THE ENTOMOLOGTST. 237 



Not only single ruined cottages may be observed, but whole 

 villages without an inhabitant. Tiie solitude and the ap- 

 pearance of sudden desertion remind one of the descriptions 

 of the deserted cities of Central America ; but the miserable 

 roofless hovels, the rotting timbers, the hearthstones covered 

 with a rank growth of nettles, do not tempt the pencil like 

 the great Aztec ruins, and tell of sorrow too near to us in time 

 to be pleasant objects of contemplation. 



In this stony wilderness Z. nubigena appears at the end of 

 June in amazing numbers ; when at its height the air seems 

 alive with red bees ; every flower and almost every stem of 

 grass has its occupant, and dozens are on every patch of 

 thyme. Owing to the cocoon being concealed either at or 

 under the surface of the ground, often attached to a stone, 

 but never elevated on the stem of a plant like the cocoons of 

 the other British Zygaenas, it is very difficult to collect 

 nubigena until it actually emerges from the pupa, and 

 hitherto all attempts to rear the larva from the egg have 

 failed. 



In some parts of the district ferns are the principal vege- 

 tation, and the Englishman, who perhaps cherishes a little 

 plant of maidenhair (Adiantum Capillus -Veneris) under a 

 glass in his distant home, is amazed and delighted beyond 

 expression to see what he deemed a rare and delicate plant 

 waving its fronds in rank luxuriance from every cleft and 

 crevice exposed to the sweep of the Atlantic storms. Asple- 

 nium marinum and A. Ceterach are also very abundant. 



For Lepidoptera, Sir Thos. Redington's park, near Glaring 

 Bridge, twelve miles from Galway, is one of the most pro- 

 ductive places I have ever met with : it is of great extent, 

 and contains much uncultivated ground and fine timber. No- 

 where else have 1 had such unfailing success at sugar. All 

 the following insects occur in the Park, besides multitudes of 

 commoner species ; — Leucopl)asia Sinapis (very abundant in 

 June ; no autumnal brood apparently)} Thecla Betulne (larva 

 on the stunted sloe-bushes in June, and the butterfly in 

 August, on the flowers of the bramble, in great profusion), 

 Polyommatus Alsus, Chcerocanipa Porcellus, Zygaena Minos 

 (typical form), Setina iirorella, Calligenia miniata, Ellopia 

 fasciaria, Geometra papilionaria, Astheiia sylvata, Scodiona 

 Belgiaria, Aspilates gilvaria, Larentia Salicata, Emmelesia 



