18P4.I 13 



males were very skittish, and all those captured were netted as they flew off the bushes. 

 A single specimen of Apamea ophiogramma was taken flying over rushes in a marsh 

 by the river Lagan, where A. leucostigma and 3Iiana literosa were abundant ; the 

 M. literosa are daiker and less rosy than specimens from Howth. A specimen of 

 Sadena contigua, taken in the Mourne Mountains, offered a remarkable example of 

 evanescent colouring ; at the time of capture it was evidently just out from the 

 pupa, all the darker parts of the fore-wings were of a deep rose-pink, while the pale 

 hind marginal band, the reniform and the base of the wing were strongly suffused 

 with bronzy-green, altogether a most beautiful insect : these colours gradually faded, 

 and by the time I was able to send the specimen to Mr. Barrett the green had nearly 

 disappeared. The best capture of the year was Fhibalapteryx lapidata, of which 

 species five specimens were taken in a reedy spot in the Belfast Hills on September 

 3rd ; the males were much worn, but the females were quite fresh. As there are 

 many miles of similar ground on the Antrim Hills, the species probably occurs in 

 other places. Cirrhoedia xerampelina occurred in Castlewellan Park, Venusia cam- 

 bricaria in Donard Demesne, and Stilhia anomala in a valley in the Mourne 

 Mountains. Of the Pyralides, Scoparia ingratella occurred on Knockagh, near 

 Carrickfergus, together with Ennychia cingulata and Oxyptilus parvidactylus. E. 

 cingulata has a particular liking for the steep slope at the extreme edge of the cliff, 

 so that its capture is rather exciting work. Of Platyptilia isodactyla a single speci- 

 men was taken at the same time and place as Phib. lapidata ; Senecio aquations is 

 abundant all over the ground. Homoeosoma senecionis was taken at Newcastle, Co. 

 Down, Phycisfusca {carbonariella) in the Silent Valley and Bloody Bridge Yalley 

 in the Mourne Mountains, and Phyris subornatella {dilutella) at Island Magee. 

 Peronea hastiana (hibernated) was taken near Belfast, Olindia ulmana in Donard 

 Demesne, and Pamplusia mercuriana was fairly common at the top of Slieve Bingian 

 (2500 feet). Olyphipteryx equitella was found in swarms at several spots along the 

 cliffs of Island Magee on June 4th, and one specimen of Lampronia luzella in a lane 

 near Belfast. — Chaeles W. Watts, Belfast ; October Qth, 1893. 



Stray notes on Kentish Coleoptera. — Since my return to England, in the middle 

 of July last, I have had numerous opportunities of revisiting many old collecting 

 grounds in Kent, as well as of trying some new ones, in search of Coleoptera. Some 

 of the former, I regret to say, have sadly deteriorated since I first knew them, 

 twenty or more years ago, and the phenomenal drought and heat of the past summer 

 have been most prejudicial to beetle life. Never in all my previous experience of 

 collecting have so few really good insects rewarded such constant work, and a similar 

 complaint reaches me from correspondents in many parts of the south of England. 



One exception to the general scarcity of beetles in the Isle of Sheppey has been 

 the abundance of the CoacinellidcB, especially during the latter half of July. On 

 certain evenings in that month, with a gentle south-westerly breeze and high tem- 

 perature, ladybirds might have been swept off the grass on the edge of the cliffs 

 literally by pints, and I remember to have only once before seen them in equal or 

 greater profusion, during the summer of 1869. The predominating species were, as 

 might have been expected, Coccinella '7-punctata, variabilis, ll-punctata, and bi- 

 punctata, but along with these several others, which were previously rare or not met 

 with al^ all in the island, were to be found more or less commonly, such as C. ocellata, 



