Lepidoptera Collected at Oughterard, Co. Galway, in May, 1946Author(s): Lionel HigginsSource: The Irish Naturalists' Journal, Vol. 9, No. 4 (Oct., 1947), pp. 99-100Published by: Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25533566 .

Accessed: 15/06/2014 09:28

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The IrishNaturalists' Journal.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 188.72.127.52 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 09:28:44 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

October, 1047.] The Trish Naturalists' Journal. 09

ACAXTHOC1SUS AEDIUS IN BELFAST.

A male specimen of the longicorn timber beetle Acanthocinus a.eiWis L. was obtained in a Belfast dockside timber yard on 13th

May, 1047. This is now in the Belfast Museum collection.

Belfast, J. A. S. STENDALL.

CAMBEIRWELL BEAUTY IN CO. WEXFORD.

It might interest you to know that on 24th August my wife and I saw a Camibenvel) Beauty, Nymphalis antiopa (L.), on the seashore near Bannow, Co. Wexford. We saw, presumably, the same one three times and at close range. I understand this species lias seldom been >seevi in Ireland. There were also a considerable

number of Clouded Yellows and Painted Ladies there as well. I have even seen some Clouded Yellows here this year.

JOHN LANGHAM. Germaines, Rathvilly, Co. Carlow.

EYED HAWK-MOTH IN CO. TYRONE. On 25th August my neighbour's gardener brought me a number

of very large caterpillars, which he had found feeding on apple trees.

They were three inches long, pale bluish-green, with diagonal white lines and pale blue horn, the body surface being covered with raised

white points. About 90 caterpillars were collected. The foliage of several young trees had been almost stripped. I had never seen sucih

caterpillars before but made them out to be those of the Eyed Hawk moth {Smerinthus ocellatus). This was confirmed later on submitting specimens to the Belfast Museum.

Dreemore, Dungannon. ROBERT W. BINGHAM.

SILVER-WASHED FRITILLARY AND CLOUDED YELLOW IN CO. DOWN.

On 11th September, 1946, I saw two Silver-washed Fritillaries,

Argynms paphla L., at Craigavad, Co. Down, but was unahle to obtain a specimen. It was not until 13th August, 1947, that I agtain saw this

species in Northern Ireland, this time in a clearing in a wood near

Bangor. Two mating insects rose into the air and flew over the trees. Then a male in indifferent condition glided down ; this I netted. The next day I caught a female in excellent condition, together with a

slightly tarn male, in the same clearing, feeding on Buddleia. The weather on both days was very warm and bright, with light S..W. breeze. I also saw'a Clouded Yellow, Colias croceus Fourcr., in a

field of Ragwort.

Skihhereen, Oultra, Co. Down. T. D. BOYD.

LEPIDOPTE.RA COLLECTED AT OUGHTERARD, CO. GALWAY, IN MAY, 1946.

The following .species of Lepidoptera were taken in the Oughterard district of Co. Galway in May, 1946: Phragmatobia fuliginosa L. (a form like the N. Midlands form, with dark complete border to hind

wings but bright forewmgs, not borealis), Apatele menyanthidis View., Diarsia rubi View, (a dark form), Cerarnica pisi L., Apamea sordens Hufn. {basilinea), Apamea crenala Hufn. {rurea) (typical form), Phytometra viridaria CI., Abrostola tripartita Hufn. {urticae), Euclidmera mi CI., Ectypa glyphica L., Ortholotha scotica Cockayne, Kulype hastata L., Dysstroma truncata Hufn. (a dingy form), Lampropteryx suffumata Schiff., Xanthorhoe spadicearia Schiff., X. designata Roit., X. montanata Borkh., Epirrhoe alternata Mull.,

This content downloaded from 188.72.127.52 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 09:28:44 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

100 The Irish Naturalists' Journal. [Vol, IX:

Colosthjia, saUcata lib., Hydriomena rnberata Fit., Eupiihecia nana la. Hb. (pale foriii), EupHhecia vulgata Haw., Lithina chtorosata Scop., Anagoga pulveraria L,, Cleora cinciaria Schift, Ematurga atomaria L. and Duma fagaria Thunb. In addition Leptidea sinapis L. and Bapta temerata Hb. were taken at the Glen of the Downs, Co. Wicklow.

LIONEL HIGGINS. Link wood, Mount Hermon Road, Woking.

THE KERRY SLUG {GEOMALACUS) IX THE DINGLE PENINSULA.

While descending a steep heathery slope east of the .road from

Straiilbally to- Connor Pass and Dingle, on 6th June, 1946, my wife

picked up a "

spotted slug "

which I had just stepped over. A quick search revealed another specimen on a nearby Hchen^overed boulder.

On 11th June another specimen was taken on a boulder in the same

place. The exact sipot is about half a mile west of the outlet of

Lough Camclaun and half way up the slope east of the- road.

Hitherto the most northerly station known for the Kerry Slug? Geomalacns macutosus?-seems to have been W'iliiam Andrews's on the shore of Caragh Lake, where he originally discovered this slug in 1842. Since ihen many naturalists have searched fof it in vain in the

Dingle Peninsula (see Stelfox in Irish Naturalist, February, 1915). That the slug must be very local or exceedingly rare in the district is proved by the fact that even during the very wet month of June, 1046, no further specimens were seen during our stay of three weeks at Cloghane.

14 Clareville Road, Dublin, A. W. STELFOX.

BOTANICAL NOTES.

TWO NEW WESTERN PLANT RECORDS.

One does not expect to find unrecorded plants in a district as well worked as the Rurren. Last May, however, I found on the edge o<f the

sand-dunes that lie immediately to the north of the mouth of the Caher River, 2| miles south of Black Head, Cuscuta epithymum growing in .considerable quantity. It was growing mainly on Lotus

corniculatus, perhaps also on Thymus. As it was not, of course, in flower I cannot say whether it would come under C. trifolii Rah., but the claim of this form to specific rank seems very doubtful.

This presumably represents a recent introduction from the Aran

Islands, where Cuscuta has long been known. I am told that there is a. constant trade in potatoes between the islands and this part o-f the Clare coast. The nearest station on the mainland is nearly 40 miles away.

In Juiv I saw, on a rocky bluff overlooking the most westerly lake

on tine Slyne Head peninsula, a few plants of Trifolium arvensr, which has'not hitherto been recorded for W. Galway.

School of Botany, Trinity College, Dublin. D. A. WEBB.

BIRDS-NEST ORCHIS, XEOTTIA NIDUS-AVIS RICH.

On 12th June, 1947, in company with Mr. John McClintock of

Rcdhall, Co. Antrim, I counted 27 plants of the Bird's-nest Orohis, on the site of a Nissen hut at Redihalt. At least 10 of the plants were

rooted Aeep in the hut foundations and had pushed up through five

inches of -broken concrete rubble.

Belfast. C. DOUGLAS DEANE.

This content downloaded from 188.72.127.52 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 09:28:44 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions