other species, it 
‘occasionally presents a white band on the last volution; in the very 
youngest state this species is hispid, and quite depressed or flat 
above. The internal rib, in what to distinguish it from H. con-. 
cinna, may be called the normal state of H. hispida, which I find in 
the North is generally wanting ; on supplying Mr. Alder with spe- 
cimens of these in April 1836, he observed that they were the most 
strongly marked varieties he had seen; and about the same time, 
M. Michaud, in acknowledging specimens I had sent him, remarked 
upon them as a very fine variety of H. hispida. ‘The shells thus al- 
-Juded to are of the most common form in the North of Ireland; and 
are larger, more depressed, and with the umbilicus comparatively 
wider than in specimens which I have found in various parts of En- 
gland and Scotland, and which are similar to those that under the 
name of H. hispida have been sent me from Newcastle by Mr. Alder 
and from Lorraine} by M. Michaud ; specimens the same as the En- 
glish and French are likewise to be met with in the North of Ire- 
land, but are rare comparatively with the others. 
Norre.—Sept. 17, 1837. On looking to the animals of full-grown 
specimens of this Helix collected at Wolfhill near Belfast, I could 
not perceive any difference between the inhabitants of the very his- 
pid shells wanting the internal rib, and those having the rib and dis- 
playing very few hairs—the animals are commonly pale grey above 
and whitish beneath ; in the very hispid shells they varied from this 
colour to black. 
14. Helix concinna, Jeff. Gray, Man. p. 154. pl. 12. f. 135. 
The shell alluded to under this name is that described by Mr. 
Alder, as ‘‘ stronger, and with the hairs more deciduous than the 
usual form [of H. hispida], Mag. Zool. and Bot. vol. ii. 107, and 
which I would add is generally more convex, and has an internal rib, 
* The four wood-cuts in this page are very characteristic. 
at The specimens, eight in number, from this locality, want the internal 
rib. 
