252 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



of Ireland. But there occur nith these species, at Killarney, 

 others of a dilferent character, which warn us against hasty 

 conchisions, and indicate how fragile is the thread by which 

 we attempt to feel our way into the darkness of the past. 

 Argynnis Lathonia, Notodonta bicolor, Ojohiodes Lunaris, 

 Bankia argenlula, Stenha sacraria, Pterophorus isodactylus, 

 and Mesiles Tardii, have certainly not reached Killarney 

 from the norlli. Apparently we have here immigrants from 

 various quarters, races v/hich fought for Irish soil long before 

 Celt or Saxon existed to quarrel about it; but many more facts 

 are wanted before it can be said whether northern or southern 

 species were the first settlers, or under what circumstances so 

 singular an assemblage of insects has occurred. 



1 do not wish to depreciate what are termed the " life- 

 histories" of insects, of which so many have lately appeared ; 

 ihey are doubtless valuable contributions to knowledge, and 

 i)ot the less valuable because their aim is limited ; but how 

 far is the best life-history from explaining the many problems 

 involved in the existence of the smallest creature ! The 

 colour or shape of an insect's wing may have had its origin, 

 and bear definite relations to changes, in ihe outline of 

 mighty continents which have influenced its distribution; 

 but the characters in which these life-iiistories are written by 

 Nature's hand are at present mostly beyond our power to 

 decipher. In the same way every line and crack on the bark 

 of a tree may, nay must, be the result of summer's sunshine, of 

 winter's storm, or of some other actual incident in the existence 

 of the tree : we may indeed conceive of an Intelligence that 

 could read every line of the history thus recorded, but how 

 utterly does the problem set human faculties at naught ! 



The entoiiiological wanderer will not omit to visit 



" Tnnisfallen, of the islands queen, 



Wiieie heavenly medilalion musing dwelt.* 



If h© wants Mesites Tardii it occurs on Innisfallen, under the 

 bark and in the wood of the decaying trees, in prodigious 

 niliMbers; on the mainland also, but very sparingly: it is a 

 cretUure of PXtremely sluggish habits, and, although not 

 exactly wingluss, its very short and unfolded, I might say 

 ifuctitnentaiy, wings a "e certainly useless for the purpose of 

 flight ; 80 thul the colony on the island has not been thinned 



