I9I5. 



Notes, 



173 



Notes on Lepidoptera. 



The first butterfly to appear here in the spring was as usual Vanessa 

 urticae, which I saw on the wing on March 9th, but not till April 17th did 

 I observe any other species, when Pieris rapae and Pararge egeria made 

 their appearance, and on 22nd of that month I saw Euchloe cardamines 

 flying along the roadside at Jerrettspass. A good many moths flew to 

 my sitting-room window and into the room, attracted by the lamp light. 

 On March i6th I took Cerastis vaccinii in this way. I had taken it freely 

 at ivy in the autumn, but this was the first time I had met with it after 

 hybernation. During April the Taeniocampae were about and I took 

 T. stahilis, T. instabilis and T. gothica, also Xylocampa lithorrhiza, A nticlea 

 hadiata and Coremia multistrigarea, and on May loth Lozogramma petrarea, 

 the last named I had not met with here before. On May 22nd I took at 

 a short distance from Poyntzpass a small specimen of Euchloe cardamines, 

 a male measuring 32m. m. in expanse of wings. I took a similar form 

 many years ago in one of my own fields. In June my friend, Mr. W. A. 

 Hamilton, J. P., sent me several specimens of Ino statices, which he had 

 taken on his lawn at Coxtown, Co. Donegal. They are smaller than 

 specimens I have from Wexford, and of a deep blue colour instead of 

 green. Zygaena lonicerae and Z. Ulipendulae were plentiful in early July 

 in hay fields where an abundant crop of Lotus corniculatus had given 

 provender for their larvae. On July 22nd I took in one of my own fields 

 a nice specimen of the beautiful little moth Trycheris aurana Fb. a species 

 I had not met with before. 



W. F. Johnson. 



Poyntzpass. 



Dascillus cervinus at Poyntzpass. 



In June as I was hunting for insects in a wood here where a number of 

 trees had been felled, I met with two specimens of D. cervinus ; both were 

 on bramble leaves. I was somewhat surprised to meet with it here, as 

 I had previously met with it on high ground, but I see that Canon Fowler, 

 " British Coleoptera " vol. iv., says that it occurs on brambles and alders 

 as well as on flowers of Umbelliferae. 



W. F. Johnson. 



Poyntzpass. 



A Large Eel. 



I was recently shown an eel which had been caught by a boy in a 

 small stream near here. It was weighed and proved to be 4^ lbs. in 

 weight. Unfortunately I did not measure it, but should judge it to have 

 been 3 feet or 3I feet long. The stream in which it was taken is quite 

 small and shallow, and it seems strange that so large a specimen should 

 have made its way up it. 



W, F. Johnson, 



Poyntzpass, 



