300 
MOLLUSCA. 
Genus Vertigo. 
V. edentula, Alder. 
This species is found from North to South of Ireland. Since Septem- 
ber, 1832, I have met with 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, Mrs. Patterson (of Belfast) — neighbourhood of Cork, 
Rev. T. Hincks. The typical form of V. edentula I 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 ( Aspidii , &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 from 
description and figures, is perhaps the Pupa inornata, Michaud, Comp. p. 
63, pi. 15, f. 31, 32, apparently differing 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. in- 
ornata was discovered. I at first thought this var. might be Pupa 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 cylindrical which I have collected 
at Salisbury Craigs, near Edinburgh, a locality in which this rare species 
was discovered by Prof. E. Forbes. 
V. pyymcea, Fer. 
This is the most widely distributed species of Vertigo 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 
dry 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 V ertigo resembling the ordinary V. pygmcea 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 dark 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. substriata, Alder. 
This species, though rare, has a wide distribution in Ireland. In the 
glen at Holywood 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 Vertigo 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 
