94 



Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



of other species, e.g. the unbanded 

 form castanea lias a distinctly central 

 range, -svliicli coiTesponds closely with 

 that of many of the " Central" group.' 

 On tlie coast of north-west Donegal the 

 preTailing form is lihellula allolahiata 

 00345, while the common band formula 

 00300 is seldom seen. On the coast of 

 Kerry (Dingle area) the commonest 

 form met with is Jihelltda or rubella 

 00300, with a strong white line beneath 

 the third band, the Donegal formula 

 being exceptionallj" scarce. A common 

 French and Pyrenean form is 00345, 

 with a broad white line above the thiid 

 band. In Ireland this form occurs in 

 fair numbers on the island of Lanibay, 

 Dublin, and I have one example from 

 "West Donegal. The form albolabiata 

 is frequently found in all parts of the 

 country; but in some areas of the west 

 and north it quite outnumbers the 

 ordinary black-lipped form. A dis- 

 tinctly western form is citrinozonata, 

 which lives in colonies on many of the 

 sand-dunes from Clare to Vest Donegal, 

 in several stations outnumbering all 

 other forms in the centre of the colony. 

 By far the most interesting form, how- 

 ever, is that which has been referred by 

 Mr. Clessin to Helix tonnensis Sand- 

 berger, a Gennan Pleistocene species. 

 Tliis is the large form from the deposits 

 at Dog's Bay, "West Galway. Inter- 

 esting as it is to find this shell, which 

 appears to have lived in Germany during 

 Pleistocene times, turning up in these 

 deposits in the west of Ireland, the fact 

 that this same form, or a somewhat 

 similar one, still lives in this country is 



' See Praeger, TjT)es of Distribution in the 

 Irish Flora, Prnc. R.I. A., xxiv., sec. b., 35, 

 1902. 



of far greater importance. On the 

 Aran Islands and in the neighbouring 

 Burren of Clare, as well as on the 

 island of Inishmurray in Sligo, and on 

 the great cliffs of Glenade in Leitrim, 

 this is the prevailing form. Mr. Kennard 

 has sent me a specimen of HelLv 

 tonnensis from Germanv, which is almost 

 identical with some of the Inishmurray 

 shells. On the upland limestone 

 plateau to the east of Ben Bulben in 

 Sligo, there lives at an altitude of 1700 

 feet a large and rather heavy form of 

 this species, which is perhaps nearer to 

 the Dog's Bay fossil shells than any 

 other living at present. These shells 

 are completely isolated by the sur- 

 rounding peat-covered areas, and are 

 nearly all mhe/la albolabiata 00000. 

 Sliells from the deposits at Dog's Bay, 

 var. lubernica "West., sometimes weigh 

 over 100 grains, i.e. five or sis times the 

 weight of average adult examples. Near 

 Bundoran in East Donegal, large num- 

 bers of reversed and scalariform 

 specimens have been discovered. A few 

 of these have been taken alive, but the 

 great majority have been brought to 

 light by the women during the making 

 of the sliell necklaces which are sold in 

 large numbers to summer visitors. 



Helix nemoralis is known to have 

 lived in this countiy with the Arctic 

 Lemming and other animals, which 

 have long ago vanished from Ireland. 



Helix hortensis Miiller. 



This species, whicli has a peculiar dis- 

 tribution in Ireland, like that of Pyrami- 

 dula ru-pestris, Helicella virgata, and Sna 

 obscura, has a wide range over the 

 eastern and central counties, penetrat- 



