158 



The Irish Naturalist, 



September, 



comprised all the described Irish forms, and not a few of 

 the British." It is to be regretted that the names of the 

 varieties actually collected were not definitely recorded, 

 for a general remark of this kind is not satisfactory. It 

 would be interesting to know, for instance, if the true 

 aberration hihernica described by Birchall, was met with. 

 In his " Lepidoptera of Ireland" Mr. Kane gives good 

 reasons for the belief that it is really a very local form in 

 this country. A similar remark is made concerning speci- 

 mens of the Large Heath, Coenonympha typhon, of which 

 a few were caught " on the one favourable day and 

 in the same acre of bog." Only three specimens of 

 the Peacock Butterfly, Vanessa io, were seen, and the Dark- 

 green Fritillary, Argynnis aglaia, was locally common. The 

 absence of two or three common species such as the Red 

 Admiral, Vanessa atalanta, is noteworthy. 



While on the subject of Curragh insects we may refer 

 to the capture of a Death's-head Moth, Acherontia atropos, 

 by Mr. Stoneham' on the road leading from Newbridge to the 

 Curragh during October ; and the same gentleman reports 

 the capture of a second specimen,"" in a very worn condition, 

 found running about on the deck of a steamer shortly after 

 leaving Queenstown. This fine moth is not infrequently 

 found at sea. There is a specimen in the Irish National 

 Museum caught at the Coningbeg Lightship, off the coast of 

 Wexford, and there is also a very fine specimen caught last 

 year at Eagle Island lighthouse, Co. Mayo. 



Mr. BicknelP records a few Lepidoptera from the district 

 lying between Birr (King's County) on the north, and 

 Nenagh (Tipperary) on the south, a locality which has been 

 but little examined by entomologists. Amongst butterflies 

 he records the Wood White, Leucophasia sinapis, in con- 

 siderable numbers ; the Greasy Fritillary, Melitaea aurinia, 

 '* is apparently more plentiful in some years than in others," 

 there is no mention of the particular forms frequenting 

 the locality ; and the Green Hairstreak, Thecla rubi. A 



1 Entomologisty xlvi. (191 3), p. 334. 



2 Entomologist^ xliii. (1910), p, 316. 

 ^Entomologist, xliii. (1910), p. 120, 



