Notes. 43 



ten others put in an appearance, all perfect in form and condition, and 

 two more perished in the act of emerging, apparently owdng to the 

 mouths of their tunnels being too small for them to pass through. 

 Hoping to secure specimens of T. apiforviis from affected poplar trees, I 

 searched for that species on three mornings between the hours of eight 

 and nine o'clock in the latter days of June, but did not succeed in finding 

 it, as, although I took four insects, they were all 7'. crabroniformis. This 

 would seem to indicate that the same insect feeds on the two kinds of 

 wood — viz., willow and poplar, indiscriminately, at least in Co. Dublin. 

 I had great pleasure in giving some of my takings to interested friends 

 whilst still fresh and unset, not knowing that I should lose several of 

 those retained from grease, their bodies to all appearance, in some cases, 

 becoming quite corrupt and breaking up. All, however, did not go this 

 way, and I have successfully restored the beautiful black and bright 

 yellow bandings on others by total immersion in pi we benzole for a period 

 of twent3'-four hours. This remedy I tried by the advice of an English 

 entomologist, who states that he has repeatedly used it vnth. good effect 

 on greasy insects of various kinds. I find borings, but not at all com- 

 monly, in this locality also, and have taken one specimen of T. craboni- 

 fo7'mis. — Francis Neale, lyimerick. 



FISHES. 



Pike (Esox lucius) in the Shannon. Some remarkably large pike" 

 have been killed in the Shannon, near Bannagher. One, shot by a Mr. 

 MTntyre, weighed 55 lbs., and several caught by the local fishermen 

 have exceeded 30 lbs. — Land and Water, April 2nd, 



Pipe Fishes at Cork and Kii^i^ala. — In th.e Zoologist for April Mr. 

 R. Warren writes that he has often taken the ^quorial Pipe-fish {Nero- 

 phis eequoreiis) and the Greater Pipe-fish {Syngnathus acus) when trawling in 

 Cork harbour, and that he has procured the Lesser Pipe-fish {Siphonostoina 

 typhle) in Killala Bay, the species having been determined by the late 

 William Thompson. 



Leptocephai^us i.arv.^ of Conger at Kii,i,ai,a Bay. — Mr. R. War- 

 ren, in the Zoologist for April, also records the occurrence at Killala Bay 

 of two examples of the strange larval form of the Conger, formerly known 

 as Leptocephalns viorrissii. 



BIRDS. 



. Birds singing at night. That there are a few species of birds 

 which habitually sing after nightfall is a well-known fact. These are, 

 however, chiefly summer visitors ; but when some of the ordinary cho- 

 risters of our woods break through their usual habit, and enliven the 

 hours of midnight darkness with their song, it calls for some remark. 

 On the night of February 9th last, about eight p.m., I heard a Blackbird 

 chattering loudly in the demesne here (Hillsljorough, Co. Down) among 

 the trees near the edge of the lake. About half an hour after midnight, 

 while I stood in the silent and desertecl streets of the town, a perfect 

 chorus of Blackbirds could be heard singing in the woods all round. 

 Perhaps a dozen or more of their voices could be heard at once, some 

 distant, some close by. Occasionall}' one or more of the singers would 

 vary the performance by breaking out into the loud chattering alarm 

 cry, as if laughing at the unusual effect of the concert in the silent mid- 

 night woods. The night was very mild, calm, and cloudy, though with 

 a good deal of light, the moon being near the full. As long as I listened 

 this peculiar concert was kept up. What makes this even more renuirk- 

 able is, that at the time the Blackbird was only just beginning to tune 

 the first notes of his spring song, even during the daytime. I did not 

 hear the notes of any other species except tlie Blackbird. — Rev. Allan 

 Ellison, Hillsborough, Co. Down. 



