The Weevils of South Louth. i6i 



met with. Sweeping, shaking rubbish and moss, and beating 

 bushes at Cartown, gave me a couple of Grypidius equiseti and 

 several Ceuthorrhynchidhis troglodytes and C. quercicola, Ccsliodes 

 ruber and C. quadrimaculattcs, also Rhhionctis castor and R. 

 perpe7idicularis. Ceuthorrhynchus assimilis, C. erysimi, and var. 

 chloropterus, C. contractus, and severdl other Cezithorrhy7ichi were 

 captured on the rabbit burrow and commons near Clogher. 

 The distribution of this genus seems curiously local in the 

 district, for I came across none outside the narrow stretch 

 mentioned. Very probabl}^ this was merely an accidental cir- 

 cumstance, but the same remark applies to Mesites tardyi, a 

 peculiarly isolated and interesting insect. I found it in great 

 numbers under bark of beech, willow, and poplar, on the bank 

 of the stream near the village of Termonfeckin. This was the 

 only spot where it turned up, though I explored various plan- 

 tations within a radius of several miles. Another notable 

 peculiarity of this beetle is its great variability in size, some of 

 my specimens not much exceeding the dimensions of a large 

 Cala7idra granaria, whilst others are more than half an inch 

 long. The elytra, too, in most cases are chestnut brown, but 

 sometimes are quite black, and sometimes black with lighter 

 margins. The Scolytidae, in spite of many researches, only 

 yielded a single species, Hylastes opacus, under the bark of a 

 decayed willow. This is another insect variable in colour, 

 showing all shades of tint, from light red to deep black. 



My list of weevils from south lyouth includes altogether 

 sixty-four species, in twenty-three genera. It is necessarily 

 very incomplete for the reasons given above, and I have no 

 doubt could be easily doubled. The collecting of these beetles 

 presents no special difficulties. Some of the rare and less 

 evident kinds are rather hard to hit upon, such as those ordi- 

 narily found at roots of grasses and low plants. Vigorous 

 sweeping will usually secure most of the others, but the Ceu- 

 thorrhynchi and allied genera at the least alarm, gather their 

 legs and rostrum underneath the bod}^ and drop off their food 

 plants, when it is very hard to trace them. Promptness in 

 using the sweeping-net, so a» not to give the beetles time to 

 escape, is all that is required. Erir^hinus, Grypidius, and some 

 others, I have commonly found under stones in damp places, 

 but the habitat of a particular species once known, if the insect 

 exist in the district at all and the season be not too far ad- 

 vanced, a practised entomologist can hardly fail to discover it. 



NOTICE. 



A series of papers on "The Earthworms of Ireland," will be 

 commenced in the January number of the Irish Natzu^alist, by 

 Rev. Hilderic Friend, F.L.S., of Idle, Bradford, Yorkshire. 



Mr. Friend will be grateful for worms from all parts of the 

 country. They should be sent alive in damp earth or moss, in 

 metal boxes. Packages should be marked "Natural History 

 Specimens." 



