1903 Mourne Mountains: their Beetle Fauna 237 



peaks, central and most conspicuous among which is the 

 castellated head of Slieve Bingian with its mountain tarn 

 shimmering on its northern dank. The descent may be 

 made directly to the south-east, to the river that flows 

 between Millstone Mountain and the Chimney Rock, or we 

 may follow a trench that has been cut from the cairn down 

 the west side of Slieve Donard to the shapely mass of 

 Slieve Commedagh, and follow the ridge of this mountain to 

 Shan Slieve, and by an easy descent regain the point 

 whence we started, having encircled the great cwm and the 

 Eagle rocks that are so conspicuous a feature in the view of 

 the mountain from Newcastle itself. 



The whole Mourne Mountain district is particularly 

 rich in subalpine plants and insects, and among the former 

 may be mentioned : Saxifraga stellaris, Saussurea alpina, 

 Juniperus nana, Vaccinium vitis-idcea, Empetnim nigrum^ 

 Salix hcrbacea, and, among the ferns and fern-allies, Allos- 

 urus crtspus, Cystopteris fragilis, Hymenophyllum unilaterale, 

 Lycopodium alpinum, etc. ; while in the mountain tarns grow 

 Isoetes lacustris and Lobelia Dortmanna? 



Among the more interesting insects that have been 

 recorded from Slieve Donard and its neighbouring heights 

 are the beetles Otiorrhynchus tnaurus and Leistus montanus ; 

 and it was with great pleasure that we were able, in a 

 recent visit, to add both these species to our collecting 

 bottle — or rather, to introduce such welcome finds to special 

 tubes for more careful preservation. 



From our observations of the locality and experience of 

 the collecting of subalpine Coleoptera on the mountains of 

 Wales, we would suggest as the most likely spots for the 

 beetle collector on Slieve Donard — (a) the southern slope, 

 towards the Chimney Rock, strewn with smallish stones ; and 

 (a) the descent to the col and the ascent to Slieve Com- 

 medagh, where the slopes are more grassy, and insects 

 more easily found under loose stones than on the more 

 thickly heather- and bilberry-clothed northern and eastern 

 slopes. It was interesting to meet with quite a large pro- 

 portion of red-legged Nebria Gyllenhali ; in all other localities 



'Sec Stewart and Praeger, "Report on the Botany of the Mourne Moun- 

 tains," Proc. R. I. A, ad., 3rd ser., vol. ii. 1892. 



