I900,] Notes. 271 



Noteworthy Irish Lepldoptera. 



I have been notified of the occurrence of the Death's-head Moth, 

 Acherontia atropos, either in the imaginal or larval condition, from various 

 parts of the country- this year, both in the Co. Cork, at Kells in Meath, 

 and in this county of Monaghan, a full fed caterpillar having been 

 brought to me so late as the 22nd September. Also it is interesting to 

 find that Va?iessa io, the beautiful Peacock butterfly, usually very rareh' 

 seen in the northern half of Ireland, has this year appeared in some 

 numbers in this demesne ; and also, I find from a correspondent, at 

 Newry. I wish also to record the capture by Mr. R. Donovan of Cucullia 

 absynthii flying to the blossoms of a lime tree this summer, near Timo- 

 league, and from the same neighbourhood Eupithecia pygmcBaia, E. 

 coHstridata, and E. togata, all good finds. 



Wm. F. de V, Kank. 

 Drumreaske, Monaghan. 



MOLLUSCS. 



Scalarlform Helix nemoralls living at Bundoran. 



A very interesting article, it may be remembered, appeared in the Lrish 

 Naturalist of July, 1900, dealing with the abnormal shells of Helix 

 nemoralis, by Mr. R. Welch, of Belfast, who for many years has devoted 

 much time and care to the study of that variable shell. The sinistral 

 and scalariform shells were particularly referred to, also the abundance 

 with which these occur at Bundoran in comparison with the rest 

 of the United Kingdom. Still, although a large number of the shells, 

 particularly the t3'pe form, run into van conica, it is the exception to find 

 a true scalariform specimen. Those which have been obtained up to 

 the present, as Mr. Welch remarks, have usually been found among the 

 hollows of the great wind-swept sand-dunes, in all cases empt}', and 

 usually with the epedermis weathered off. Last September, however, I 

 was fortunate enough to find a perfect full-grown specimen living I had 

 been searching close by the entrance to the dunes, a little beyond the 

 Fairy Bridges, in a spot where my wife remarked that var. conica seemed 

 very abundant, when I picked it up feeding on the short scrub which 

 carpets the turf just below the sand-hills. On the theory that this 

 monstrosity, being only a still further production of the variety (conica'), 

 would be most likely to occur again where the variety was most plenti- 

 ful, I spent another morning about the same spot, and was rewarded by 

 finding a second scalariform, this time, however, dead, within about ten 

 yards of the place where I found the first. Though slightly weathered, 

 the epidermis was still perfect enough to lead one to conclude that the 

 animal had been recently living. Both shells were an abnormal 

 production of the ordinary five-banded type, and I would not be sur- 

 prised if careful searching turned up a few more about the same place. 



Wm. a. Green. 

 Belfast. 



