Notes. 145 



plants of this species growing with Palaver argemoiie and P. hyhridum in a 

 wheat- field alongside the Howth railway line. As there would appear to 

 be no previous Irish record for the Specularia, which is widely distributed 

 in eastern England, it may be worth while to note here what is perhaps 

 the first appearance of the species in Irelarid. The Baldoyle specimens 

 bore abundance of mature seeds, and it would be of considerable interest 

 to observe whether the species succeeds in maintaing its ground in this 

 station. In their description of the species, none of the authorities I 

 have consulted, English or Continental, make any reference to the 

 peculiar pair of bracts, placed about the middle of the capsule, which are 

 a marked feature in the Baldoyle plant. — Nathaniel Colgan, Dublin. 



Spirantlies romanzoffiana in the North of Ireland. To the 

 Journal of Botany for September, Mr. R. Lloyd Praeger contributes an 

 article on the recent discovery of this extremely rare plant in the north 

 of Ireland, which it has recently been his good fortune to make. This 

 orchid, whose only previously known stations are Kamtschatka and Co. 

 Cork, grows in Co. Armagh, on a wet worked-out bog, where its appear- 

 ance is described by Mr. Praeger as being somewhat different from that 

 of the Cork plant. The finding of this species in the north of Ireland is 

 a highly interesting botanical discovery, and is a very big feather in the 

 cap of our northern botanists. We are glad to observe that the discovery 

 was made during the field-work entailed by the preparation of a paper 

 for the Prish Naturalist on the Flora of Co. Armagh, which will shortly 

 appear in our pages. 



ZOOLOGY. 



I N S PI G T S . 



BuTTKRFivY Reappearances, By a curious coincidence, the Septem- 

 ber number of Prish Naturalist contains two notes on recent reappearances 

 of butterflies, Mr. W. E. Hart recording a " burst" of the Ringlet Butter- 

 fly in Donegal, after an interval of thirty-one summers, while the Rev. 

 W. F. Johnson reports from Armagh the reappearance, after several years' 

 absence, of the " Painted Lady." As a supplemental note I may add that 

 the " Greasy Fritillary" {Melitcea aurinia) reappeared this season in a small 

 patch of boggy ground at Ballyhyland, in which it was very plentiful 

 from 1877 to 1883, and sought for in vain by me every summer since until 

 the present year. The insect has three other localities within about five 

 miles; but as there are a score of intermediate spots, to all appearance 

 quite as suitable to its habits, Avhich it does not frequent, I am at a loss 

 to account for its return to the favoured piece of ground above referred 

 to. When I repaired to the locality this 3'ear it was towards the end of 

 the fritillary's season, and I saw but two sadly battered and broken-down 

 specimens ; but these were enough to satisfy m,e that M. aurinia had once 

 more flourished in her long-deserted haunts. 



The Ringlet Butterfly is here one of our commonest species, in shady 

 places almost V3'ing with the Speckled Wood {Parargc cegeria) in profusion ; 

 but though accustomed to see it thus plentiful, I took note of its particu- 

 lar abundance in July last, more than ohe of its congeners having struck 

 me as less common than usual this year. About Dublin the;Ringlet would 

 seem to be somewhat more local, but I have seen it swarming beside the 

 Ro3^al Canal not more than seven or eight miles from town, and seeing 

 that our museum authorities until recently labeled it " rare in Ireland," 

 I feel sure that notes on its distribution throughout other parts of the 

 country would be very welcome. 



Apparently it is a creature of strongly gregarious predilections, and I 

 venture to put forward the view that in a season of exceptional increase 

 its larvae may find it expedient to migrate in large numbers. That many 

 caterpillars are very methodical in their migration is well known. There 

 are difiiculties in the way of every explanation of insect-swarms ; it seems 

 impossible to find one fitting the extreme cases. But if Mr. Hart could 



