44 The Irish Naturalist. 



to see a cluster of them so engaged is a spectacle of beauty indeed. I 

 observe that this beautiful rotifer much prefers building on such narrow 

 leaves as the under-water foliage of Ranunculus aquatilis to building on 

 broader ones, such as the Potamogelom or even the Anacharis. I shall be 

 very pleased if any brother naturalist desires to see this case that he 

 should call at 25, Rugby-road, Belfast. I think it probable that any one 

 might have this rotifer in this condition by having a good seed of them 

 in a quiet aquarium where only the Planorbis and Limruca or such slow- 

 moving creatures are kept, and the water allowed to be very motionless. 



John Andrew, Belfast. 



IN S E C TS . 



Lepidoptera In the Belfast District In 1893.— The season 

 of 1893 in this district, as in most others, has been fairly pro- 

 ductive in lepidoptera, although, in consequence of the abnormal 

 heat, many species emerged much before their usual time, and 

 had disappeared completely when they were looked for in their 

 usual localities. Of the butterflies, Vanessa atalanta and V. urticce 

 have been unusually abundant, and second broods of both species were 

 seen ; of Argynnis paphia, a few specimens were seen in Donard demesne 

 near Newcastle, Co. Down, 011 June iSth, a very early date for the 

 species ; Lycccna minima was out already on May 30th on the cliffs of 

 Island Magee, and a few were seen on Knockagh, near Carrickfergus ; 

 one specimen of a second brood of Comonympha pamphilus was takeu on 

 the Belfast Hills on September 3rd ; the species is regularly double- 

 brooded in England, but usually single-brooded in Ireland. Among 

 Sphinges, Macroglossa stellatarum was hovering about a white-washed wall 

 on the shore at Newcastle on July 16th, and M. bombylifmmis was abund- 

 ant at flowers of Pedicularis on the Belfast Hills as early as May 7th. Of 

 the Bombyces, Nemeophila plantaginis was abundant on the slopes of 

 Island Magee, June 4th ; Hefrialus vrfleda was very common everywhere 

 this year, flying in crowds over Bracken on the hills and over beds of 

 Nettles on the lowlands ; larvae of Bombyx quercus v. callunce were found 

 full-fed at Black Head, June 23rd, and larvae of Dicranura vinula, Saturnia 

 pavonia, and Pygccra pigra (or curtula) on dwarf sallow bushes in the valley 

 above Bloody Bridge, Mourne Mountains. Of Noctuae, Bryophila pcrla 

 occurred on walls at Newcastle, all the specimens being typical ; pale 

 form of A crony da rumicis comes commonly to sugar in the woods at New- 

 castle ; of Hydrcccia nic titans, the specimens occurring in this district, both 

 in the marshes about Belfast and on the sand-hills at Newcastle, belong to 

 the form which has been distinguished as a probably distinct species 

 (H. lucens). I have not taken typical nictitans in this district, but have a 

 specimen from Wicklow ; Apamea ophiogramma, one specimen in Belfast 

 marshes; A. leucostigma is common in the same locality, the type and var. 

 fibrosa being equally common. Miana literosa, a few in the same places as 

 the last species ; it was very abundant at Howth in July ; Celo>na Haworthii 

 was common on the hills at the end of August ; Stilbia anomala, one 

 specimen in the Mournes ; Agrotis vestigialis was abundant on the sand- 

 hills near Dundrum, Co. Down, nearly all being of the pale typical form, 

 but a few grey suffused specimens occurred; A. cursoria was scarce in the 

 same place ; A. tritici very abundant, mostly of the reddish-brown form 

 common on the Irish coast sand-hills, but a few grey and pale red 

 specimens were picked out of the hundreds that covered the flower 

 heads of Senccio jacobcea on the sand-hills; A. precox was common in the 

 same place, and a few A. lucernea also occurred ; Tozniocampa opima was taken 

 at sallow bloom in April, together with commoner species of the genus ; 

 Xanthiafulvago, at Belfast in August ; Cirrhaidia xerampdina, two specimens 

 on the trunk of an Ash in Castlewellan Park, August 14th ; Dianthacia 

 nana, commonly at flowers of Lychnis fios-cuculi in Colin Glen ; Hadena 

 adusta at rest on heather on the Belfast hills in May ; H. contigua : a re- 



