56 
The Irish Naturalist. 
April, 
LEPIDOPTERA FROM COUNTY TYRONE. 
BY THOMAS GREER. 
The following account of the lepidoptera met with in 
this district will, I hope, be of interest to some readers of 
the Irish Naturalist. 
The country examined is included by a nine-mile radius 
from the town of Cookstown, situated in a closely tilled 
district. There is very little woodland outside the several 
demesnes, except some small patches of mountain scrub, a 
survival of the great forest which at one time covered 
the whole county. 
I have noted at length the more interesting species and 
local forms met with. Those marked thus * are new to 
the county, according to Mr. W. F. de V. Kane's catalogue 
of the lepidoptera of Ireland. 
NOTES ON RARER SPECIES. 
Pieris napi. — One female, the ground colour of the wings on the upper 
side of a dirty yellow. 
Argynnis paphia. — Abundant in woodlands. One example with bleached 
areas on upper side, owing to failure of pigment, 
Melitaea aurinia. — This species occurs in several worked-out bogs. The 
specimens taken are large and brightly marked — the var. praeclara 
Kane. 
Vanessa io. — Not uncommon from 1900 to 1904, when it disappeared ; 
last year, 191 5, I again met with larvae and noticed the imago in the 
late SI mmer. 
V. cardui. — Not uncommon in some warm seasons. 
Coenonympha typhon. — Abundant on bogs at the west side of Loch Fea 
at 800 feet, also abundant on the Ijogs around Lough Neagh, near 
Washing Bay. The specimens from the former locality are much 
darker in colour, and the undersides more ocillated. 
Lyeaena icarus. — Very local, the males large and brilliantly coloured, and 
the females often of a violet colour over the whole ox the upper side 
of wings. 
Acherontia atropos. — One specimen, taken at rest in a barn at Beecligrove, 
Newmills. 
Smerinthus ocellatus. — Larvae generally very abundant on sallows growing 
on bogs. 
Zygaena lonicerae. — The common burnet of this district ; a few with 
confluent spots have 1 cen noted and a dwarf race also occurs. 
