230 The Irish Nahiralist, [ Sept., 



COIvBOPTERA. 

 BY J. N. HALBKRT. 



The great success attending Mr. R. E- Dillon's researches 

 amongst the lepidoptera of East Galway are now well known 

 to all students of the order. This success is mainly due to 

 the varied nature of the district, comprisingsomefine remnants 

 of natural forest and extensive moorlands, and to no small 

 extent also, to steady collecting in the same localities for the 

 greater part of the year. In an order so numerous in species 

 as the Coleoptera, we could only hope during our visit to 

 obtain a general idea of the species occurring in the district, 

 and as three-fourths of the collecting was done on boggy 

 heaths, a general sameness in results to those obtained in many 

 places in west and central Ireland, was to be expected. We 

 managed, however, to secure a fair number of local forms. 

 Mr. Dillon had preserved a small collection of beetles from 

 the immediate neighbourhood ; amongst these were two or 

 three rarities taken during the previous m.onth, that all our 

 efforts failed to refind, showing that on account of the abnor- 

 mal earliness of the spring, many species were practically 

 over at the time of our visit. The following notes refer only 

 to the less common species. 



The Carabid^ or ground-beetles are rather poorly repre- 

 sented at Clonbrock, as in such inland localities they are 

 chiefly to be found on the stony margins of lakes and rivers ; 

 and it is to the scarcity of these conditions that the absence 

 of such species as Carabits clathratus and Pelophila borealis 

 may perhaps be attributed. 



The first species to be noticed in our list is Carabus aruensis, 

 F., here of the usual shining bronze colour. Mr. Dillon 

 found two specimens running on a pathway earlier in the year; 

 it is widely distributed, though local, occurring chiefly on 

 heaths. Calathus piceiis, Marsh., was fairly common in damp 

 moSvSy places in the Oak-wood, where also Dro7nuis quadri- 

 maculatus, ly., abounded under bark. Perhaps the best place 

 for ground-beetles was along the banks of the Suck ; here I 

 was fortunate enough to meet with Trechiis discus, F., a very 

 local species, not previously recorded from Ireland. Other 

 notable captures in this locality were Chlceniiis iiigricoriiis, F., 

 Bembidium guttula, F., B. assimile^ Gyll, and B, bipimctatum^ 



