oOO MOLLUSCA. 



Genus VERTIGO. 



V. edentula, Alder. 



This species is found from North to South of Ireland. Since Septem- 

 ber, 1832, I have met -svith it in numerous localities throughout the Coun- 

 ties of Down and Antrim, at the glen of the Downs in Wicklow, and in 

 shell-sand from Portmarnock (County Dublin), Annahoe, (County Ty- 

 rone), and near Finnoe, (County Tipperary), Mr. E. Waller — La Bergerie, 

 Queen's County, jSIrs. Patterson (of Belfast) — neighbourhood of Cork, 

 Kev. T. Hincks. The typical form of V. edentula 1 generally find under 

 stones ; the elongated and cylindrical variety in woods — in autumn and 

 winter this latter is most readily obtained on the fallen leaves of trees ; in 

 summer, on the under side of the fronds of ferns {Aspiclii, &:c.), the shell and 

 plant, though the naturalist only will perceive the former, being in beauty 

 equally attractive. The elongate variety has seven, and occasionally even 

 eight, volutions, and attains the length of 1^ line ; when of this size, the ani- 

 mal, so very minute relatively to the shell, has a grotesque appearance when 

 bearing this along, which is carried singularly erect, not more out of the 

 perpendicular than the leaning tower of Pisa ! This variety, judging I'rom 

 description and figures, is perha2:)s the Pujui itiornata, Michaud, Comp. p. 

 63, pi. 15, f. 31, 32, apparently difi'ering from it only in size- — it is de- 

 scribed to be 2 lines in length ; my largest specimen is 1^ line, but 

 this discrepancy is not greater than might be anticipated between indi- 

 viduals obtained in the North of Ireland and at Lyons, where the P. m- 

 oriiafd was discovered. I at first thought this var. might be Ptqja musco- 

 rum, Drap. (Phil. Mag. 1834, p. 300), but specimens of this shell from 

 Montpellier, since sent me by M. Michaud, prove that it is not so — these 

 are identical with examples of Pupa cylindrica, which I have collected 

 at Salisbury Craigs, near Edinburgh, a locality in which this rare species 

 was discovered by Prof. E. Forbes. 



V. fyijmcea, Fer. 



This is the most widely distributed species of Verti(]o over Ireland 

 occurring throughout the country. It is generally found but sparingly 

 where it does prevail, and is most easily procured under stones, both in 

 cby and wet situations, from the sea-shore to a high elevation in the 

 mountains. The usual number of teeth is four, of which one is central 

 on the upper or body portion.^ — On a sea-bank, Belfast Bay, I once met 

 with a Vertigo resembling the ordinary V. pyymaa in every respect, but 

 with the addition of a tubercle, about the size of one of the teeth, placed 

 outside the mouth and near the junction of the outer lip with the body 

 volution. Animal dai-k lead colour, or rather blackish-grey above, disk 

 blackish-grey anteriorly, becoming suddenly paler, so as to be nearly 

 white at the opposite extremity. 



V. suhstriata, Alder. 



This species, though rare, has a wide distribution in Ireland. In the 

 glen at HolyMood House (County Down), I obtained specimens in 1832, 

 and subsequently in shell-sand from Portmarnock (County Dublin). Dr. 

 W. H. Harvey gives as habitats " Miltown Malbay, and near Limerick — 

 rare at Ballitore (County Kildare)." In the neighbourhood of Ballantrae, 

 Ayrshire, this J^ertiyo has occurred to me. Reference alone to Montagu's 

 specimens would seem to prove whether his Turbo sexdentata, p. 337, be 

 this species, as his description is partly applicable to this (in number of 



