108 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



abundantly ; while D. csesia frequents the Alpine region of Central 

 Europe, and the Basses Alpes,. reaching fx-om Yienna to Piedmont, but 

 is even scarcer than D. capsophila. 



D. csesia has been hitherto looked upon in regard to the British Fauna 

 as a ITanx insect — Mr. "Wright's capture being of only a single specimen. 

 I am, however, able to announce that Ireland should henceforTvard be 

 recorded as its head quarters, since I have taken specimens of it in 

 eight localities on the South Coast, reaching from Hook Point to Dursey 

 Island. The Irish and ^M^anx insect is considerably darker than that of 

 Central Europe ; but it is not so distinct from the type as is D. bar- 

 rettii. D. capsophila is also essentially an Irish insect, though twice 

 taken in "\7ales, and abundant in the Isle of Han. I have traced it in 

 Ireland from Lough Eoyle, and Eathlin Island, Howth, Bray Head, and 

 the "Wicklow, Wateriord, and Cork coasts, to Crookhaven, Berehaven, 

 and Dursey Island in the county Kerry, and in fact it appears abundant 

 wherever its food-plant grows. lEr. Buss has taken it also at SKgo. 

 It is identical with the Continental type, the specimens differing, 

 however, somewhat inter se, many from Howth being veiy grey. 

 The Manx insect, however, does not vary from that taken at SKgo, 

 nor from the majority of the Irish specimens. D. capsophila adapts 

 itself remarkably to the nature of its food-plant, which blooms in 

 succession from mid Hay to autumn, according to the season and loca- 

 lity ; and as the capsules are found in eveiy stage of maturity 

 thi'oughout the summer, so do the larvse of this insect occur contem- 

 poraneously, of all sizes, which is not the case with its congeners, who 

 live on other species of Silene whose season of flowering is more regu- 

 lar. So far for the testimony of strong-winged moths. I turn now to 

 those with wingless females. I have mentioned before that we have 

 ten out of the thirteen English species which possess this remarkable 

 feature. 



My friend, Mr. Campbell, of Derry, sent me a drawing of a larva 

 taken at Bally castle, county Antrim, and some pupae. I was enabled 

 to identify it as Ifyssia zonaria, and he has since forced some of the 

 pupae and procured the imago. This insect has been hitherto only 

 found in one restricted locality in Great Britain — on the Cheshire 

 coast — though it has a considerable European extension, which, fi'om 

 the peculiarity of its female, seems very remarkable. Erey states it 

 to be widely spread in Switzerland, and it also occurs in France, 

 Grermany, Sweden. Russia, Middle and S. Ural, &c. Mr. Bii'chall, 

 about twenty years ago, let go a number of its larvae on the sandhills 

 of Malahide, of which, however, I have heard nothing since. But 

 it is not possible that a creature totally incapable of flight, and of 

 unwieldy bulk, could have spread unnoticed to the coast of Antrim 

 within twenty or thii-ty years. 



Another addition of exceeding interest to the Irish list is Deiopeia 

 pulcheUa, which was taken at Ardmore, on the coast of Waterford, 

 by the son of Richard J. Ussher, Esq., of Cappagh House, in that 

 county. He has kindly consented to present it to the National 



