[ 223 ] 



NOTES 



ZOOLOGY. 



INSECTS. 



Vespa arborea austriaca). — Further Records.— I captured a 

 queen of this species about the middle of last July, in the nursery gar- 

 den, Monkstown, and another was taken, somewhat earlier, by Mr. Freke 

 at Dundrum. Both Mr. Freke's specimen and mine were taken in 

 company with V. sylvestris. The identity of our V. arborea with the 

 Continental V. austriaca can only be fully confirmed by the discovery of 

 the male. The best way to secure this would seem to be by examination 

 of the nests of V. sylvestris, if, as seems probable, V. arborea be really an 

 inquiline species inhabiting the nests of the former.— H. G. Cuthbert, 

 Blackrock, Dublin. 



Cimbex femorata, Linn, in Co. Dublin.— Examination of the 

 British Museum collection has convinced me that the male Cimbices 

 taken by Mr. J. J. Dowling (p. 176), are remarkably large examples 

 of this species, and neither C. conuata, nor American immigrants 

 as I at first supposed. Mr. Dowling has kindly written to inform me 

 that the insects were taken at Foxrock, not at Stillorgan. — George H. 

 Carpenter. 



The Brown Halrstreak(ThecIabetuIae) In County Wexford. 



— In Mr. Kane's list of Irish Lepidoptera, Minister and Galway are 

 mentioned as this rare British Butterfly's Irish habitats. It is an insect of 

 annual occurrence in Killoughrim Forest, Co. Wexford, from which 

 locality I sent Mr. Kane a male and a female in 1889. Mr. Kane, in his 

 reply, was good enough to inform me that they were the only Irish 

 specimens of Thecla betulae he had seen : so the omission of Co. Wexford 

 from his list must be due to an oversight. I have picked up with my 

 finger and thumb four of these Butterflies in succession while walking 

 through the forest without a net. In some seasons, however, they are 

 by no means so easy to obtain. Other local Irish Butterflies which fre- 

 quent Killoughrim Forest and its outskirts are the Purple Hairstreak 

 {Thecla quercus'), Greasy Fritillary Melitcea aurinia), and Dingy Skipper 

 {Nisojiiades tages).—Q. B. MOFFAT, Ballyhyland, 



The small Heath Butterfly (Ccenonympha pamphilus): 

 Single or Double-Brooded? — I cannot agree with a remark I see 

 made in the February number (p. 44) by Mr. C. W. Watts, that 

 Ccenonympha pamphilus, though regularly double-brooded in England, is 

 in Ireland usually single-brooded. I do not doubt its being single- 

 brooded in Ulster, but should be surprised to learn that southern ob- 

 servers consider it so in their districts. In Wexford it is a normally 

 double-brooded insect, appearing about the end of May and end of July. 

 This year the second brood was freshly out in profusion on July 30th. 

 In 1886, however, I find August 14th noted as the date of its emergence ; 

 while in other years I have such dates as August 31st and September 8th 

 mentioned as those on which the latest specimens were observed. The 

 question of this Butterfly's single or double-broodedness is one on which 

 it would doubtless interest many readers of the Irish Naturalist to have a 

 comparison of notes from various districts, north, south, and midland. — 

 C. B. Moffat. 



The Hornet Moth (Trochllium crabroniformis, CI.) In 

 Co. Cork. — On July 2 1st while botanizing near Berehaven I captured 

 a good specimen of this very pretty insect. Mr. Carpenter, who has 

 kindly confirmed my determination of the species, states that it has 

 not been previously recorded for this county.— R. A. PHir,UPS, Cork. 



