74 



The Irish NatiiralisU 



April, 



NOTES. 



ZOOLOGY. 



The Death's-Head Moth in Ireland. 



Considering how universal is the cultivation in Ireland of its food -plant, 

 the Potato, it might have been supposed that the Death's-head Moth 

 should have an equivalently widespread distribution in this country, and 

 should not be very rare. I have been told that when digging potatoes 

 " quite large " pupae are sometimes turned up, which are always destroyed 

 at sight by the gatherers. The comparison was made in direct reference 

 to the much sm.aller chrysalis of the Great Swordgrass Moth. Would it 

 seem improbable that some of these large pupae may belong to AcJierontia 

 atropos ? If tlie same practice of destroying them is followed everywhere, 

 it may possibly have some share in accounting for the apparent rarity of 

 that species. 



W. E. Hart. 



Kildeiry, Londonderry. 



The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. 



Dr. ffolliott Darling is such a welcome and rare correspondent to the 

 Irish Naturalist, that one hesitates to criticise his contribution about the 

 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in Roscommon [supra, p. 64). 



When he states that the bird seen was " rather smaller than a Goldfinch,'' 

 his note is not convincing. Saunders gives the length of this Woodpecker 

 as six inches, and that of the Goldfinch as five inches {Manual of British 

 Birds, last edition, pp. 174 and 278), and from other text books we gather 

 that the only point in which the Goldfinch exceeds this Woodpecker is 

 in the length of the tarsus. The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is the smallest 

 European representative of the genus, and it does not appear to extend 

 further into the Afiican continent than Algeria and Tunisia. From what 

 part of Africa did Dr. Darling obtain his specimens ? In England it 

 has mainly a southern distribution, and is said to be partial to tall trees ; 

 yet the Roscommon bird was looking for insects on hazel -stumps. I 

 trust Dr. Darling will not consider these criticisms as prompted by any 

 other motive than the desire to arrive at the truth. 



RiCHD. M. Barrington. 



Fassaroe, Bray. 



