140 NOTES OF AN 



The following papers were read : — 



Note on the Peculiarities presented in the Changes of Skin 

 in Charaxes Jasius, by M. Duponchel. 



Descriptions of three new Lepidoptera from Sicily and 

 Spain, CleopJiana Elisaldei, Anthocaris Damone, and Acontia 

 Graellsii, by M. Feisthamel. 



Art. XV. — Notes of an Irish Insect- Hunter. 



^Chapters I — IV. 



[In which the ISToter arriveth at Dublin; mingleth in the election; crosseth the 

 country from east to west; traverseth on foot among the Cunnemara moun- 

 tains — but saith nothing about insects.] 



At twelve hours' notice we were ready. Passing all the 

 wonders of the route from London to Birmingham by night- 

 coach, — thence, via rail, just opened, to Liverpool, in precise 

 time to scramble on board the Post-office steam-packet for 

 Dublin, — suffice it to say, that, after a tolerably blowing night, 

 on regaining the deck I found we were just entering Kingstown 

 harbour, in the teeth of a brisk wind, on as fine a fresh morning 

 as ever converted the sea into the irregularly moving surface 

 of a molten mirror, ploughed up and shattered, as the prow met 

 each wave in the particular track in which we were dashing, 

 like mingled quicksilver and liquid emerald, on the spray of 

 which were reflected ten thousand broken rainbows. 



I have not seen the Bay of Naples, or of Constantinople ; 

 nor had I ever heard the Bay of Kingstown described, — there- 

 fore I was not prepared for this magnificent introduction to the 

 sister-isle. The far out-stretching mountain-promontory of 

 Howth-hill forms its northern boundary ; the bold and pic- 

 turesque termination of the Wicklow range, its southern. They 

 are the respective horns of something more than a crescent, 

 and, each armed with its lighthouse, seem to invite you in 

 and offer protection, which the enormous artificial woi'ks render 

 perfect. An 800-ton vessel may unload alongside the quay 

 at any time ; and the largest merchantman or man-of-war may 

 take refuge within the pier immediately after flood. 



