536 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



it very difficult in many cases to determine what species Haliday 

 really referred to ; indeed, in some instances we have considered it 

 best to overlook the records altogether, and thus avoid introducing 

 species which he never intended to authorise. 



Along with Haliday in the study of Irish beetles there worked Alfred 

 Furlong, A. R. Hogan, Eobert Patterson, J. Tardy, E. P. Wright, and 

 others. In the year 1838 Patterson published a book entitled "Letters 

 on the Natural History of the Insects mentioned in Shakespeare's 

 Plays," in which he gives many incidental records of Irish insects ; 

 and from a manuscript catalogue of his collection the Belfast Pield 

 Club published a short list of beetles from the north of Ireland. 



During the years 1853 and 1854 Hogan published, in the Zoologist, 

 a considerable list of the beetles occurring in the Dublin district, 

 largely composed of Haliday' s and Furlong's records = This list was 

 re-edited and brought up to date by Professor E. M'jN'ab, and appeared 

 in the British Association Guide to the County of Dublin in 1878. A 

 few of these Dublin records are doubtful, owing to insufficient evidence 

 of the occmrrence of the species, or to confusion in synonymy : they 

 will be found noted in their places in the present list. 



Prom the time of Haliday and Hogan until the year 1887 the records 

 are few in number. There were, it is true, descents made upon our 

 coasts by a few English coleopterists, notably the late Dr. Power, 

 Messrs. G. C. Champion, J. Pay Hardy, J. J. Walker, and others ; 

 but these were but flying visits, and though good work was done, it 

 touched but a small area. In 1887 one of ourselves began to make an 

 eiffort to rescue Irish coleoptera from the state of oblivion into which 

 the subject had fallen. It was, however, with the inception of the 

 Irish Naturalist, in 1892, that a real change took j)lace. Greater 

 attention was drawn to the study of the Natui-al History of our island, 

 and the beetles came in for a share of the interest thus aroused. In 

 1893 the lioyal Irish Academy appointed a Committee to investigate 

 the Flora and Fauna of Ireland, and by their assistance many parts of 

 the country, hitherto untouched, have been explored, and numerous and 

 interesting additions made to our fauna. Of recent lists, apart from 

 those for which we ourselves are responsible, the most important is 

 that by Mr. C. "W. Buckle of the coleoptera of the Foyle district. In 

 it he has made many additions to our beetle fauna, and his list is 

 further valuable as showing the species that inhabit the north-western 

 extremity of the island. In the south Mr. H. K. Gore Cuthbert has 

 pone good work, but we could wish that his efforts were less sporadic, 

 for they are invariably most successful. We may also refer to the list, 



