July. T024. The Irish Naturalist, 69 



COLEOPTERA AT LOUGH NEAGH (CO. ANTRIM) 

 AND NEWCASTLE (CO. DO\\N). 



BY OLIVER E. JANSON, F.E.S. 



My four previous entomological excursions to Ireland 

 having been restricted to parts in the south and south-west 

 and a few days in the T)ublin district, I decided last 

 summer to visit the north for a change, and Lough Neagh, 

 the exclusive brittanic home of four of our coleoptera 

 that were unrepresented in my collection was chosen as 

 the first and most attractive locality for a short sojourn. 



Deferring my departure for a fortnight owing to 

 unfavourable weather I left London on June 14th, 1923, 

 and travelhng via Heysham and Belfast arrived at Antrim 

 the following morning in a deluge of rain and secured 

 quarters at McNally's Massareene Hotel, where I learned 

 that since the recent malicious destruction by incendiaries 

 of the fine modern Shane's Castle, the owner had retired 

 to England and closed the demesne to visitors. This 

 was rather disconcerting news, as it was there that I 

 intended working for the special local rarities, and on 

 failing to gain admittance at the lodge gate I then sought 

 out the head keeper — a genial Scotsman, a resident in 

 London in his -youthful days and like myself an inveterate 

 smoker — with these attributes of good fellowship we soon 

 arrived at an amicable understanding whereby I was 

 granted the privilege of entry by his private wicket-gate 

 for the duration of my visit and, with an introduction 

 to the watches who patrol the estate, I was able to pursue 

 my work without fear of possible trouble or interference. 



To a coleopterist the most attractive feature of this 

 demesne is the fine broad sandy shore of the lough, 

 intersected by beds of aquatic vegetation and eminently 

 suitable for littoral beetles, and it was this ground that 

 claimed my chief attention. The weather for the first 

 week was generally cold and dull, or rainy, when few insects 

 were to be found in the open, but by lifting stones, sifting 

 vegetable debris and laying traps, numerous beetles were 

 brought to light, whilst in some brief intervals of sunshine 



