26 2 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



of certain groups which might have been almost certainly expected is as 

 remarkable as the presence of others of great rarity in Ireland. For instance, 

 several evenings were spent on Clare Island watching for Dianthoeciae at 

 flowering tufts of Silene maritima, a plant which undoubtedly is plentiful on 

 the precipices on the northern side of the island. Neither D. capsophila, 

 D. cucubali, nor D. nana, which are so common on the Irish littoral, was 

 seen, nor any others of the genus. Moreover, at the proper season, careful 

 and widespread examination of the capsules of Silene proved that none of the 

 genus were bred on it — an almost unprecedented experience to me on the Irish 

 coast. The only result of this examination was the discovery of " larvae of 

 Eupithecia oblongata. Further disappointment was caused by the almost 

 complete failure of the light-house lantern to attract night-flying moths, 

 which was attributed by the light-house keeper (who was familiar with this 

 method) to the constant high winds which sweep the lofty cliffs on which 

 the buildings stand. Dicranura vinula, Satwnia pavonia, Arctia caja, and 

 a few common Noetuae were the only captures at the lamp. On the main- 

 land such woodland species as were taken came from the demesne of 

 Glendarary, near Achill Sound, where several specimens of Macroglossa 

 bombyliformis were captured ; from the woods of Old Head near Louisburgh ; 

 and from some woods beside the town of Westport and near Belclare. Unfor- 

 tunately the old oak-woods belonging to the Marquess of Sligo were too far 

 away from Westport to be examined. The most interesting forest-lands in 

 Mayo fringe the south-eastern shores of Lough Conn and Lough Cullin, 

 some fifteen miles as the crow flies to the north-west of Westport. These 

 extensive woodlands stretch from Muckersnav to Pontoon. I found them rich 

 in Lepidoptera. The locality is too distant to be included in this report, but 

 among the rarities taken there may be mentioned the following :—Cymato- 

 phora or, in some plenty, of dark coloration; Acronycta euphorbiae var. 

 montivaga, not very rare; Lobophora halterata, fairly abundant : and 

 Mr. Bonaparte Wyse was fortunate in taking Cleoceris viminalis at Pontoon — 

 a rare and very local moth in this country — and also Eucosmia undulata, 

 which is scarce in Ireland generally, but fairly plentiful at Glendarary, Achill 

 Island. Here Haclcna glauca was taken by Mr. Greer. 



It will be noted that the fauna of the limestone district of Mayo on the 

 eastern side of the Partry Mountains, along the shores of Lough Mask and 

 Lough Carra, is not represented here. That area seems never to have 

 been explored by the entomologist. I have observed specimens of Zygaena 

 pilosellae (the Galway Burnet) on the limestone terraces by Lough Mask, 

 and probably such species as Phothedes captiuncula, Setina irrorella, and 

 Lithosialuridcola, so characteristic of that formation in Galway and Clare, may 



