58 



ZOOLOGY. 



is found on the Continent only in southern France and around the Mediter- 

 ranean shores. It ranges also to the Atlantic islands — Madeira and Azores 



suggesting the possible extension of the ancient continent far to the west. 



The markedly discontinuous and restricted range of these Lusitanian 

 species shows clearly that they are the most ancient section of our fauna, 

 and there can be little doubt that they came into our area as long ago as the 

 Miocene (middle Tertiary) period of geologists. 



The poverty of the Irish Butterfly fauna recalls that of the mammahan, 

 many familiar English Butterflies — Vanessa foly- 

 - , ^ chloros, Limenitis sibylla, and Apatura iris, for 



insects. example, being quite unknown. One of the most in- 



teresting of Irish Butterflies is Erebia epiphron — the 

 " Mountain Ringlet " — which inhabits some of the western mountain ranges 

 — Croagh Patrick, Nephin Beg, and the hills near Sligo. The " Irish Bur- 

 net " Moth {Zygcsna pilosellcE var. niibigena) is abundant in the limestone 

 districts of Counties Galway and Clare ; for many years it was unknown 

 elsewhere in the British Isles, but its range has now been traced into western 

 Scotland (near C>ban) and Wales. The dark form {Barrettii) of the south 

 European Dianthcecia luteago inhabits the cliffs of Howth, County Dublin 



Fig. 3. — Dianthacia luteago, Continental type (upper figure), 

 and its Irish variety, Barrettii (lower figure). Slightly enlarged. 



(now very sparsely), County Waterford, and County Cork ; this form has in 

 recent years been found also in Wales, Devon, and Cornwall. These in- 

 sects may perhaps belong to a southern faunistic group somewhat less 



* W, F. de V, Kane. " A Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Ireland." Entomologist, vols, 

 xxvi.-xxxiv., 1893-1901. W. F. Johnson and J. N. Halbert. " A List of the Beetles of Ireland," 

 Proc. R. J. Acad. (3), vol. vi., 1902. A. H. Haliday. Papers on Irish Diptera and Hymenoptera 

 in Entom. Mag., vols, i.-v., 1833-8. 



