February, 1922. The Irish Naturalist. [3 



INSECTS AT CARLTNGFORD, CO. LOUTH. 



BY REV. VV. F. JOHNSON, M.A., F.E.S. 



I SPENT June, 192 1, at Carlingford, and was much disap- 

 pointed at the results of my search for insects there. The 

 prevaiHng winds were easterly, and the sun was often ob- 

 scured by cloud ; these conditions were unfavourable to my 

 collecting, as my attention was especially directed to the 

 Hymenoptera, and they are creatures which, in the main, 

 only move about in sunshine. Another cause of lack of 

 insects was the drought, which set in at the latter part of 

 May. It seemed not only to dry up the ground, but the 

 insects also. I suspect a good many were unable to emerge 

 owing to the hardness of the earth. It was only by diligent 

 collecting at favourable opportunities that I was able to 

 get together the insects noted below. My best locality was 

 a field path running from what is called the Blind Lane to 

 the Greenore Road. The pathway was along the hedge, 

 and this contained the usual miscellaneous assortment of 

 bushes and plants, and at one part had quite a quantity 

 of Bracken fern growing on it. 



I walked to Greenore one day, hoping to meet with some 

 Aculeata, but just took two and a Dipteron, not very 

 encouraging after tramping four miles along a dusty road ; 

 I need scarcely say I did not go back again. 



Among the Butterflies I met with only the common 

 species, except the Painted Lady, of which two battered 

 specimens made their appearance at the end of the month. 

 I was very pleased to meet with the beautiful White Plume 

 Moth, Aciptila pcntadactyla, though I only got a single 

 specimen. I had not met with it since I took it in numbers 

 at Rosses Point in 1905.^ I knocked it up one afternoon 

 on the field path. Ennychia cingulata occurred on the 

 lower slope of the mountain ; I only met with one specimen, 

 I was surprised that I did not see any moths in the evening 



^ Irish Naturalist, xiv,, 1905, p. 252. 



