1 89 7-] Notes* 2S3 



Lepldoptera In Cos. Wlcklow and Mayo. 



On the 7th June last, at Glendalough, County Wicklow, I found 

 Bupalus {Fidonia) piniaria abundant. Only one larva of Taniocampa 

 miniosa turned up where it had been fairly numerous in 1896. A larva 

 oi Geometra papilionaria was beaten out of birch. On the 2nd August I 

 found Gonepteryx rhamni plentiful among thickets on the shores of 

 Lough Mask, County Mayo. 



George V. Hart. 



Caterpillars of Hemarls tityus (bombyllformls). 



I had, on July 28th, five larvae of this moth full-grown, and six or seven 

 about half grown or less. Of the five, three were light-coloured, one had 

 no brown or red marks whatever when viewed from above, and only a 

 mere trace of red about each spiracle. From the first moult to the last 

 one all are green on the back. Some, towards the end, show a little 

 red at the spiracles ; all, however, are always dark red or brown under- 

 neath (the green one included). As the season advances, a good many of 

 the Scabious leaves on which it feeds, turn a dull red, and doubtless 

 the colour assumed by the large larva helps it to escape observation. 

 Unlike the other Sphingidce which I have reared from the ^<g'g {Smerinthus 

 ocellaius and .5". populi), while small it drops readily when disturbed, as 

 all our SatyrtdcB do, a useful accomplishment where cattle graze. 



J. J. Woi^FE. 



Bupalus pfnlaria, L., In Ireland. 



In reference to Mr. Bonaparte-Wyse's "Entomological Notes from 

 S. B. Ireland" {Irish Naturalist for August, p. 221), I may mention that 

 Bupalus piniaria is quite a common moth in fir-plantations at Ballyhyland, 

 Co. Wexford ; and it ^seems to me very likely that its range has been 

 much extended since Birchall, in 1866, was unable to name an Irish 

 locality for it. It should be borne in mind that the Scotch Fir, on which 

 the larva oi piniaria feeds, is, for practical purposes, scarcely to be counted 

 an indigenous Irish plant, but rather a species which was re-introduced 

 after having reached the verge of total extinction : so that it is almost 

 necessary to regard the moth as a recent settler in this island. A parallel 

 case in England of a beetle {Asemum striatum), likewise attached to Pine 

 and Fir, is mentioned in Science- Gossip for August (p. 72). Until 1893 this 

 was a strictly northern insect in Britain, found only in Scotland and 

 Cumberland, but during the past four years it would appear to have 

 established itself in Surrey and Hampshire, where, as in the east of 

 Ireland, the Pine is an introduced species. The great Pine Saw-Fly 

 Sirex gigas), which is thought to be on the increase in Ireland, is a 

 somewhat analogous instance among the hymenoptera, to say nothing 

 of the Squirrel, among mammals, and the Crossbill among birds. 



C. B. Moffat. 



