ZOOLOGY. 59 



ancient than the true Lusitanians, but they are doubtless very old inhabi- 

 tants of our area, in some part of which they must probably have survived 

 the severe conditions of the Pleistocene " Ice Age." 



A marked characteristic of Irish Moths is their tendency to assume dark 

 varietal forms. This is well illustrated by the almost jet-black races of 

 Epunda lutulenta which occur near Sligo. In this character the Irish 

 moths resemble those of the Scottish highlands, and the moisture of the 

 climate may very probably be regarded as the cause. 



The mingling of the ancient northern and southern faunas in Ireland is 

 very markedly shown by the Beetles. There are species like Carabus 

 clathratus, confined in Great Britain to the northern half of the island, but 

 ranging in Ireland to the far south-west. Still more remarkable is Pelophila 

 borealis (fig 4) — -a small black Ground-beetle found by lake-shores in the 



Fig. 4. Fig. 5. 



Fig. 4. — Arctic Ground-beetle {Pelophila burcalis), Co. Armagh. 



Fig. 5. — Pyrenean Weevil {Otiorrhyiichus auropiiiictatus), Co. Dublin. 

 Magnified 3 times. 



western half of Ireland from north to south, but confined in Great Britain 

 to the Orkneys, and on the Continent to fairly high northern latitudes. In 

 contrast to thesp we have such south-western species as the weevil Mesites 

 Tardyi, spread throughout Ireland in wooded districts, though restricted to 

 a few scattered localities in western Britain (Clyde area, Devonshire) ; and 

 another weevil Otiorrhynchus auropiinctatus (fig. 5) ranging in the north 

 and east of Ireland from Donegal to Wicklow, but known elsewhere only in 

 the districts of the Pyrenees and the Auvergne. 



Similar characteristics are shown by other related groups. The common 

 Dublin house-spider {Tegenaria hibernicd), for ex- 

 Spiders, Millipedes, ample, quite unknown in Great Britain, is nearly re- 

 and Crustacea. lated to a Pyrenean species.* A millipede {Poly- 

 desmiis galliciis), generally distributed in Ireland, 

 seems absent from Great Britain, but reappears in south-western Europe and 

 the Atlantic Islands. f Turnmg to the Crustacea,^ we have in the small 



* G. H. Carpenter. " A List of the Spiders of Ireland." Proc. R. I. Acad. (3), vol. v., 1898. 



t R. I. Pocock. " Notes upon some Irish Myriopoda." Irish Nat., vol. ii., 1893. 



J W. T. Caiman. " On Deep-sea Crustacea from the South-west of Ireland." Trans. R.I. A., 

 vol. xxxi., 1896. E. W. L. Holt and W. I. Beaumont. " Report on the Crustacea Schizopoda 

 of Ireland." Trans, k, D. Soc. (2), vol. vii., 1900. 



