The Miller, Acronicta leporina, in Co. TyroneAuthor(s): G. W. GillespieSource: The Irish Naturalists' Journal, Vol. 8, No. 8 (Sep., 1945), pp. 308-309Published by: Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25533382 .

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308 The Irish Naturalists' Journal. [Vol. VIII.

it to the water, hi; there was a heavy sea on at the time and the turtle was soon high and dry again. He carried it to the pier and

dropped it into the water <at the mouth of the Bann, thinking it would make its way out to sea but apparently the incoming tide carried

it up the river."

[See l.NJ., vol. VII, 3, pp. 66-70, 1938.] Belfast. J. A. S. STENDALL.

ON THE FINDING OF WASPS' NESTS.

In 1943 I was in Wiltshire and my host's pear trees wrere being

seriously attacked by extraordinary swarms of wasps. The answer, of course, was to find their nests and so exterminate them, but that was easier said than done. In the end, and in desperation, wTe evolved

the following unique method:

Adopting 'the ringing scheme of the British Trust of Ornithology, we came to the conclusion that the best way was to mark a wasp and follow it home. This was done by taking a wasp in a pair of tweezers from a pear or window-pane and attaching a noose of cotton round its waist (if that is the correct description of that part

of its anatomy). Aft ftrst the weight of cotton was rather heavy and the wasp fell to the ground, but the cotton was soon adjusted so that rtihe wasp could be airborne to a height of about five feet. Then the hunt started?at was quite a simple matter to follow it homeland it is

significant ?that no less than ten nests w/ere found by this method. I am glad to say that, in consequence, the pears grew to maturity.

Belfast. W. E. MACVE.

A RARE CLRARWING MOTH, SESIA FOBM1CAEFOBMIS ESP., IN CO. LOUTH.

In Col. Donovan's "

Catalogue "

(1936) the only Irish records for this Clearwing are for GlengarrifT, W. Cork and Kenmare district, S. Kerry. I was therefore surprised to take two specimens amongst

willow and birch scrub on a cut-out hog just E. of Essex Ford, Co.

Louth, on 1st July, 1943, while collecting Paralitica. One was swept off either birch or willow; the .second was seen sunning itself on a birch leaf. Both were taken late in the afternoon when a strong chilly easrt wind was blowing, (though 'the earlier part of <the day had been very hot and sunny. One of my specimens is now in the collection of M. S. Dudley iWestropp, who has confirmed hy identifica tion of the moth.

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

CONVOLVULUS HAWK-MOTH IN BELFAST.

On 13th August, 1945, a female Sphinx convolvuli L., was caught in the yard of a house in N. Belfast, when resting on a pair of stockings

which were hanging on the clothes line. The specimen wTas given to the Belfast Museum by the finder, Mrs. F. M'Keague.

Another female was taken from a wall in Durham Street, Belfast, at 7.30 a.m. on 28th August, 1945, and brought to me by Miss Joan Verrant, daughter of the finder.

Belfast. J. A. S. STENDALL.

THE MILLER, ACBONICTA LEPOBINA, IN CO. TYRONE.

I am glad to he able to report an occurrence of tthis rare moth in the north. In Lt.-Col. C. Donovan's

" Catalogue," one previous

record for Tyrone and two for Fermanagh complete its Ulster history. On 8th August, 194;*, I noticed a caterpillar on an Alder near my

garden hedge. It was ahout half grown and was curled up on the under-surface of a leaf. I took it and it fed up rapidly. On the advice of Mr. T. Greer (to whose credit is the previous Tyrone record), a

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Sept., 1945.] The Irish Naturalists' Journal. 309

length of old hollow bramble stem was supplied and into this the

larva retired on 28th August. A fine female Bradyporina type emerged on 7th June, 1944.

The larva is very distinctive, of rather repulsive appearance, its

scanty ?oat of long silky white hairs, through which shines a pale

green skin, suggesting a Skye Terrier with some skin disease. A noticeable feature, not mentioned in some books, is that when

nearly full grown, hut not until then, the hairs on one side of the

larva all lie pointing forward ; on the other side ithey point backwards.

Grange, Ballygawley, Go. Tyrone. G. AV. GIU^ESPIEI, M.D.

MARSH ORCHIS AND HAIRY HAWKBIT IN NORTH-EAST IRELAND.

By E. Lloyd Praeger, D.Sc, Sc.D., M.R.I.A.

The suggestion of Captain Chase (supra, p. 271) that Orchis

purpurella (which, as he says, S. A. Stewart would have called 0. latifolia, or later 0. incarnata) has increased greatly in Antrim and Derry within the last sixty or eighty years?has indeed made its appearance there within this period?is very interesting. Of its present quantity there is no doubt: but it is worth enquiring into the evidence for its supposed rarity or absence formerly.

Capt. Chase bases his suggestion on the fact that Stewart

(Fl. N.E., ed. i., 136), while stating that 0. "incarnata," the

only local Marsh Orchis which he recognizes (and under which, it is clear, he would have placed purpurella, majalis, occidentalis,

praetermissa, pardalina, Traunsteinerioides, kcrryensis, and any

other of the specific or varietal names with which this unhappy

group is being increasingly burdened), is "

frequent/' gives only a few stations for it. But in the "Flora" (i.e.), under "Antrim," Stewart says

'' frequent by Lough Neagh and in marshy ground

all round the coast," and under "

Derry," he states on David

Moore's authority,

" common throughout the county." (Stewart

always accepted earlier records in preference to his own referring

to any area or station.) I worked with 'Stewart a great deal

during his later active years, 1884 to 1895, and knew his procedure well. He had little time?only Saturday afternoons and Sundays

?and extremely little money; and he was rather fond of revisiting known localities for interesting plants rather than of attempting to break new ground. Save for a few longer excursions (The

Sperrins, Rathlin, Mourne Mountains, South Clare) which, except the first, were financed by the Royal Irish Academy, he limited

his expeditions to one-day trips; places more than a two-hours'

journey from Belfast were seldom attained?it will be noted

although Co. Derry is included in the area dealt with in the "

Flora," very few Derry localities appear under his name; indeed,

stations outside a 20-mile radius of Belfast cannot be safely

quoted as evidence for any change in the flora. The many con

spicuous north-eastern species which he failed to find grow mostly

in the more remote parts of the area under consideration, but it

would be unsafe to assume that they were not there in Stewart's

time because he did not discover them, for the native flora while

undisturbed by human influence changes very slowly. Even in

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