— 223 — 



NOTES. 



ZOOLOGY. 



POLYZOA. 



Plumatella repens, L. In Ireland. — This pretty freshwater 

 polyzoan, which was first discovered in Ireland by Prof. Allman, has re- 

 cently been found by Mr. Greenwood Pirn in a small pond in his garden 

 at Monkstown. Mr. Pirn noticed it adhering to the underside of the 

 leaves of the white-water Lily {Nymphaca alba), and correctly identified 

 the interesting species as Plumatella repens, 



R, F, SCHARFF, Dublin. 



INSECTS, 



Spi*lngr Lepidoptera at Armagh. — Owing to the long-continued 

 severity of the weather outdoor work was useless till April, However 

 I had dug some pupae in the autumn, and these being indoors emerged 

 at pretty much their usual time. A very beautiful Phigalia pedaria emerged 

 on February 8. It is very much suffused with yellow, and Mr. C. G. 

 Barrett, to whom I submitted it for inspection, tells me that it is the 

 most yellow form he has seen. On February i8th Hybemia viargiiiaria 

 emerged, the pupa had been dug up in the Palace Demesne. The 

 Tceniocavipce now began to appear, the first being T. incerta, which emerged 

 on March 2nd. On March 3otli one of my pupils brought me a specimen 

 of Anisopteryx ccscitlaria which he had caught m his house. 



The sallows had suffered severely from the frost, and the bloom was late 

 and not abundant. However, on April i6th I and my friend, Mr. J. H. 

 Johnston, determined to see what we could get, and succeeded in captur- 

 ing TcEiiiocampa stabilis, T. incerta, T. gothica, T, gracilis, and a solitary 

 Xylocajiipa areola with Anticlea badiata taken on the wing. On the follow- 

 ing evening I was fortunate enough to take a nice specimen of T. opima, 

 and a pretty form oi Peronea hastiana. On the 19th we (Mr. Johnston and 

 myself) were joined in our nocturnal rambles by Rev. H. Harpur. This 

 proved a record night for numbers of moths. It was rather damp and 

 pitch dark, and consequently exactly suited for our fell purposes. We 

 took several T. gracilis, one T. opima, which fell to Mr. Harpur's lot, and 

 numbers of T. incerta, &c. T. gothica was present simply in crowds. 

 One curious thing happened : — we were working a large tree, and Mr. 

 Johnston, who was beating, not being able to reach the higher branches, 

 shook the tree violently, in the hopes that some at least would fall into 

 the sheet. Some certainly did, but immediately afterwards the lantern 

 was besieged by frantic moths which we proceeded with all our hands 

 to box. A fine Selenia bihinaria also flew to the lantern and fell a victim 

 to its misplaced confidence. T. gothica was far the most numerous, far 

 outnumbering all the others together. It varied somewhat in colour, 

 some being much darker and others rather lighter in hue than ordinary. 

 In size, however, they were very constant, also in markings. Hadena 

 thalassina emerged on May 2nd, and on the following evening I captured 

 Selenia bilunaria while out for a stroll. Butterflies now began to appear, 

 including battered Vanessa ^irtiae, Pararge egeria, with plenty of the pretty 

 Euchloe cardamines. EJvening rambles produced Cidaria siiffiimata, Coremia 



