307 

 VERTIGO HELDI IN IRELAND. 



By J. R. LE BROCKTON TOMLIN, M.A. 



(Read before the Society, Jan. 14th, igo^). 



In September, 1901, in company with Messrs. Chaster, Standen, 

 Stelfox and Welch, I collected a living specimen of Vertigo near 

 Ballintoy, Co. Antrim, which at the time was very doubtfully referred 

 to an elongate variety of V. pyg??icea or V. alpestris — its colour and 

 texture suggesting the former, its cylindrical form the latter species. 



Dr. Scharfif, who kindly examined the specimen, identified it as 

 a form of V alpestris resembling V. heldi Clessin. This opinion is 

 confirmed by Dr. Boettger of Frankfurt-am-Main, after careful com- 

 parison with a specimen received from Clessin; and he also prefers 

 to range V. heldi as a subspecies under V. alpestris. Clessin's 

 description of V. heldi^ is as follows: — "Shell rimate, turreted, irregu- 

 larly and very finely striate, reddish-brown, glossy; whorls six, slowly 

 increasing, somewhat arched; the first three form the blunt apex of 

 the shell, the last three are almost identical in height, and form the 

 remaining cylindrical portion ; the last whorl is neither swollen nor 

 contracted before the mouth; mouth about one-fourth of the length 

 of the shell, somewhat compressed on the outer side, in such a way 

 that the compressed part is prolonged for a short distance over the 

 last whorl in the form of a deep channel; teeth very small, reddish, 

 deeply inserted — one parietal, one columellar, two palatals very small 

 and sometimes absent; periphery continuous, only slightly thickened. 

 Length 2 "5 mm., breadth V2 mm. Habitat— Hitherto only found 

 dead in the rejectamenta of the rivers Danube and Jagst, 



This species is well marked by its size, colouring and shape, and, 

 though it recalls V. pygmcea in dentition, is very strikingly distinct 

 from that species in every other respect." 



Westerlund^ very rightly takes exception to the word 'turreted' in 

 the above description and emends it to 'cylindrical.' The form appears 

 to be very rare on the continent, and I can only ascertain four 

 localities, all in Germany, viz. : — Regensburg and Giinzburg on the 

 Danube, Schonthal on the Jagst, and Neckarthailfingen on the Neckar 

 (Goldfuss). No doubt its true habitat is an Alpine one. Its range 

 would be appreciably extended if Clessin is correct in placing V. 

 haeussleri Sterki,^ from Brugg, in Switzerland, as a synonym of his 

 V. heldi. Westerlund {I.e.), however, from the figures thinks the two 

 species distinct. 



1 Nachr.-Bl. Mai. Ges., 1877, p. 49, and "Deutsche Exk. -Fauna, "ed. 2, p. 266. 



2 "Binnenconch.," ili;, 133. 



3 Nachr.-BL Mai. Ges., 1883, p. 72. 



