PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
143 
as far as possible, his specimens with those in the British Museum, and entirely 
coincided with Professor Bell’s judgment, and begged to congratulate the Society 
on possessing such a fine series of Irish bats—as their collection now included 
Y. Nattereri, Y. mystacinus, and Y. Daubentonii, of which the two first were as 
yet unique as Irish. 
The thanks of the Society having been given to the several donors, Mr. Andrews 
read a letter from William Compton Domville, Esq., dated London, expressive of 
the usefulness that the “Natural History Review” would be to the Society, and 
that he had placed the proceedings upon the table of the Zoological Society of 
London. 
Mr. Andrews noticed the great interest of the collection in the grounds of 
Santry House, formed by Mrs. Domville, and which contained many rare birds 
among the waders and natatores, in the finest condition and plumage. The arrange¬ 
ment extended over a space of five acres. It is hoped that any of the members 
that have the opportunities of obtaining living specimens would assist Mrs. Dom¬ 
ville by adding to her collection. 
Dr. Farran then gave his paper on 
HELIX PIS ANA AND ITS LOCALITIES. 
He said, I consider a favourable opportunity occurs in presenting a few specimens 
for the acceptance of the Society, of bringing forward a notice of the beautiful and ex¬ 
tremely local shell, Helix pisana, or, as it was formerly designated, “ Cingenda.” 
I am particularly anxious that this record should be identified with the proceedings 
of our Society, and that the vagueness of its recognition as an Irish shell should be 
reduced to a certainty. I am led to this by having lately read in Mr. Gray’s 
edition of “ Turton’s Manual of Land and Fresh-water Shells of the British 
Islands,” the following observations relative to Helix pisana :—“ It is one of the 
most beautiful of our snails, and extremely local; it is common in the South of 
Europe and Northern Africa, but is not found in the northern countries ; Wales 
may be considered its northern limit. According to Montagu, no mean authority, 
it is one of our most rare species ; he only found it in one place—on the land west 
of Tenby, where it is confined to a small space ; and Mr. Rackett has found it at 
St. Ives, in Cornwall.” Mr. Gray concludes by observing, “ It has also been said 
to be found near Dublin.” If from fifteen to twenty miles be meant as “ near 
Dublin” I can answer, with perfect safety, that such is the case. In early life I 
frequently visited the strand of Knockangin, about a mile and a half north of Bal- 
briggan, in pursuit of wild fowl, which were abundant there at certain seasons. On 
one of these visits, fatigued with watching for the flight of the game, I sat down on 
the grassy bank bounding the tide ; my attention was soon attracted by the appear¬ 
ance of numbers of a beautiful snail. Being an inexperienced conchologist at the 
time, I thought the best thing to be done was to bring them under the notice of 
those better acquainted with the subject. Accordingly, filling my pockets with 
them, I presented them to my lamented friend, the late James Tardy, an enthusi¬ 
astic naturalist, to whom we are all indebted as giving the first impulse to natural 
history in Dublin. Mr. Tardy subsequently brought the shell under Doctor 
Turton’s notice, and I had the pleasure, in a short time afterwards, of pointing out 
the locality to Mr. Tardy. I regret to say, that on visiting Knockangin on Monday, 
the 3rd of April last, I found that the cuttings of the Drogheda Railroad had com¬ 
pletely obliterated the favourite locality of this shell; and where, before this occur¬ 
red, I could have obtained them in any number, a couple of dozen of rather inferior 
specimens were my only reward; however, I should say they may be procured 
“ longo intervallo” at Laytown, Bettystown, and up to Drogheda; those places 
being continuous with Knockangin may be considered as one locality—and, except 
this, we have no authentic record of any other in Ireland. The late Mr. M'AUa 
informed me he had seen the shell in Bunowen, one of the extreme points of Con¬ 
nemara, but he did not exhibit a specimen; and my friend, Mr. Andrews, has 
lately informed me that he has had the shell from Kerry. Reasoning by analogy, 
both those localities would be very likely to produce it, as they contain many 
species of plants, molluscas, and shells found on the southern shores of Europe. 
