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INSECTS COLIvECTED IN THE FERMOY AND 

 BI^ACKWATER DISTRICT. 



BY J. N. HAI^BBRT. 

 (Read before the Dublin Naturalists' Field Club, November 13th, 1894.) 



On the recent joint excursion of the Dublin, Cork, and 

 lyimerick Field Ckibs to the Fermoy and Blackwater district, 

 I collected insects for the Royal Irish Academy Fauna and 

 Flora Committee. Notwithstanding the short duration of the 

 trip (5th, 6th, and 7th of July last), and owing, no doubt, to 

 the productive localities visited, I was fortunate in taking more 

 than one species of interest, and in making a few additions 

 to our Irish records. There were in all over a hundred species 

 of Coleoptera and forty of Hemiptera observed, and in the 

 present notice it is intended to place on record the most note- 

 worthy of these, giving the localities and circumstances of 

 capture where necessar}'^, but not mentioning a large number 

 that are of common occurrence everywhere. I am indebted to 

 Dr. David Sharp, F.R.S., and E. Saunders, F.Iy.S-, for kind help 

 in the identification of certain critical species, and also to those 

 members of the different Clubs who assisted me in collecting 

 specimens. 



Our headquarters were at Fermoy, consequently on arrival 

 little time was lost in the anxiety to begin work. The route 

 taken lay along the south banks of the Blackwater in the direc- 

 tion of the extensive Castle Hyde woods ; all this proved to be 

 admirable collecting ground. The river was first tried for 

 Hydradephaga, but previous experience had shown, that mid- 

 summer is not a good time of the year for water-beetles, when 

 most of them are in larval condition. Amongst my captures 

 were Oredochilus villostis, Mull., Deronedes depresstis, F., and 

 Haliplus fluviatilis, Aube., all of theiH species peculiar to clear 

 or running waters. The first mentioned is an insect of con- 

 siderable interest, closely allied to the Gyrini or ' whirligig- 

 beetles ' so well known to all observ^ers, but differing from these 

 in some essential points. Oredochilus is nocturnal, coming 

 out at night only and hiding during the day-time under banks 

 in submerged logs and such like. My specimens were obtained 

 by dragging the water-net about the roots of aquatic plants. 

 Owing to this unusual habit the beetle has probably escaped 

 observation in many localities. Numerous species of the 



