354 ISLAND LIFE part ii 



with P. montanus, a species found both in Britain and on the continent, 

 but it differs in its strikingly yellow colour, and less pronounced markings. 

 All the specimens from Guernsey are alike, and resident entomologists 

 assured Mr. McLachlan that no other kind is known. Strange to say, 

 some examples from Jersey differ considerably, and have been named 

 P. castaneus, McL. Even should this peculiar variety be at some future 

 time found on the continent it would still be a remarkable fact that 

 the form of insect inhabiting two small islands only twenty miles apart 

 should constantly differ ; but as Jersey is between Guernsey and the coast, 

 it seems just possible that the more insular conditions, and perhaps some 

 peculiarity of the soil and water in the former island, have really led to 

 the production or preservation of a well-marked variety of insect. In the 

 first edition of this w^ork two other species were named as then peculiar 

 to Britain — Setodes argentipunctella and Rhyacophila munda, but both 

 have now been taken on the continent. 



2. Mesophylax impunctatus, var. zetlandicus. — A variety of a 

 South and Central European species, one specimen of which has been 

 found in Dumfriesshire. The variety is distinguished by its small size and 

 dark colour. 



Zand and Freshwater Mollusca, 



My friend Mr. T. D. A. Cockerell who furnished the list 

 of peculiar British species for the last edition of this work, 

 being now resident in the United States, I applied to Mr. 

 John W. Taylor, F.L.S., author of the admirable Mono- 

 graph of the Land and Freshwater Mollusca of the British 

 Isles, who not only drew up a new and complete list of 

 the peculiar British species and varieties, but has appended 

 thereto some valuable and suggestive introductory remarks. 

 I therefore print his contribution entire. It will be seen 

 that the three peculiar species are now increased to seven, 

 while the eighty peculiar varieties, although for various 

 causes thirteen have been omitted, have, by the addition 

 of fifty-eight new ones, reached the large number of one 

 hundred and twenty-four. This, however, is what might 

 be expected, since in islands generally this group of animals 

 presents more peculiar forms than any other. 



The Endemic Land and Freshiuater Mollusca of the British 

 Isles, By John W. Taylor, FL.8. 



In the first edition of the present work, four species 

 only were noted as being, so far as was then known, 

 exclusively British. Two of these, Limncea involuta and 

 Assiminea gray ana, are still peculiar to the British Isles, 

 and unknown in other parts of the world. 



