i86 The Irish Naturalist. August, 



Hymenoptera of the South-west. 



As a further result of Colouel Yerbury's eutoniological work in the 

 south-west of Ireland during July and August last, we have now 

 a detailed list of his Hymenopterous captures. (Hymenoptera 

 collected by Colonel Yerbury in vS.-W. Ireland in 1901 ; Aculeata 

 by Edward Saunders, F.L.S. ; Chrysididse and Tenthredinidae by 

 Rev. F. D. Morice, M.A. ; Ichneumonidse (including a species 

 new to our fauna) by Claude Morley, F.E.S. Entomologists' Monthi'y 

 Magazine, xxxviii., pp. 51-55.) The Aculeates — including the Ants, 

 Bees, and Wasps — naturally received the greatest attention ; seventy 

 kinds are recorded. The following extracts from Mr. Saunders' report 

 on the collection are noteworth}' : — ''Amongst the Aculeates are many 

 species of considerable interest, although there is none actually new to 

 our [British] lists. All, however, are interesting, on account of the 

 localities, and some on account of their very unusual coloration. 

 Amongst the latter may be mentioned specimens of Crabro diinidiatus 

 which have entirely lost their 3'ellow markings ; a small black $ of 

 C. iv-tnacniatiis belonging to the variety geniculatus. The melanic 

 variety of Megachile willttghbielia is most striking; the collection also 

 contains a verj' dark Bombus sviithiamis $ of quite different coloration to 

 any I have seen before." A comparison of this list with the recorded 

 Irish species shows that no fewer than twelve were previously unknown 

 to occur in Ireland. These are : — Pompilns unguiailaris, Thoms. ; Crabro 

 cet7'atus, Shuck. ; C. iv-macttlattts., var. geniculatus, Shuck. ; C. chiysostovius, 

 Lep. ; Odynerus trifasciattis, Oliv. ; Colletes viontanus, Mor. ; Andrena fuscipes, 

 Kirb. ; A. Cetii, Schr. ; A. kumilis, Imh. ; Nojnada roberjeotiana, Z. ; Megachile 

 willughbiella, Kirby ; Bombus Jonelhts,'K.\rhy. The wood ant, /^jrwzVrt lufa, 

 and the wasp, Vespa austriaca, are also very notable species ; both were 

 found at Parknasilla, the ant also on Valentia Island. Several of these 

 insects are rare or local in Britain, such as Andrena Cetii, which occurs 

 chiefly in the south of England, while Colletes montanus has only been 

 recorded from one localit}' in Ayrshire. 



MuUer's Topknot in Belfast Lough. 



On 7th July Mr. Wm. Scott, of Bangor, in this county, sent me a fish 

 which had been taken in a lobster-pot near there that morning, 

 requesting me to let him know " what kind of fish it is ?" I found it to 

 be a Muller's Topknot, Zeugopterus punctatus of Day, Rhombus hirtus of 

 Yarrell. It measured 6^7 inches long by 4J inches in breadth. So far as 

 I am aware, this is onh' the second record from Co. Down (Thompson 

 records one occurrence at Ardglass in. 1835), and the first in Belfast 

 Lough. The overlapping of the dorsal and anal fins by the caudal fin 

 as figured by Couch and Day, was distinctly marked. 



R. lyiyOYD Patterson. 

 Holywood, Co. Down. 



