A CATALOGUE OF THE LEPIDOPTEEA OF IRELAND. 85 



Glendalough, Aasleagh, and elsewhere. This local tendency to 

 dark scaling I attribute to adaptation to a moorland environ- 

 ment, as here it appears to be in process of establishment 

 as a local variety. On the dark, bald cliffs of Kerry, at Dursey 

 Island and the neighbouring mainland, a very dark form occa- 

 sionally occurs, more melanic than the Unst specimens, the fore 

 wings being of an almost unicolorous fuscous brown, and the 

 hind wings of an ochreous brown — ab. infuscata. Upon a rock 

 islet, a considerable distance from the Kerry coast, where a sparse 

 vegetation of thrift creeps up the slopes between the rocks, I 

 discovered the var. isolata, but fear it has since disappeared, 

 though then fairly numerous. The continuous Atlantic storms 

 of the winter of 1893-4 soaked the shaven sward with deluges of 

 sea-water to such an extent that it withered away in spring. 

 This melanic form I consider owed its origin to protective 

 adaptation coupled with complete isolation. The close herbage 

 affording no refuge for imagines (which probably were of the 

 mainland race already tending toward dark aberrations), they 

 had to rest on the dark rocks ; and the paler specimens no doubt 

 fell a prey to the birds and bats. Thus a stable melanic variety 

 arose, and became constant by in-breeding. Among a large 

 number taken on this islet on two occasions not one approached 

 the ordinary coloration, but were uniform in their black hue. 

 The following is a description of this interesting form : — Var. 

 isolata. With all the wings of a sooty black, upon which the 

 waved strigae and median band are marked in darker tone. The 

 hind wings in some instances are shot with a yellowish tinge. The 

 body and under side of the wings are also of sooty black. The 

 size is above the average, which is a proof that the dark scaling 

 is not a result of dwarfing or diseased conditions. 



Camptogramma fluviata, Hb. — I have only occasional cap- 

 tures of this moth to record. It does not seem to be anywhere 

 numerous, though perhaps this may be due to ignorance of its 

 habits, and the appropriate method of capture. Howth and 

 Malahide (B.) ; Limerick (T.) ; Timoleague, Co. Cork (D.) ; Clon- 

 brock, Co. Galway (R.E.D.); Markree Castle, Co. Sligo ; Deny 

 and Cushendall (C.) ; Ballycastle, Antrim. 



Phibalapteryx tersata, Hb.— A single worn specimen of this 

 species was taken in a garden at Howth, August 21st, 1891, by 

 Mr. Maurice Fitzgibbon. Whether a casual importation or 

 introduced with shrubs there is no means of judging ; but so far 

 the capture is unique in Ireland. 



Phibalapteryx lapidata, Hb. — The late Stephen E. Fether- 

 ston-H., a friend of Birchall, was the first to discover this insect 

 in Ireland. He took it in some numbers on the range of moor- 

 land belonging to his brother at Glenmore near Crossmolina, Co. 

 Mayo, where I have since met with it. It can be taken at light] 



