72 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S KECORD. 



emilyllns. There is no doubt that the former are tardy individuals of 

 the first generation developed from " laggard " larvte ; the latter pro- 

 bably are produced by the larvae of the second brood which have fed 

 up rapidly in Jane in the full heat on dry food ; the end of August 

 and beginning of September lot is probably the result of larvae which 

 have fed slowly and have got to the chrysalis stage when the chmatic 

 conditions were again more similar to those of the spring. The few 

 October individuals are no doubt precocious autumnal ones of the 

 first generation of the following year. 



(To he continued.) 



Notes of the Season 1918 from East Tyrone. 



By THOMAS GBEER. 

 Although the winter 1917-18 was severe (snow falling heavily in 

 October), yet on February 27th sallows were in full bloom in many 

 places, a record date for the district. The months of March, April, 

 and May, were unusually mild and sunny, and spring insects emerged 

 a fortnight to three weeks before their usual time. On March 10th I 

 spent the evening on the Lough Neagh bogs, and found Taniocavipa 

 ojjinia out in number on the dwarf sallows ; the next day I visited a 

 rough, steep hillside, where (in July, 1917), a few worn MelitcBa aurinia 

 were observed flying over the rough, herbage. I found the slopes 

 literally alive with the larvae crawling actively in the hot sun ; the 

 imago from this locality (bred later m the season), is smaller and much 

 redder in colour (ab. artemis) than the bogland form. On April 5th a 

 fine female Pacliys stratcuia was discovered on a sallow trunk, a very 

 unexpected addition to the local Lepidoptera, the nearest known 

 habitat being in the Co. Wicklow. The first Euchlo'e cardamines 

 appeared on the 10th, and a number of interesting minor aberrations 

 were taken during the month and in early May ; among others the 

 following — three males with dark border 8 mm. wide on outer margin 

 of posterior wings, male with orange tip much diffused with dark 

 scales, male with very pale orange tips, several males and females with 

 discoidal on anteriors indicated by a black spot only, a teratological 

 example of male right posterior deeply scalloped on outer margin. On 

 7th of May, in company with my friend Dr. Spence, whose interests 

 are chiefly botanical, I visited a' swampy wood on the w^estern edge of 

 Lough Neagh, remarkable as sheltering the largest colony of the Royal 

 Fern, Osnumda regalis, now to be found in the county ; Thalictruvi 

 flaviuii also grows here in quantity. We found the wood swarming 

 with Geometers, mostly Lomaspilis maryinata, Hydriouiena iiiiphiviata, 

 H. riiberata, and Xanthorho'e montanata ; with X. suciata, Mesoleuca 

 alhicillata, and worn Lampropteryx sufiuiiata, in lesser numbers ; they 

 flew from the tree trunks in dozens, and arose in crowds from the 

 dense herbage at our approach. Again, on the 10th we explored an 

 extensive limestone outcrop overgrown with sloe, hazel, and ash ; here 

 the spring brood of Pararae aegeria was abundant, and P. megera in 

 small numbers frequented the bare rock ; a single Bapta tewerata found 

 at rest on a leaf was a more interesting capture, and returning in the 

 evening a few days later, the species was found in some quantity flying 

 over the tops of the sloe bushes, at the same time several Cilix 

 glaucata were secured ; both these species when at rest resemble bird 



