588 F voceedingh of the Royal Irish Academy. 



XXXY. — Eepoet of Heseaeches at KixxAEXEr AifD South oe Iejilau'd: 

 Mackolepidopteea, Etc. By W. F. de Y. Ka^e, F.E.S. 



[Read, April 12, 188 6.] 



There is no district in Ireland which has, for many reasons, attracted 

 the attention of naturalists so much as that of Killarney, unless it be 

 that portion of the eastern slopes of the Wicklow ]!L[ountains, extending 

 from Eathnew to Po"vrerscourt ; and when it is remembered that it 

 was the favourite hunting-ground of the experienced and indefatigable 

 lepidopterologist, Ur. Birchall, and was also explored from time to 

 time by llr. Tardy, Peter Bouchard, Dr. Battersby, Mr. "Wollaston, 

 and others, a fresh and necessarily partial re-examination of this 

 particular group of its fauna might seem superfluous. But the work 

 done previously in this and other branches of zoology has been robbed 

 of much of its scientific value by the want of authentic record, and 

 the destruction and dispersal of Irish collections. That of Mr. Tardy 

 was never labelled, so that after his death no reliable data as to locali 

 ties could be gained from its examination, and that of Mr. Bii^chall 

 has been dispersed. The only reliable data that now survive consist 

 of such entries in Birchall's Catalogue of Irish Lepidopiera as record 

 his own captures, or those of the Kev. J. Grreene, and the list of 

 microlepidoptera compiled by Mr. Barrett. 



As three very remarkable species of macrolepidoptera are cited on 

 other testimony as having occurred at Killarney, it seemed very 

 advisable that an attempt should be made to substantiate or disprove 

 the record. I shall, therefore, in the first place, refer to the evidence 

 on which the occurrence of Ophiodes (Pseudophia) lunaris, IS'otodonta 

 bicoloria, and iS'otodonta chaonia rests, and then pass on to review 

 the general results of my three visits to Killarney, &c., and append a 

 list of the most interesting species captured. 



Ophiodes (Pseudophia, Gn.) lunaris, Schiflp., is distributed on the 

 European continent as follows : — JS^orthern range : Leyden, Hamburg, 

 and Mecklenburg-Strelitz, i. e. about 53^°. Over Southern Europe 

 it is widely spread from Spain to the Yolga (Speyer). It has twice 

 been met with in England — once in Hampshire and once in Surrey. 

 The entry in Birchall's Catalogue of the lepidoptera of Ireland stands 

 thus : " Two specimens captured at Killarney by the late Peter Bou- 

 chard in 1864." 



Being already familiar with the insect abroad, and having ac- 

 quainted myself with the chief localities at Killarney worked by 

 Bouchard, I had some hopes of following up his discovery successfully ; 

 but the atmospheric conditions prevailing last June, when this and 1^. 

 bicoloria are in flight, rendered my efforts futile in respect to all noc- 

 turnal Heterocera. It only remained to gather any evidence that might 



