86 7he Irish Naturalist. [Marcli, 



Insect Folk-Lorc. 



The ideas about insects held by the uninitiated and especially by 

 country folk are peculiar. I met a man who though unable to read was 

 yet a very good gardener, who was fully persuaded that butterflies turned 

 into caterpillars, and I had to give him a long discourse on the subject, 

 and even then I doubt very much whether he believed me at all. 



The venomous character assigned to many insects which are perfectly 

 harmless is also a common error with such people. A country woman 

 assured me that the common Telephonis fiilvus gave a very sore bite and 

 that the bitten part would swell up. She was much astonished when I 

 assured her that the creature could not possiblyhurther, butit waseasy 

 to see that there was a lurking doubt as to my credibility. I received a 

 most remarkable piece of information with regard to the habits of the 

 common House Cricket [Acheta domesticd) from a native of Donegal, and it 

 is to be hoped that it is only Donegal crickets that are so wicked. This 

 person assured me that if you trod on the toe of a cricket (which particular 

 toe I could not find out) the infuriated beast would at once walk off to 

 your clothes and eat holes in them. Of course the cricket would know 

 a person's Sunday 'shute' and pick it out for especial attention. I sug- 

 gested that a cricket did not indulge in such luxurious feeding and 

 hinted at clothes-moths, but my suggestion was treated with scorn, the 

 implication of course being, that the moths would always be at work, 

 whereas the cricket waited to have his toe trodden on, and then pro- 

 ceeded to ' take it out ' of his insulter's clothes. The migratory habits of 

 crickets have given rise to the superstition that, if crickets come to a 

 house where there are marriageable girls or boys, a marriage will 

 take place. What happens when there is no one to marry I could never 

 find out. These ideas about insects are interesting if only to show what 

 had been noticed by people in general, and I daresay many of the readers 

 of the Irish Naturalist could contribute stories on this subject. 



W. F. Johnson. 



Ag^abus arctlcus, Payk., a Water-beetle new to Ireland. 



An important addition has recently been made to our insect fauna by 

 Mr. E. C. Farran, in the discovery of the water-beetle Agabus arctiats, 

 Payk., when collecting last summer on Kippure, Co. Wicklow. Mr. 

 Farran has kindly given the specimens to the Dublin Museum. 



The distribution of the species is noteworthy, as in Britain it has been 

 recorded from the extreme north of England (Northumberland district) 

 and from the Scotch Highlands, As to the continental range the only 

 habitat given in the European catalogue of Heyden Reitter and Weise 

 is Ivapland, but according to Canon Fowler (" British Coleoptera'' vol. i, 

 p. 195), it has also been traced across Arctic Siberia and in North America. 

 It is closely allied to A. Sturvii^ Payk., one of our most abundant water- 

 beetles, but amongst other differences the much narrower form is suffi- 

 cient for the detection of the rarer species. There is little doubt that 

 a further search will reveal the presence of this interesting northern 

 insect in other of our upland districts. 



J. N. Hai,be;rt. 



