igo The Irish Naturalist, [July, 



INSECTS. 



Entomological Notes from Poyntzpass. — My earliest captures 

 of lepidoptera were Phigalia pedaria and Hybernia marginaria., which I 

 took on February 13th in the glebe grounds. A nice specimen of Selenia 

 illunaria was brought to me on March 13th. Bombus terrestris put in an 

 appearance on March 20th, and Vanessa tiriicce on the 22nd, and on the 

 evening of the same day there was a remarkable swarm of Dor Beetles 

 {Geotrupes stercorariiis, L.) at the railway station in Poyntzpass. They must 

 have been in great numbers, for two bo3's brought me about seventy, 

 and the next morning I saw numbers lying on the pathway where they 

 had been trodden on by passers by. I can only suggest as the cause of 

 their assemblage the quantity of cowdung left in that vicinity after the 

 cattle fair. I have noticed these beetles particularly numerous this Spring, 

 I think more so than I ever observed before. Of other early butterflies I 

 noticed Pier is napi on April 17th, and Etichloe cardamines and Satyrus 

 cgeria on the 22nd. I saw the first wasp on the wing on April 23rd. 

 Sallows are rather scarce here, and I only obtained the commoner 

 species of Tceniocampa, viz., gothica, stabilis and incerta. 



Among coleopteral have not met with anything very remarkable in this 

 immediate locality. On February 26, I gathered a bag of moss from one 

 of my fields, the best species in which were — Bembidiiim Mannerheimi^Encep- 

 halus conipUcans, Megarthrus depresstis^ Silpha opaca., Hister neglectus, Euplectiis 

 ainbigtnis, and Miccotrogus picirostris. In March I took Lithocharis ochracea in a 

 hot-bed at Acton House, and Olophtumpiceiim when digging in the side of a 

 drain in one of my fields. On the shore of the lake at lyoughbrickland on 

 April 9th I took a single specimen oi' Enochrus bicolor ; the only previous 

 record for Ireland is Mr. Halbert's who took it in quarries near Raheny 

 (/. N., 1894, p. 203). My specimen is lighter in colour than those I have 

 from English localities, but not otherwise distinguishable. 



On May 6th I received from Rev. J. Hamilton of Coolmore, Co. Donegal, 

 a box of larvse, which, on examination, I found to be those of Melitcia 

 anrinia. He kindly sent me a further supply, and mentioned that they 

 had appeared in the greatest profusion in that neighbourhood much to 

 the alarm of the country folk. It will be remembered that I reported 

 (/. N., 1895, p. 161), a number of this butterfly being washed up on the 

 beach at Coolmore, and I then supposed that they had been blown across 

 from the opposite side of the bay, but the present capture of larvse shows 

 that my supposition was incorrect, and that they were in the immediate 

 neighbourhood, probably somewhat further south towards the mouth of 

 River Erne. The larvse have fed upon Honeysuckle, and pupated, and 

 I hope soon to have a number of nice specimens. On May 7th, in the 

 Lower Demesne at Tanderagee, I captured Leistotivphus nebulosus^ and Mrs. 

 Johnson picked up Geotrtipes iyhaticus, in both cases only a single specimen 

 was met with. Lepidoptera are now (June) plentiful; and I have captured 

 in my garden here Chcerocampa elpenor, Plusia festticcv, P, pnlc/if-ina, Ciicidlia 

 u/nbratica, &c. 1 hope as I become better acquainted with this locality 

 to be able to report more interesting captures. 



W. F. Johnson, Acton Glebe, Poyntzpass. 



