MILNE: CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARDS IRISH MOLLUSCA. 417 



H. nemoralis is, I take it, dying out — though only ui Achill — 

 for there is no question as to its extinction on the central 

 limestone plain ; but towards the west it gradually thins 

 out; and in Achill it only occurs in a few heaps of stones on 

 Ship Point, whereas formerly, the deposits show it to have 

 been extended all over the warren to Dugort, and again to 

 have been plentiful on the shell-mounds of Keel. None, 

 by the way, of the shells of H. nemoralis in the mounds 

 bear traces of cooking, as do those of the marine species ; 

 they seem rather to have got mixed up in the debris and 

 covered with sand ; and so the Achill natives now regard 

 the use of snails as food with disgust. The band-formula 

 of all the Ship Point specimens was much the same— all 

 five bands being present, and the first three more or less 

 coalescing — this prevalence of a single type being possibly 

 another evidence of gradual extinction. The living shells 

 are noticeably smaller than the sub-fossil ones. One 

 specimen of 



H. hortensis occurred with the H. neniordlis^ with a similar 

 band-formula. 



H. rufescens is found at the Colony, in the gardens and on 

 the walls, and with it its van alba. This is also, I think, 

 a spreading species, as it does not occur in the deposits, 

 while its centre at the Colony seems to be in the gardens, 

 where it may well have been introduced at the founding of 

 the Colony fifty years ago. The next species, 



H. ericetorum, seems to have reached the limits of its territory, 

 being extended all over the sandy flats of the warren and 

 Keel Common ; it also occurs in some of the deposits. The 

 usual form is a small, dark Oiie, the size of which is that of 

 var. minor, though in some respects it would suit Jeffreys' 

 var. instabilis, which seems distinctively western in its 

 distribution. A small colony under Dugort village among 

 the boulders on the cliff belonged to var. alba; the 

 reason of the variation being abundantly manifest in their 



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