166 Alfred Bell — Molluscan Dejiosits of Wexford, etc. 



in a paper on some fossiliferous gravels at Worden Hall, Leyland, 

 5 miles south of Preston, Lancashire, in which he says " the 

 assemblage of species as a whole most nearly represents that of the 

 Wexford gravels, of which it may not be too wild to consider this 

 deposit a Lancashire representation ". Five or six years afterwards 

 when Miss H. Ffarington, the original collector of the shells referred 

 to, had largely augmented Mr. Darbishire's list of forty-three species, 

 I had the pleasure of examining her collection, and was able to 

 identify ninety species in it, which were afterwards recorded in 

 a privately printed catalogue. Of these Trophon Fabricii, Neptunea 

 contraria, and Volumitra groenlandica seem to connect the Worden 

 deposit with that of Wexford and Manxland ; but otherwise the fauna 

 identifies itself more closely with that of the drifts of Ballybrack 

 Bay, co. Dublin. 



Below I have given three lists of the Mollusca found in Wexford and 

 North Manxland that appear distinctive, the first containing the 

 names of forty-one species, presumably Pliocene, not known to be 

 living, the second of six species confined to seas south of Great 

 Britain, and the third of thirty-three exclusively northern types. 

 Of the total number of eighty species recorded, it may be said at 

 once that only twelve (indicated in the lists by * and t ) occur in 

 any fossiliferous Pleistocene deposit elsewhere in Ireland, Wales, 

 Lancashire, or North- West England, and these are all well-known 

 living shells, the forms being absolutely strangers to any of these 

 localities. The difference in the two faunal groups might be still 

 further enlarged if species still living in adjacent waters were 

 considered. Of the 104 shells collected in the Wexford-Manxland 

 drifts only seventy-four species have been recorded from all the other 

 Pleistocene horizons, the latter also yielding a number of species not 

 yet known to the Wexford-Manx fauna. 



Although the fossils of Wexford and the Isle of Man are not quite 

 identical in species, it will be seen from the lists that they are of the 

 same general character, and this resemblance is, I think, of more 

 importance than their differences in details, differences that may be 

 expected to disappear as the faunas of the two areas become better 

 known. Crag workers know by experience that two sections of 

 similar age in the same neighbourhood often vary considerably in 

 their contents. On the other hand, the fossils of the high-level drifts 

 and the shelly clays offer a striking contrast. Of the 140 or so species 

 recorded in them not more than 24 or 25 are exotic, and these are 

 chiefly northern. All the rest still live in the adjacent seas, and vary 

 in their condition, preservation, and distribution. 



The following analysis of the foregoing lists may be of interest as 

 showing the distribution and range of the Wexford-Manx fauna in 

 the separate areas. 



Pliocene or not known living 

 Eecent, but not British, Southern 

 , , , , Northern 



Still living in British waters 



Total . 106 146 species in each area. 



