^898.1 T35 



IMPRESSIONS OF xlCHILL. 



BY MEMBERS OF AN EASTER PARTY. 



lyEPIDOPTERA. 



From an entomological point of view, a visit to Achill in 

 Easter week could not be expected to produce much except 

 to the coleopterist, who gathers his harvest in winter as well, 

 though not as abundantl}^ as in summer. And at any time of 

 the year the fauna is restricted to mountain, moor, and shore 

 species, there being no trees to nourish arboreal insects, nor 

 herbaceous flora except what is suited to moorland. Never- 

 theless, careful search on the sandy and boggy shore resulted 

 in the capture of both sexes of Nyssia zonaria^ by the Hon. 

 R. E- Dillon and myself, but this interesting moth was very 

 scarce and probably would have been overlooked had it not 

 been that the trained habits of observation of our intelligent 

 naturalist landlord had led to his detection of one of the 

 curious wingless females of this species, which he sent to the 

 Natural History jMuseum for identification, and so added an 

 additional locality to the records of its Irish distribution. 

 Found only in one spot on the Cheshire coast, it has been a 

 most interesting addition to our knowledge to discover that it 

 exists in Ireland alsO; and has a wide range. 



At Roundstone in 1896, the Easter excursionists found a 

 prolific colon}', and at Slyne Head a few miles away. Here, in 

 Mayo, it is also found to occur, though apparently in small 

 numbers. And near Fair Head, in Antrim, several years ago, 

 Mr. David Campbell, of Derry, discovered the larvae in some 

 numbers. The dispersal thus ascertained of so sluggish an 

 insect, whose female is incapable of flight, indicates a vast 

 extent of time to have elapsed since its first arrival on our 

 shores. For this species appears to cling to the coast-line in 

 Great Britain, and can scarcel}' be thought to have crossed 

 from Antrim to Galway by foot through the interior of the 

 country, except possibly at a period long anterior to the 

 growth of the forests which are known to have anciently 

 clothed the greater part of both mountains, bogs, and plains 

 of Ireland. No doubt the fauna and flora of mountain and 

 coast approximate strangely in many instances, but the 



