1907. Kane. — Lepidoptera of Lambay* 45 



Ireland wherever its food plant grows. The melanic form of 

 -this species I have never met with, except on the Blasket Islands. 

 In vain for two nights did we work for D. luteago var. Barrettii on 

 steep cliff faces which seemed suitable haunts for this local 

 insect. And in a former year, also at the proper season, I failed 

 in my search for it at Lambay. Nevertheless as its headquarters 

 at Howth are so near, it seems probable that it exists also at 

 Lambay, where the steep cliffs afford foothold to plants of 

 Silene maritima. Here only its habits would warrant an ex- 

 pectation of its capture, but such places are often inaccessible^ 

 and to wield the net from a niche in the face of a sheer cliff after 

 dark needs a good deal of experience and nerve. Dianthcecia 

 nana I believe I met with at Lambay on a former occasion, but 

 have not a reliable memorandum. D. cucubali and D. capsincola 

 are almost certainly to be found there. Among the Geometridae 

 very few of interest w r ere taken. On a former occasion I took 

 specimens of Eupithecia succentureata in bushes near the Coast 

 Guard dwellings, but failed in rediscovering this rather scarce 

 species on my last visit. It will no doubt have followed the 

 fortunes of its food plant Artemisia vulgaris 1 wherever its largest 

 patches may be found from time to time. Perhaps I should not 

 pass over without comment the existence of Orgyia antiqua on 

 an island about three miles off the coast. Its presence raises the 

 question of how moths whose females are devoid of wings be- 

 come in many cases widely disseminated, in spite of the fact 

 that the ovigerous females are sluggish, and for the most part 

 do not drag their cumbrous bodies more than a few yards during 

 their short lifetime. How then did Orgyia antiqua find its way 

 to Lambay ? The only explanation that I can offer is that the 

 larva of this particular species is almost polyphagous, so that if 

 a leaf or stick on which eggs had been laid were accidentally 

 brought ov*er in the cargo of a boat, the young, wherever they 

 emerged, would be almost sure to find food without wandering 

 far. Most lepidoptera are very narrowly restricted as to their 

 food plant, hence the extreme difficulty of introducing most 

 species to a new habitat. The list, it will be seen, contains 

 scarcely any of the group formerly called micro-lepidoptera. 

 Whenever the island is exploited carefully for these small but 

 beautiful moths, rare and interesting species are certain to be 



1 Artemisia vulgaris is unknown on the island — R. Ll. P* 



