4 Thr Irish Naluralist. January, 



NOTES ON LEPIDOPTERA FROM EAST TYRONE 



IN 1917. 



BY THOMAS GREER. 



Although the winter of 1916-17 was the most severe that 

 has been experienced for a great number of years, it seems, 

 so far as I can judge, to have had little or no adverse 

 influence on the insect life of this neighbourhood. On 

 April nth the heaviest fall of snow of the whole winter 

 occurred, the roads in many places being quite impassable 

 owing to the heavy drifts ; yet on the 15th the first insects 

 of the year were observed at sallow bloom, and larvae of 

 Melitaea aurinia were noticed on the move outside their 

 winter webs ; though there was plenty of snow still lying 

 about. 



At the sallows, insects were in great force, Taeniocampa 

 gracilis (of which 90 per cent, were red forms), T. munda 

 (usually in small numbers here), T. opima in its special 

 locality, and four Panolis piniperda turned up, an insect 

 unknown hereabouts before ; at this time a single Polyploca 

 flavicornis was bred from larvae found last July. 



At the end of the month the first Pieris napi was observed, 

 and during May the insect was flying in clouds over some 

 low-lying meadows, near the house, the males quartering 

 the ground in search of the freshly emerging females, 

 pairing taking place in many instances before the wings 

 of the female were fully expanded. By watching these 

 antics of the male I secured a fine variable series of the 

 female, with little or no exertion, for an English corres- 

 pondent. Later in the season the second brood was equally 

 abundant. These same meadows at the time of writing 

 are several feet under water, and will remain so for most 

 of the winter ; how the thousands of pupae of this and 

 other species which are lying exposed on the surface of 

 the ground survive this treatment is a mystery. The 

 males of Euchloe cardamines were now flying in the sun 

 but were much less numerous than in other years, so that 



