1898-99.] 4 8 9 



slides taken on the Club excursion by Dr. Fogarty, of Limerick, 

 and Messrs. Welch, Fennell, and Phillips, of Belfast. An 

 animated discussion followed the reading of the several papers. 



IJ January. 



The Third Meeting of the Winter Session was held on 

 Tuesday evening, the 17th January, in the Museum, Rev. 

 C. H. Waddell presiding. Two papers were read. The 

 first paper, by the Rev. W. F. Johnson, M.A., dealt with Irish 

 butterflies. The Lecturer said — Out of the sixty-seven species 

 of butterflies in the British list, only forty-one can be claimed 

 for Ireland, and of these, several are mere casual visitors, while 

 others are confined to particular parts of the country. Follow- 

 ing the arrangement of Barrett's Lepidoptera of the British 

 Islands, the best and most complete modern work, he gave a full 

 account ot our commoner species explaining the marks of 

 distinction of the species, their food plants and many particulars 

 of their habits. 



He described the three white or cabbage butterflies. The 

 large white Pieris brassicae is a fine insect, large specimens 

 measuring nearly three inches in expanse of wings. The larva 

 feeds on cabbage and at times is destructive from its numbers. 

 There are" two broods in the year, the first appearing in May 

 and the second in July. The first brood are the result of the 

 eggs laid by the second brood, these eggs develop into cater- 

 pillars which feed up and turn into chrysalises, continuing in 

 that state through the winter, and being capable of bearing a 

 considerable amount of cold. He had observed a chrysalis on 

 a north wall frozen hard, from which the butterfly duly 

 emerged in the following spring. 



