19C6-1907.] 515 



possible collecting grounds were the sandy strip a quarter of a 

 mile long north of the harbour, and some rocky shores with 

 rock pools south of it. In the four days collecting here about 

 sixty species of the larger and commoner species were found, 

 the balance, mostly the tiny species, were found in shell-sand 

 and seaweed siftings. Six of the species were Nudibranchs (or" 

 sea slugs), one of them new to the east coast fauna. The shell 

 sand proved very rich. Mr. Colgan, who' examined it, found 

 77 species, a larger number than has been found in shell sand 

 on any part of the mainland coast of Dublin. The 117 species 

 are equal to* the number yielded by the famous Velvet Strand at 

 Portmarnock, one of the best-known shell strands in the 

 British islands, and twenty-three species over the number 

 hitherto obtained on the Dublin coast at Rush, opposite the 

 island, where there are m,any excellent collecting grounds. A 

 little dredging was done in four fathoms off Saltpan Bay, and 

 in two fathoms off the harbour, but this only yielded four 

 species not found in the shore collecting. Among these was 

 the leg-of-mutton shell, Aporrhais, so common in gravelly rock- 

 pockets at Bangor, but so very rare on some coastg. As even 

 the famous Dog's Bay shell-sand finds, added to those from 

 the shore-collecting there and on Arran Island in 1895, give 

 us 112 species only as compared with the 117 species of 

 Lambay, the latter must be considered a specially good list for 

 the east coast, even if it was collected from a much larger area 

 than was_the case. Lambay cannot be considered an ideal 

 habitation for land mollusca, still less so for the freshwater 

 species. There is too little permanent moist shelter for the 

 one, and ponds and streams for the other are almost absent. 

 The lower ground on the western side of the island provides 

 the main habitats, the higher eastern slopes being for weeks at 

 a time as dry as a. dusty road. The few little remnants of the 

 ancient native scrub or forest growth are mainly some old and 

 stunted elder trees, and the deer sheltering under them at night 

 render them unsuitable habitats. We did not even find a tree 

 slug on them. The species that might be called woodland 

 species are compelled to take shelter in stone heaps, old field 

 dykes, and in the moist rocky debris of the talus under the 

 cliffs at Calico Hole. This talus, being on the north side of 



