THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



No. 37 & 38.] FEBRUARY, MDCCCLXVn. [Price Is. 



Irish Insect-Hunting Grounds. By Edwin Birchall, Esq. 



I. The Hill of Howth. 



This noble headland, stretching eastward into the Irish 

 Channel, forms the northern arm of Dublin Bay : the name 

 is supposed to be derived from the Scandinavian word 

 " Hoved," a headland, given to it by the old Danish con- 

 querors of Dublin. 



It is about four miles in length, with an average width of 

 two miles : to the sea it everywhere presents a wall of rug- 

 ged and almost inaccessible cliffs, above which are sloping 

 mountain-pastures, gradually rising into a central heath-clad 

 mass, of about six hundred feet in height. 



The greater part of Howth is uncultivated, and comprising 

 within its bounds almost every variety of surface : it is a per- 

 fect little entomological paradise of bog, swamp, sand-hill, 

 wood, moor and mountain ; and, thanks to the liberality of 

 the noble owner, the Earl of Howth, there is not a single 

 " Notice to Trespassers" on his property. 



The promontory is connected with the mainland by a low 

 sandy isthmus, at its narrowest part only a couple of hundred 

 yards across, and raised so little above the sea-level that a 

 winter's storm might almost sweep away the frail barriers, 

 and Howth again become the island it was in the car- 

 boniferous sea. 



For a moment let us glance back to that immeasurably 

 distant epoch, and consider the marvellous story which Geo- 

 logy has revealed of the past history of Howth, — how the 

 ancient island sank beneath the sea, inch by inch, enveloped 

 in a stony shroud, descending to unknown depths : countless 

 ages pass, — countless truly, for who can estimate or even 

 imagine the period required for the accumulation of the 

 whole series of the secondary rocks, and during their depo- 

 sition Howth was certainly beneath the surface ? — but at last 



VOL. Ill, p 



