Zoology. T 97 



DIPT ERA. 



The neighbourhood of Belfast is classic ground to the 

 student of the Two-winged Flies, as the scene of the early 

 researches of one of the most talented and accurate of 

 entomologists — ^Alex. H. Haliday. Seventy years ago his 

 observations on the shores of Belfast Lough and the slopes 

 of the Mourne mountains enabled him to [)ublish the most 

 important paper on Irish Diptera' that has ever appeared. 

 In this paper he enumerated more than 650 species, many 

 of which proved to be the types of new species, and some 

 of new genera. In the introduction to this paper Haliday 

 dwelt on some features of the Irish fly fauna that are especi- 

 ally marked in Ulster. For example, he commented on 

 the absence of AsilidK and Bombyliidns (a few representa- 

 tives of these families do occur in the south), and the 

 relative abundance of Dolichopodida; and certain groups of 

 the Acalypterata— especially the ftimilies Cordyluridai and 

 Phycodromidas of modern dipterologists. All the species 

 of Scatopha^a and Ca'lopa, for example, noted as British in 

 Verrall's List,- were recorded from the Belfast district by 

 Haliday 70 years ago ! The abundance of Ca'lopa was 

 specially noticed by Haliday, who pointed out the poorness 

 of the genus in species on the European coasts. Flies of 

 the sea-shore are undoubtedly well represented in Ireland : 

 they may perhaps be regarded as belonging to the more 

 ancient sections of the fauna, since the insects that have 

 taken to life on the tidal margin would appear to be 

 decadent types, no longer able to hold their ground among 

 the more favourable inland conditions. Besides sea-shore 

 flies of such comparatively large size as the Ccelopre, Hali- 

 day detected near Belfast Lough some minute but very 

 interesting species, such as Grenanihe ripicola and Atissa 

 pygnuca. 



Practically nothing has been added to our knowledge of 

 the Dipterous fauna of the Belfast district since Haliday's 

 time. It mu=;t have been a " happy hunting-ground " for 



' A. H. Haliday. — Catalogue of Diptera occurring about Holywood 

 in Downshire. Entom. Mag., vol. i, 1833, pp. 147-180. 



2 G. H. Verrall. — A List of British Diptera. London, 1888. 



