$$ 2 The hish Naturalist. November, 1907. 



During an expedition tc the County Clare, in June, the following 

 species were captured in the neighbourhood of Ballyvaughan and Black- 

 head : — 



Spilosoma mendica var. rnstiea, several of both sexes. One of the 

 females laid a number of ova, which are in the possession of Mr. 

 Frederick Hanbury, who doubtless will rear a good series of this rare 

 Irish insect. Arctia fu/iginosa, a pair, and a good many larvae of 

 Hadena contigna feeding on Loins cornieulatns. 



On our way back to Ardrahan I succeeded in finding one or two 

 localities for Plalypilia tesscradactyla, the Galway plume. And as the 

 evening was coming on we found the moths beginning to fly over the 

 food plant, so that my friend Mr. Hanbury took back to London a fine 

 series of over three dozen freshly emerged specimens such as I have not 

 hitherto met w r ith. 



W. F. DE ViSMES Kane. 

 Drumreaske, Monaghan. 



Humpbacked Whale at Moville, Lough Foyle. 



The body of a Humpbacked Whale {Megaptera bovps) stranded near 

 Moville about istjuly last. It was reported in the local papers as a 

 Grampus, but fortunately Rev. S. R. Craig, Moville Rectory, examined, 

 sketched, and photographed the carcase, and identified it as Megaptera 

 boops. The identification was confirmed by Dr. Scharff, to whom I sent 

 the photo, and sketch. The whale was a young male about 28 feet long, 

 or a little over half the size of a full-grown animal. Rev. Mr. Craig sent 

 a very good account of the whale to the Derry papers, describing the 

 immense length of the curious white pectoral flippers, with their 

 notched or indented longitudinal edges, also the deep furrows on the 

 skin of the throat, and the comparatively short baleen plates. This is 

 the second occurrence of the Humpbacked Whale on the Irish coast. 

 With the assistance of the Collector of Customs and Rev. Mr. Craig, I 

 hope to have the skeleton eventually for our City Museum. 



D. C. Campbei^i,* 

 Londonderry. 



Irish Notes in the " Zoologist." 



In the Zoologist for September, Mr. W. J. Williams records the occur- 

 rence of a Scops Owl at the Fastnet, a Montagu's Harrier at Sally Gap, 

 Co. Wicklow. and an Osprey near Drogheda. Mr. Robert Warren writes 

 on the breeding of Tree Sparrows and Dunlins in Co. Mayo — the former 

 near Killala, the latter on Bartragh Island in the same locality. 



