COLLIER : EXCURSION TO THE WEST OF IRELAND. 45 
Besides the above, I got the following :— 
Var. coalita Moq.-—-Common. 
Var. punctella Moq.—Fairly common: 
Var. petiveria Moq.—Three specimens. 
Var. albescens Moq.—Two specimens. One with a white 
mouth, the other with a black mouth. 
Var. luteolabiata Ckll.—One specimen, of a uniform yellow 
colour with a brilliant yellow mouth. 
Var. tenuis Ckll.—Four specimens, extremely thin, and all 
different in colour. 
A good many of the shells were rather thin, not only of 
this species, but also of H. asfervsa and ZH. zfa/a, and one (var. 
tenuis) extremely thin ; and this I account for in the following 
way :—Although this is a purely limestone district, and there- 
fore presumably suitable for snails with good thick shells, I 
found by observation and enquiry that nearly all the little 
meadows and orchards had been made by filling up the cracks 
in the limestone pavement, and then covering it over to a 
considerable depth with soil, brought from a_ distance, 
taken from underneath the peat when this had been removed. 
It is a well-known fact that snails do not thrive on bogs or in 
boggy places, and although on the limestone, the plants these 
snails lived on grew most on rich loamy or peaty soil. 
Helix rufescens Penn.—-A few only. 
H. itala .—In thousands, if not in millions. This is certainly 
the commonest shell in County Clare. By the roadside on 
walls, climbing rocks, on bushes, in the orchards and 
meadows, they were to be found by thousands. In one 
little meadow, in which were two of the small stacks they 
make in this part of the country, I could rake them off by 
hundreds at a time. There were a good many Z&. aspersa 
on the stacks and occasionally a few H. xemoralis. © 
H. itala L. var. alba Charp.—A few with the type, 
