r905- Coi^GAN. — Invertebrate Fauna of Skerries, Co. Dublin. 2 1 3 



Walk. The Common Mussel is known as Muskel, Trochus 

 innbiiicatus as Bachelor's Button, and the Large Scallop 

 {Pecten maximus) as Lamp Shell. Two of the older fishermen 

 told me they recollected having seen the scallop shells filled 

 with fish oil and used as lamps in Skerries cabins many years 

 ago. The popular Skerries names for the crabs and star- 

 fishes jnelded three evident survivals from the Gaelic — 

 Parthawn for the Long-legged Spider Crab {StenoryncJms 

 phalanj^iuvi), Crossane for the Common Starfish {Uraster 

 rubens), and Morane for the Lesser Sand-star (0/>////^r« albida). 

 The restriction of the Gaelic "Parthawn," the original of the 

 Lowland Scotch Partan, to the economically worthless Spider 

 Crab is interesting. Originally the Gaelic word was probably 

 used at Skerries, and throughout the Fingal district of Co. 

 Dublin, generically for all the crabs, including the edible 

 species, Cancer Pagwiis, the Great or Red Crab. But this 

 edible crab, being an article of trade between the Fingal fisher- 

 men and English-speaking dealers and consumers, has had 

 gradually imposed upon it the English name Red Crab, by 

 which it is now known at Skerries, while its despised long- 

 legged relative, being never mentioned in such trading inter- 

 course, retained the old Gaelic name. 

 Sandycove, Co. Dublin. 



NOTES ON THE MOLLUSCA OF COUNTY LOUTH. 



BY P. H. GRIERSOX. 



The following are notes taken on the Mollusca of County 

 Louth during the years 1904 — 1905. Though it is the smallest 

 county in Ireland^, without any very large lakes, yet it has 

 proved to be one of the richest in MoUusca, having 34elded 

 88 species. 



The county comprises portions of the following sheets of 

 the one-inch Ordnance Map— 60, 70, 71, 81, 82, 91, 92. My 

 endeavour has been to procure specimens of each species 

 from one or more localities in each sheet, and in my list I 

 give the number of the sheet where found, together with the 

 name of the nearest town or well known demesne. 



