20 NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF DUBLIN. 



The President wished to express his sense of the value of Mr. Foot's 

 brief communication, in a distributive point of view, and as affording 

 an additional link in the range of localities for the plant mentioned, of 

 which he could appreciate the importance from the difficulty he and his 

 colleague in the authorship of the forthcoming " Contributions to a Cy- 

 bele Hibernica " had experienced in getting accurate information as to 

 the distribution of plants from different inland parts of the country — 

 a difficulty which, however, was much less as regards the seaboard 

 counties. He quite appreciated Mr. Andrews's observations as to Mr. 

 "Wilson's being robbed of the credit justly due to him as regards the de- 

 bated claim of Hymenopliyllum Wilsoni to that name, as opposed to 

 H. unilaterale ; and also coincided with him that, until it was proved as 

 a fact that these names referred to one and the same plant, it would 

 be more correct, as well as more just, to retain H. Wilsoni as the name 

 for this pretty and seemingly very distinct little fern. 



Me. W. Andrews, Y. P., then read the following abstract of 

 Notes on Irish Lepidoptera : — 



Mr. Andrews said that his remarks were chiefly with reference to a 

 few notes he had made at different periods of botanical rambles, and 

 not as regards any study he had made of the subject. These he was 

 only induced to allude to from the pleasing observations made by Dr. 

 Perceval Wright on Colias edusa, and on the extent of its distribution. 



At the same time, he was glad of the opportunity of presenting to 

 the meeting a specimen of the Death's Head Moth, Acherontia Atropos, 

 taken the past season in an office in the city, and contributed through 

 the kindness of John Galloway, Esq., ofMonkstown. This splendid 

 moth appears to have been very frequent during the past autumn. In 

 some years the perfect insect is scarce, although the caterpillar has been 

 occasionally met. 



It is, gratifying to find that the subject of entomology is likely to 

 be taken up by the Society, for in Ireland there is still a wide field of 

 observation. 



Many species that were considered rare, or but sparingly distri- 

 buted, are now found plentiful in several districts, such as the case 

 shown by Dr. Wright with regard to Colias edusa. That species, more 

 properly maritime in its range, has also been found inland, and, ac- 

 cording to favourable seasons, rather frequent. At the June meeting, 

 1856, Mr. Andrews had brought to notice the capture, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Killarney, of Gonepteryx rhamni, and Thecla betulce, and 

 specimens of Colias were to be met. On referring to the correspondence 

 of some old friends, dated so far back as 1840, he had found a comniu- 

 cation from his friend, Dr. Alexander, of the Eoyal Navy, in which he 

 gives a list of the Lepidoptera in the neighbourhood of Cork. He 

 states Colias edusa of occasional occurrence only — September. He also 

 mentions Thecla hetulce and T. rahi, near Bandon. In some seasons, 

 Cynthia cardui, and Vanessa Io } and V. Atalanta, abundant, other 



