Insects. 



6765 



at one step from its old covering, and the operation was completed. Whether any 

 exertions were required to make the first opening in the shell I had no opportunity of 

 observing. It is remarkable how seldom the act of exuviation is witnessed ; while the 

 cast shells in the aquarium prove its frequent occurrence : probably it takes place in 

 the night or early morning ; and no doubt the creature avails itself of concealment 

 where it is procurable, or its comrades might act on the principle that when a man has 

 his coat half off to fight is the time to pitch into him.— George Guyon ; Ventnor, Isle 

 of Wight, August 10, 1859. 



A Week at Killartiey. By Edwin Birchall, Esq. 



June 18. Reached the Muckross Hotel, at 5 p.m., accompanied by 

 my friends A. A. Dunlop and N. Cooke: walked to Tore Waterfall, 

 about a mile from the inn, capturing Hepialus velleda, H. hectus, 

 Hypena crassalis and Ennychia octomaculalis. Subsequently sugared 

 in the wood at the foot of Tore Mountain, but with small success, 

 Thyatira Batis, T. derasa and Geometra Papilionaria being the only 

 captures worth naming. 



June 19. Walked to the head of the upper lake; it was a glorious 

 summer day, — 



" One of those heavenly days that cannot die," — 



whatever the moths might do, and die they did, some hundreds of 

 them. Rogers sarcastically said, " Englishmen are all alike in this 

 matter; they come down to breakfast, look out of the window, and 

 say, What a lovely morning ! what a heavenly day ! Come, let us 

 kill something." The wooded slope from Derrycunily Waterfall to 

 the boat-house is first-rate collecting-ground, and commands a magni- 

 ficent prospect : at our feet the lake studded with wooded islands ; on 

 the opposite shore rises the Purple Mountain, barren, but singularly 

 brilliant in colouring ; further to the left the huge mass of the Reeks, 

 the mightiest mountain in Ireland, shoots its jagged crest into the 

 air, and closes up the valley ; here the fleecy masses of vapour pour 

 out of the Gap of Dunlo, and across its dark and rugged breast, 

 seeming to cling to it and circle the giant around with a belt of light : 

 as the lakes are not many feet above the sea-level, nearly the whole 

 height of the mountain (3,400 feet) is here seen at a glance in one 

 vast sweep. It is not often given to entomologists to collect in fairy- 

 land, nor very easy, when it does so happen, to avoid envying the 

 people who dwell in such a paradise all the year round ; however, let 



