66 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



first stratum and seven in the second. Nevertheless, not one of the latter is 

 without suspicion of a surface intrusion. Foxes and Babbits have burrowed 

 here and there into the lower stratum ; and all of the deposits where Frog 

 bones were found had been disturbed, and contained bones of rabbits or 

 domestic animals. Although I believe the Frog to have been an inhabitant 

 of the country when these caves were used as the dwellings of wild animals, 

 the contents of the caves do not confirm this theory. 



Fish Remains. 



A few vertebrae and teeth of fishes could not be determined with 

 certainty. They may possibly be those of trout brought into the cave by 

 birds of prey. 



MOLLUBKS. 



The cave deposits contained only two species of Land Shells, and one of 

 these, viz., Helta otpersa, was clearly a comparatively modern intruder. The 

 t\\" M'. Husks were Hel\ a and Helix tiemoralis, both of them still 



Living and common all over Ireland. 



Some of the specimens of Helix Tiemoralis were in surface deposits, but a 

 shell in which even the bands were plainly visible (M.D. 185) was found 

 under an unbroken stalagmite floor, and deeply embedded in it along with 

 bom-* ■■:' Mammoth and Reindeer. Hence, it is evident that Helix aemoralis 

 is an ancient inhabitant of Ireland, co-existing in the country with Mammals 

 : net. 



Bel r ' and its near relation, Helix hortensis, are "Western 



European in range and have probably crept northward from a southern centre 

 of distribution. Of the two species, Helix hortensis has much the widest 

 distribution, for it occurs not only all over continental Western Europe, but 

 in the British islands, the Faroes, Iceland, Greenland, and north-eastern North 

 America. We may suppose, therefore, that it originated before Helix 

 turn ad yet, as far as we are able to ascertain from the appearance of 



the shell, only the latter has so far been detected in a fossil condition in 

 Ireland. 



