172 



THE NON-MARINE MOLLUSCA OF TOURAINE. 



By F. II. SIKES, M.A., F.L.S. 



(Read before the Society, February i2th| 1913). 



I HAVE considerable compunction in offering a plain and almost 

 unvarnished catalogue of the Non-marine Mollusca that I recently 

 took in various Departments of Central France, to wit — Loiret, Loir 

 et Cher, Indre et Loire, Indre, Eure et Loir and Eure. 



For it is impossible to invest a record of this kind with much more 

 literary interest than is possessed by Bradshaw's Guide, and were it 

 not for the fact that five of these Departments had, according to Mr. 

 J. W. Taylor, hitherto almost entirely escaped the notice of con- 

 chologists (which is a matter for wonder, since they include the 

 greater part of the celebrated Chateaux) I should not think of offering 

 my results to i\\& Journal. 



Possibly, however, since the district cannot long evade the collector's 

 eagle eye and dextrous scoop, it might be well to put the numerous 

 records in evidence, so that such small credit as may result from the 

 work may be attached to the British Society. 



The April weather (19 12) did not come up to its reputation, and, 

 as is usual in all my expeditions in search of shells, was uniformly 

 fine, but, as I have another string to my bow in the shape of painting, 

 I am able to bear with equanimity any dispensation of the weather 

 bureau ; still, the fineness materially affected the appearance of the 

 land species, and I had to fall back (in one case literally) on the 

 denizens of pond and river. 



One, as I take it, tour de force was accomplished, and that was the 

 finding of all the Limnceidcz (except, of course, L. involiita) together 

 with Afiiphipeplea ghifinosa in the space of ten yards, one or two 

 members of that fraternity being, so far as my experience goes, always 

 absent. On one side of the road, in a mill-stream near the R. Indre, 

 were L. stagnalis, L. pereger, L. auricidaria, and A. ghitinosa, and in 

 a ditch on the other side L. palustris, L. truncattda and Z. glabra 

 obligingly put in an appearance. 



The place was Glion in the Department of Indre, and here I found 

 34 species. 



I might add that Z. glabra seems fairly common in France, at any 

 rate I have found it in three very different provinces, and always in 

 narrow ditches. In Jersey, however, it was found by me once in a 

 large pond and once in a running stream. 



