Dublin Natural History Society. 7415 



" Nearly allied to P. carbonarius, Gi/IL, from which it is readily distinguished by 

 its slender antennae, of which the penultimate articulations are but slightly transverse ; 

 by the deep and close punctuation of the region of the head behind ihe eyes, and by 

 the green tint of the elytra. These characters, and the simple anterior tarsi in both 

 sexes, will also serve at once to distinguish it from P. seneus, Rossi. 



" This species has not hitherto been recorded as British. The specimen now exhi- 

 bited, the only one which I have seen, was taken, in the autumn of last year, near 

 London, by my friend Mr. Edwin Shepherd." 



Mr. Walker exhibited, on the part of Mr. F. Smith, some very small white pupa- 

 cases that were found attached to wasps' nests. These pups are very finely striated, 

 and their size is so very minute that they might have been mistaken for eggs if Mr. 

 Smith had not discovered the skin of the larva inside. 



Mr. Walker also exhibited, from Mr. Smith, some larvae taken feeding on the 

 refuse of hornets' nests. 



Mr. Westwood considered them to be the larvae of an Anthomyia, and probably of 

 A. canicularis. 



Mr. Stevens exhibited some beautiful Saturniae and other Lepidoptera, sent from 

 Port Natal by M. Gueinzius; and some extraordinary Tineina from Bootan. 



Mr. Bond exhibited a specimen of Cidaria reticularia, W. V., one of three exam- 

 ples taken in the Lake District, in 1856, by Mr. T. H. Allis. The species had not 

 jireviously been recorded as an inhabitant of Britain. 



The Secretary read a paper by T. V. Wollaston, Esq., intituled " On the Atlantic 

 Cossonides." — E. S. 



Dublin Natural Histoey Society. 



January 4, 1861. — William Andbews, Esq., M.R.I.A., President, in the chair. 



The following donations were announced : — 'The Annual Address of the President 

 of the Linnean Society ;' presented by the Author, Thomas Bell, Esq., F.R.S. ' Sug- 

 gestions for forming Collections of Birds' Eggs ;' by the Author, Alfred Newton, M.A. 



Note on the Occurrence of the Snowy Owl in the County Mayo. 

 The Secretary read the following communication, by Alfred Newton, Esq., M.A. : 

 — "As the snowy owl is stated by the late Mr. William Thompson, in his admirable 

 work on the ' Birds of Ireland ' (p. 95), to be 'a very rare winter visitant' in that 

 country, a record of the capture of one which I lately had the pleasure of seeing may 

 not be unacceptable. The bird I speak of was obtained at Ballycory, in the county 

 Mayo, on the estate of Mr. George Clive, Under Secretary of State for the Home 

 Department, and, as far as I could ascertain, somewhat late in the autumn of 1859. 

 When first observed it was sitting on a bog, and was approaclied without difficulty. 

 The man who found it had no idea what it might be, and shot at it, wounding it 

 slightly, but sufficiently to enable him to catch it alive. It soon recovered from the 

 injury, and lived contentedly in a roomy cage until the begiuning of October last, 

 when, at my suggestion, Mr. Clive presented it to the Zoological Society of London, 

 in whose Gardens I saw it a week or two since, enjoying the society of a fellow 

 prisoner of its own species, which was obtained in Unst, the northernmost of the 



