ScHARFF — On the Origin of the Euro2)ean Fauna. 435 



operculate land-shell {Acme lineata) lives permanently underground, 

 and is therefore less liable to accidental transportal than other species. 



Owing to the facility with which the rabbit was successfully in- 

 troduced into Australia, and to the fact that many European weeds 

 flourish far away from their native land after having been accident- 

 ally transported, perhaps with ballast, we get quite an exaggerated 

 idea of the facility of artificial introductions of both plants and 

 animals. 



It is fully admitted that many animals and plants are easily 

 transported to new countries by accidental means or voluntarily by 

 man, but, in most cases, they have not been able to retain a per- 

 manent footing in their newly-adopted home. There are innumerable 

 instances on record of species having been planted on spots where 

 they did not previously exist, and the introducers claim that it is 

 highly interesting to watch their progress. In the great majority of 

 cases we find that, fortunately, these species utterly vanish after a 

 few years. 



Sportsmen have for many years tried to permanently establish the 

 English hare, Lepus euroj^aeus, in Ireland. Lord Powerscourt tells me 

 that he imported a number of them thirty years ago, and that they at 

 first increased, but that latterly they have decreased considerably. 

 They have never spread during all this time, but remained in close 

 proximity to the house where they were originally turned out. From 

 Southern Sweden we hear of similar experiences. Now it cannot be 

 said that a species which thrives so well in England from north to 

 south, could not stand the Irish climate, or that of Southern Sweden, 

 which is not unlike that of Northern Germany, where this hare is 

 common. It is, therefore, manifest that the difficulty of establishing 

 the English hare permanently in these countries is altogether uncon- 

 nected with climate or food. I shall refer to this subject more fully 

 later on when dealing with the Irish hare. 



Attempts have frequently been made to acclimatise snakes in Ire- 

 land, but the experiment has always failed. Even the Natterjack 

 toad {Bufo calamita), which is common about Dingle Bay on the west 

 coast of Ireland, has been imported in large numbers to Dublin, with 

 a view to establishing it in such suitable localities as the Phoenix 

 Park. Not a trace, however, lemained of it a few years after the 

 introduction. 



These few instances will suffice to show that it is by no means so 

 easy as it is generally supposed, to establish an animal in an area 

 which it was previously not known to inhabit, and that really only 



