FOOT — ON IHISH LEPIDOPTERA. 7 



breeding cages, were precisely similar for all ; and I believe it is now 

 held, and I think with much probability, that lepidopterous ornamen- 

 tation is most affected by the degree and kind of light the larvse are 

 exposed to, and by the quantity and quality of the food plant they are 

 obliged to use. In the locality in which I found S. bombiliformis, the 

 Einglet butterfly (H. hyperanthus) swarmed after the 8th of July, and 

 it also occurred in the greatest profusion up to the end of that month in 

 damp rank meadows, and rushy places in the vicinity of woods. Mr. 

 Birchall, in his catalogue of Irish Lepidoptera (" Proc. Nat. Hist. Soc. 

 Dubl.," vol. v., pt. i., p. 59) mentions this butterfly as rather local, and 

 states that he had observed it in profusion near Galway, and in Malahide 

 park. 



On the 21st July, at 11^ a. m., I came upon two oak eggars (Lasio- 

 campa quercus) fluttering across a roadway through a wooded glen ; they 

 were both males ; I saw but one other of this species through the sum- 

 mer, not being fortunate enough to come across an " assembling, " or 

 nuptial gathering, of this insect, as was a friend of mine, who, driving in 

 his gig near Eathfarnham, passed through a company of these moths in 

 attendance on a female ; he easily secured seven fine specimens. It is 

 stated that the males of this moth will even go into the pocket of the 

 collector, if a recently hatched female be enclosed in a box therein. The 

 descent of twelve Wood Leopards (Z. sesculi) down Mr. Hewitson's 

 drawing room chimney, in August last, may have been due to an " as- 

 semblage," although there was no female discovered among the lot. 



Prom the middle of July I began to meet with the Humming-bird hawk 

 moth (Macroglossa stellatarum), over bramble blossoms and honeysuckle, 

 throughout the day from forenoon to evening. Although this moth is most 

 commonly met with in the autumnal months (at least it is in September 

 and October that I have caught most of them), it is well known that 

 they may be obtained all through the year, the warmth of many of our 

 winter days tempting them from their hybernating quarters. On this 

 moth Mr. Birchall observes ( Op. cit., p. 61), " very common; seems to be 

 on the wing day and night for the greater part of the year. It frequently 

 comes to sugared flowers in the evening; and once, about midnight, it 

 tapped for admission at the lantern of the Bailey Lighthouse, and was 

 secured.'' The humming-bird moth was, according to my observations, 

 very much less abundant during the past summer than in the previous 

 one ; and perhaps it may have been remarked that there did not appear 

 to be the same number of letters, if any, on the subject in the news- 

 papers, which invariably appear when the moth is abundant and seen 

 by many for the first time. The humming-bird moths may be often 

 noticed in the hotter summer months resting on garden walls with a 

 southern aspect, and the cause of this habit has been discussed, 

 in the Entomological Society of London. It has been suggested that 

 it might result from a desire to enjoy the extra heat afforded by 

 such walls, or that the Gallium mollugo, a favourite food plant which 

 grows in such situations, attracts it ; but the most received explanation 

 is that the moth enters holes in sunny walls and banks to rest itself for 



