A CATALOGUE OF THE LEPIDOPTERA OF IRELAND. 239 



Cork (S.) ; uiid Limerick (.V.). Eats are very destructive of the 

 larvfB and pup;i!, gnawing the stems of the food-phmt wherever 

 the insect is abmidant. 



ap.ujf:w,e. 



GoRTYNA ocHRACEA, Hb. — Probably much more widely distri- 

 buted than the few localities I append would indicate. I have 

 never taken the imago. '' Common and widely distributed " (B.). 

 Knocknarea, Co. Sligo (Russ) ; Greystoues, Co. Wicklow ; Clon- 

 brock, Co. Galway, one {R. E. D.). 



Hydr(ecia nictitans, Borh. — The variations presented by this 

 insect have been most minutely classitied by Mr. Tutt, and the 

 distribution of the three chief forms discussed. The segregation 

 of the type and the var. paluclis, Tutt, seems to me often to be 

 so remarkable as to suggest a doubt whether they might not be 

 distinct. I have not, however, found v. luccns thus supplanting 

 the type in any locality, but occurring with it in more or less 

 abundance, as on the Wicklow sandhills, whence Mr. Tutt records 

 having received specimens from me. My information at present 

 does not, however, tend to support his idea that v. paluclis is 

 ** a marsh or coast form." Though Mr. Euss takes it exclusively 

 at Knocknarea, Co. Sligo, the type and v. lucens are to be found 

 about eight miles further up the coast, on the sandhills at 

 Lissadell. On the east coast at Sutton, Co. Dublin ; and on 

 the long parallel ranges of sandhills and fens which border the 

 Wicklow coast for many miles, from Wicklow to Newcastle and 

 Kilcool, and again at Arklow, I have found typical nictitans to be 

 the almost exclusive form, with a sprinkling of v. lucens, and out 

 of a series sent to Mr. Tutt he only noted one Y.paludis. On the 

 other hand, I last year took long series of nothing but v. paludis 

 (except two v. lucens) at the two inland localities of Clonbrock, 

 Co. Galway, and Mote Park, Co. Eoscommon. At the former 

 demesne the insects occurred in a field subject to occasional 

 floods ; at the latter, in ordinary grass pasture land. At Favour 

 Eoyal, Co. Tyrone, I had a similar experience, and at Ardtully, 

 Co. Kerry. The distribution of these forms I therefore believe 

 requires further careful investigation, as it is possible that only 

 striking specimens have been collected, and not a fair averar>-e 

 sample. Localities : — The insect is very abundant and widely 

 distributed, but I have not noted its distribution in respect to varia- 

 tion till within the last few years. Besides theDublm and Wick- 

 low sandhills, where the type is small, dark red, or brownish, with 

 broad, white (rarely orange), reniform stigmata, it occurs freely 

 at Cromlyn, Co. Westmeath, where are wide areas of flat bo'^j 

 as also at Enniscor, Co. Mayo ; Killarney ; Altadiawan, Co. 

 Tyrone, amid the moorland ; Lissadell, &c. Var. lucens occurs 

 at Arklow and the Wicklow sandhills ; Lissadell and Markree 



