I9-0. 



No/es. 



121 



Scarcity of the Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly. 



I can fully bear out the Rev. VV. F. Johnson's experience as to the 

 extraordinary scarcity of Vanessa urticae this year. During a whole month 

 (9th August to 9th September) spent at Mount Forest, Co. Wexford, I. saw 

 but two examples of this usually abundant species. Instead of being the 

 commonest, it was the scarcest of the fo,ur Vanessidae frequenting the 

 district, the Red Admiral bsing fairly plentiful, the Peacock turning up 

 four times, and the Paint - 1 Lady three times. The last-named, however, 

 was disappointingly scarce compared with the numbers I had seen of it 

 in the same district during June. 



C. B. Moffat. 



Dublin. 



Arg-ynnis agflaia at Poyntzpass. 



August 14th was a very fine day, one of the few we had this summer, 

 and I sallied forth into my fields net in hand to see what I might get in the 

 way of insects. As I was walking down a sunny hedge my eye was caught 

 by two butterflies, one of which was a White but the other looked yellow 

 and too large to be a Wall Butterfly. I hastened towards them ; as I did 

 so they separated. The White flew off, but the yellow butterfly settled, 

 and when I got close there was a beautiful Dark Green Fritillary sitting on 

 a thistle head, I need not say that thistle head and butterfly were in 

 my net the next minute. The nearest place where I have seen A. aglaia 

 is at Newcastle, some twenty miles as the crow flies, a good fly for this 

 little aeroplane. 



W. F. Johnson. 

 Local Mollusca from the North-east. 



I am sending a few notes on some species of Irish mollusca which I 

 hope may prove interesting to the readers of the Irish Naturalist, par- 

 ticularly as regards distribution. 



Helicella intersecta, a shell which occurs commonly on the sandhills 

 at Portstewart, may also be found plentifully at Whitehead on a grassy 

 bank near the tunnel. I took it there in 19 17. 



I also found quite a number in September, 1920, on the Portrush golf 

 links during heavy rain. I believe these to be new stations. 



Helix hortensis, which has been recorded for the graveyard of Down- 

 patrick Cathedral, may be expected to occur elsewhere in the neighbour- 

 hood, as in 191 8 I came across a large colony under a heap of stones close 

 to Quoile Quay, about three miles from Downpatrick, 



Vallonia pulchella, which is usually looked upon as a sandhill species 

 in N.E. Ireland, but which has occasionally been found inland, was taken 

 by me in the cricket field of the Friends' School, Lisburn, in 1917, and this 

 year on the wall of old Shane's Castle, at Antrim, associated in the latter 

 station with Pupa muscorum. 



