Contributions to the Natural History of Ireland. 459 



Fab. has assigned as its characters the thickness of the lower joints 

 of the antennae, with the addition, " nigricans, abdominis segmen- 

 ts tribus anticis lateribus rufis, alis albo-punctatis ;" properties tvhich 

 are common to nearly all the males of II. pluvialis. A small and 

 dark-coloured variety has been named by Mr Curtis H. hirsuta, in 

 regard to which, however, it is worthy of remark, that both sexes 

 have occurred, a female having been taken by Mr Dale near Loch 

 Rannoch in July 1825. H. Italica, figured by Mr Curtis, from its 

 superior size, looks more distinct ; it was taken at Southend, Mer- 

 sey Isle, Essex, by Mr Churchill. Numerous other modifications 

 in the appearance of this fly might be mentioned ; but it is better 

 to consider this tendency to variation as part of its specific cha- 

 racter, than to indicate the varieties as essentially and permanently 

 distinct. It might be worth while, however, to examine the eyes in 

 living specimens, as any marked dissimilarity in the colour and 

 markings of these organs would afford more distinctive and satisfac- 

 tory characters than any hitherto detected. 

 (To be continued.) 



IX. — Contributions to the Natural History of Ireland. By Wil- 

 liam Thompson, Esq. Vice-President of the Natural History 

 Society of Belfast. 



No. I. Sterna stolida. — harus Sahinii. — Cygnus Bervickii.* 

 Sterna stolida, Linn. 

 In March 1833, when looking over the collection of Irish birds 

 belonging to Thomas W. Warren, Esq. of Dublin, I perceived, to 

 my great surprise, amongst them (though passing merely under the 

 name of Black Tern, on account of the dark hue of its plumage,) a 

 specimen of the Sterna stolida. On being informed that this bird 

 had been received as Irish from William Massey, Esq. of the Pi- 

 geon-House, and that his collection contained a second specimen, I 

 waited on this gentleman to make inquiry respecting them. In 

 May 1834 he informed me, that in the summer about four years 

 since, he was favoured with the two specimens in question by the 

 captain of a vessel, who stated that they had been shot in his pre- 

 sence a few days before, between the Tusker Light-House, off the 

 coast of Wexford, and Dublin Bay. That only a few days had 

 elapsed since these birds were killed was apparent, not only to Mr 

 Massey himself, (who, from occasionally preserving birds for his 



* Part of a paper read before the Linnaean Society of London on April 15 and 

 June 3, 1834. 



