PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
45 
moth” ( u Cerura vinula”). The first caterpillar of this species which I found 
was deemed a great prize, and, as such, had a division to itself. On going to look 
at it the next day, to my indescribable dismay, I found it was gone, having easily 
eaten through the gauze covering. In vain I searched for it, and had given 
it up as lost, when, about three weeks afterwards, while removing the table-cover, 
I found it firmly attached to one of the legs, and there, upon examination, I found 
my long-lost larva. It had bored a snug berth for itself in the solid mahogany 
leg, and finding the place cold, I suppose, had firmly glued the table-cover over its 
cocoon. 
These few remarks may, perhaps, be of some use to beginners, and should they, 
in any degree whatever, promote the study and pursuit of this branch of 
Entomology in Ireland, I should most sincerely rejoice. I have only to add, 
that I shall be most willing, at all times, to afford, either in person, or by letter, 
or by means of my own collection, any information in my power to those who 
may desire it. 
A letter addressed, Rev. J. Greene, 49, Stephen’s-green, Dublin, will always 
find me. 
Mr. Greene stated, that in the u Entomologist’s Annual,” just published, Hama 
furva, W. V., was noted as occurring only in Scotland ; whereas a reference to his 
list of Irish Lepidoptera, published in the u Natural History Review,’’ would 
show that it had been previously recorded as Irish by more than one collector. 
FEBRUARY 3, 1855. 
R. Ball, LL.D., President, in the Chair. 
The President gave a demonstration of the families Meropidse and Upupidse, 
being in continuation of a series illustrative of the collection in the University 
Museum. 
Dr. Ball also laid before the Association the following facts relative to a specimen 
of Lepidopus argyreus, the head of which he exhibited :— 
ON THE PROBABLE OCCURRENCE OF THE LEPIDOPUS ARGYREUS IN DUBLIN BAY. 
About eighteen years since, Mr. Glennon, the well-known bird preserver of 
Suffolk-street, gave me the head of a fish, stating that it had been then recently 
taken by Mr. Massey, at the Pigeon-house. I submitted this head to my ever- 
lamented friend, William Thompson, who was then engaged on his list of the 
Eauna of Ireland ; he appears to have been misled as to the species, and having 
failed to get any precise information on the subject from Mr. Massey, refused, with 
his characteristic caution, to give the fish a place in his list. A few days since, on 
turning over the first volume of the Wernerian Transactions, I found, at page 83, a 
very fair figure, as if drawn from my specimen, but representing the head of a fish 
described by Colonel Montague, under the name of Xipotheca tetradens, as having 
occurred on the coast of Devonshire ; the Colonel was not aware that the fish had 
been already described as a Mediterranean species. In Yarrell’s excellent history 
of British fishes, its occurrence is recorded in other places in the south of England, 
and in the MSS. of Mr. Thompson, there is a notice of its having probably been 
taken, if I recollect rightly, at Newcastle, in the county of Down. We have thus 
reason to believe, that it may be found on this coast. It would seem here unneces¬ 
sary to recapitulate the history of the fish, as stated in Yarrell; but I may confirm 
what he remarks, that the proper number of large teeth in the front of the upper 
jaw is six, not four, as supposed by Montague, and hence his specific name. When 
I got possession of the head, it had six sharp, lancet-shaped teeth in advance of the 
regular row of smaller teeth, and singularly arranged—two teeth standing parallel 
to each other, at about one-sixteenth of an inch apart, close to the extremity of 
the upper jaw ; two larger, at about the eighth of an inch behind these, also parallel, 
and about one-eighth of an inch apart; the two largest, one-eighth of an inch farther 
behind, and about a quarter of an inch apart. These six teeth are singularly sharp and 
lancet-like ; but the most curious part of their structure is, that they fold inwards, 
like clasped knives, and are so adapted, that the fish apparently can use these 
powerful implements for scarification or not at its pleasure. The diagram exhibited 
will explain their position when folded back in the angular roof of the mouth. 
vol. ii. e 
