194 The Irish Naturalist. September, 



INSECTA. 

 COLEOPTERA, 



BY J. N. HALBERT. 

 [Collected for the R.I. A. Flora and Fauna Committee.] 



With the exception of the Butterflies and Moths, less is known of the 

 zoology of Sligo than of most of our western counties. Very little col- 

 lecting has been carried on there, and that chiefly of a desultory character. 

 As regards the Coleoptera, the most important paper is one published by 

 the Rev. W. F. Johnson, in the Irish Naturalist for 1902, giving the results 

 of a holiday spent in the vicinity of Knniscrone, on the shores of Killala 

 Bay. Many records of uncommon insects are given in this paper, 

 such as Blediits erraticiis, Bembiditwi fninimum, &:'c. Other entomologists 

 who have visited the district are W. E. Sharp and Dr. G. W. Chaster. 

 On the occasion of the visit of the Dublin Naturalists' Field Club in 

 1902, a few insects were collected, notably the mountain ground-beetle 

 Carabus glabratus on Ben Bulben. All of these records were made use of 

 in the general list of Irish beetles published two years ago. 



The present contribution to the beetle fauna of the Sligo district, 

 numbering about one hundred and forty species, necessarily includes 

 many new county records, as well as a few for the province of Connaught. 

 The Coleoptera were decidedly scarce during our visit in July, in part 

 due to the time of the year, which is a little late for many species usually 

 to be met with during the early summer. We succeeded, however, in 

 finding a few notable insects, especially the arctic ground-beetle Pdophila 

 borealis on the shores of Lough Gill. Indeed I cannot remember having 

 seen this interesting species so common in any other locality. The local 

 Bryaxis Hclferi occurred on the shores of Ballysadare Bay, the third 

 recorded locality for this southern insect. Donacia crassipes at Lough Gill 

 is also an addition to the fauna of Connaught; and the Holly-boring 

 Weevil, Rhopaloviesites Tardyi, was not uncommon near Rockwood, living 

 under decaying fir bark, a rather unusual habitat for the species. 



In the following list localities have been omitted for the very common 

 insects, as they occurred in most of the places visited. The nomenclature 

 is that of Sharp and Fowler's list (1893). 



Carabid^. — Cychrtis rostratus^ Glencar. Carabus granulatus. Notiophilus 

 bigtittatiis. N. aqjiaticus, Raghly. Leistus mfescens, not usually found on 

 mountains, was taken on the summit of Annacoona by Prof. Carpenter. 

 Nebria brevicollis. Pelophila borealis^ quite common under stones on the 

 south shore of Lough Gill near Rockwood, and on the banks of a partially 

 drained lake near Ballysadare. Elaphrjis riparius. E. acprcus. Lough 

 Gill, Raghly. Loricera pilicornis. Clivina fossor. Dyschirius globosus. 

 Broscus cephalotcsy sand-hills at Raghly. Badister bipustulatus. Chlceniiis 

 vestitus and C. nigricornis, both species occurred on the shores of Lough 



