148 The Irish Naturalist. 



blame of the cold inentioned above. Cidaria incncala, C. i/nmanala, both 

 varying a good deal ; C. testata, common on the mountain ; Larcntia 

 didyiiiata ; L. cccsiaia, among heather ; Hypsipctcs soniidata ; Emnielcsia 

 albulata, very abundant ; E. adicqiiata and E. aic/iemillata, vSingle specimens 

 of each by beating hedges ; Melanippe viotitanata ; i\I. fliictiiala ; Canipto- 

 gra/mna bilineata ; Anaitis plagiata ; Eiibolia liinitata ; Metrocampa niar- 

 garltaria ; Heniithea strigata ; Acidalia diniidiata ; Eiidorea atoj/ialis, among 

 heather ; Stenopieryx noctiiella ; Pionea forjicalis ; Aphoinia socidla ; Crambiis 

 tristellus ; C. perldliis, some small varieties; C. pratellus ; C. cuhiiclliis ; 

 Tortrix vibiirnana, a pale form ; Dichelia grotiana ; Catoptria cana ; Pa/nplusut 

 viercuriana, I got this beautiful little moth on the top of one of 

 the highest mountains, but it was difficult to catch owing to the wind 

 and the broken nature of the ground ; Grapholitha triinaculana ; Lita 

 viarniorca, very plentiful on the sandhills at the roots oi Aiiunophila. 



I am indebted to Mr. C. G. Barrett for kind aid in determining several 

 species with which I was unacquainted. — W. F. Johnson, Armagh. 



A Beetle new to Ireland,— Haemonia appendiculata, Panz. 

 in Co. Dublin. — While exercising the water-net in the Royal Canal, 

 near Dublin, on the 8th April, I was fortunate enough to take a specimen 

 of this beetle which is apparently of great rarity, I cannot find any re- 

 cords of its recent occurrence in Great Britain, and there are very few 

 British records of any kind, all are from the south of England. The 

 species is chiefly south European in its distribution. — ^J. N. HAi^BiiRT, 

 DubHn. ■ 



MOLLUSCA. 



Some Notes on the Irish SIug:s. — It is to be hoped that by the 

 publication of Dr. Scharff's monograph on the Irish Slugs, and his more 

 recent series of articles in The Irish Naturalist for 1S92, an impetus will be 

 given to Irish conchology, and that a deeper and more careful stud}^ will 

 be the result. With the exception of Dr. Scharff's admirable and exceed- 

 ingly useful work, comparatively little or nothing has been done amongst 

 the Irish slugs, and this is the more surprising when one considers the 

 many interesting problems connected with the country geographically. 

 Some of my friends, of a very sanguine nature, see in the systematic 

 study of Irish Conchology a host of new and rare forms. Westerlund 

 has recorded several species oi Sph(vriidce peculiar to Ireland. 



Regarding the slugs, I think future careful and systematic studies of 

 their distribution will reveal a number of forms not as yet known to 

 occur in any of the British Isles. I am indebted to the kindness of Dr. 

 Scharff for many interesting consignments of Irish slugs, amongst 

 which the following have been found : (i) forms very nearly allied to 

 Arioii celticus, Poll, (which species I now regard as a variety of ^. hortensis^ 

 Fer.) ; (2) a very interesting Arion, much smaller than A. empiricorum, 

 Fer., of a silvery-grey colour ; possibly this may be only a colour- variation 

 of a young individual. It might easily be mistaken for the British form 

 o{ A.fuscatus^ Nils. [A. boiirguignaii, Mab., and A. ci^-cnmscnptiis, Johnst.). 

 I had only a single specimen, but from what I could make out by dis- 

 section it was closely allied to A. eiiipiriconini. The reproductive organs 

 were but slightly developed. In Dr. Scharff's work (p. 539) he makes 

 mention of some Arions from the west coast, in which the retractor 

 muscles of the oviduct and receptacular duct have their point of attach- 

 ment on the upper poj'tion of the oviduct and close to the receptaculum 

 seminis. I have suggested to Dr. Scharff that this form may possibly 

 be the A. hisitanicus, Mabille, in which species the muscles are so 

 situated. This species has been found in England, and I can see no 

 reason why it should not occur also in Ireland. It is quite possible that 

 man}^ of the slugs which, from external appearances, we at present regard 

 as varieties of J.. //^^r/d'wjzj-, Fer., may by careful anatomical investigations 

 prove to be referable to some of the more northerly distributed conti- 

 nental forms. I hope, at no distant date, to jjublish in the pages of this 



