49° [Proc. B.N.F.C., 



Tne small tortoiseshell Vanessa urticae is a very beautiful 

 and also a very common insect. It is double-brooded, the first 

 brood appearing in June and the second in August or Septem- 

 ber. A number of the second brood pass the winter in the 

 perfect state, appearing very early in the spring. He had taken 

 it as early as 20th March. As it hybernates in houses it is very 

 often roused from its winter sleep by the warmth of the house, 

 and the inhabitants are surprised by the sight of a butterfly in 

 mid-winter. 



The larva of this species feeds on the common stinging nettle 

 and is gregarious. Its colour is really yellowish, but it is so 

 thickly dusted with black dots that it looks black. It is very 

 easy to rear, and any one who has the fancy to do so can easily 

 watch the progressive development of the larva and pupa into 

 the perfect insect. The Marsh Ringlet is widely spread through 

 the bogs and mountains of Ireland. Its larva is bright green 

 with a darker line down the back and lines of pale yellow at 

 the sides. It feeds on the beaked rush and cotton grass, and 

 also has been found on carex. The pupa is suspended to the 

 stem or leaf ot the food plant high up. 



A very rare Irish visitor is the Camberwell Beauty Vanessa 

 antiopa, a. specimen of which was captured near Belfast in 1872 

 and is in the cabinet of Canon Bristowe. It is strange that this 

 insect which is common in Norway should only be an emigrant 

 to the British Isles. Damp, however, has a destructive effect 

 on insects. In Norway there is greater cold but less damp, and 

 in summer there is great heat in its sheltered valleys. 



Anyone, who wishes to acquire further information about 

 Irish butterflies, will find it in Mr. W. F. De Vismes Kane's 

 catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Ireland, in the Entomologist 

 for 1893, or in Mr. C. G. Barrett's Biitish Lepidoptera, Vol. 1. 

 The following list of Irish butterflies was given to show all the 

 species that have been found at any time in Ireland up to 

 date : — 



