I9I4. 
Irish Societies, 
103 
DUBLIN NATURALISTS' FIELD CLUB. 
February ii. — N. Colgan (President) in the chair. A number 
of natural history specimens were exhibited, including the African Dragon- 
fly Hemianax ephiphiger, caught in Herbert Park in October last, shown 
by J. N. Halbert. The President read a paper — " Field Notes on the 
Folk Lore of Irish Plants and Animals." This paper, which broke 
new ground for the Field Club and was listened to with the deepest interest, 
appeared in the last number of the Irish Naturalist. In the discussion 
that followed W. F. Gunn, R. LI. Praeger, Miss E. White, H. W. D. 
Dunlop, and C. B. Moffat (Hon. Sec), took part. 
NOTES. 
ZOOLOGY. 
Trout and Bumble Bees. 
Mr. F. B. Hinchlift, of Instow, North Devon, writes in the Field of 
December 27, 191 3 : — " While dry-fly fishing on a lake in the west of Ire- 
land last September, I killed a Brown Trout weighing 2lb. 2oz. on a black 
gnat, these insects being fairly plentiful on the water at the time ; and 
on examining the contents of its stomach 1 was surprised to find that it 
contained, besides other food, five bumble bee.s — two large females and 
three males. Now, I had noticed a good many of these bees on the 
water in the morning, and, when the fish came on the feed in the afternoon 
at the black gnat, I noticed that every now and then a fish would make 
an extra large boil at something, and I could not understand the reason 
why. But after finding these five bees in the stomach of the only trout 
I killed that day, 1 came to the conclusion that the bees were probably 
responsible for the very large and rather splashing boils. Although this 
is the first time that I have found trout actually taking bumble bees, 
yet I have often seen trout boil at, without taking, them. And I always 
thought that the reason was that in their younger days they had pro- 
bably been stung, and consequently did not wish to repeat the unpleasant 
dose. As trout usually swallow insects alive, it seems to me incredible 
that one, at least, of these five bees had not stung the trout internallv ; 
but perhaps fish are impervious to stings. I remember once killing a 
trout of 4|lb. on the same lake before lunch, and on examming its stomach 
about seven o'clock the same evening, I found that it contained about 300 
red ants, one beetle, and a common honey bee. These 1 spread out on 
a sheet of paper in the sitting-room, where there was a fire, intendmg 
to count them, but dinner was announced, so I postponed the counting 
until after the meal, when to my surprise I found the insects crawling 
all over the place, the heat of the room apparently having helped them 
recover consciousness. And practically every one of them recovered 
although most of these had been imprisoned in the stomach of the trout 
