50 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. taken in Scotland, being only a variety of Erebia cassiope), and it was, there-fore, absolutely necessary that the record of any such discovery should be sub-stantiated by the most undoubted proofs. Mr. Lea appeared fully aware of this necessity, and had obligingly communicated to the Society many interesting parti-culars respecting its capture. Mr. Lea did not assume the insect to be indigenous he merely asserted its capture and this statement, coming through such a source, was surely entitled to all respect and consideration from his brother collectors ; and he (Mr. Greene) would take that opportunity of expressing his regret at the con-temptuous manner in which, as he understood, that communication had been received by some eminent entomologists in England the inevitable result of such a course being to deter the inexperienced from forwarding to " head-quarters" the results of their observations. Similar incredulity had been shown regarding Mr. Weaver's statement (over and over again repeated) of his capture of Melitaea dia, near Birmingham ; but he (Mr. G.) entertained no doubt whatever as to the accuracy of his account. The refusal to admit any insect into our lists, without clear and authentic proofs of its capture, was a precaution which none would object to ; but, surely, inquiries on such a matter ought to be made, and received with all courtesy and friendliness. That Anthocaris belia had been taken by Mr. Lea in Worcestershire, he saw no good reason to doubt (however difficult to explain its appearance there) ; but he thought it a matter of regret that so long a time had been suffered to elapse without recording its capture. Mr. Wright suggested that, perhaps, Dr. Ball would act the part of judge upon the matter, and give the members the benefit of his opinion. The President said, that after the opinions which had been expressed on this subject by two eminent entomologists, he really could not add anything to them ; but before acting the part of judge, he thought it would be prudent to in-quire if there had been any importation of foreign plants into that part of Worcestershire, where Mr. Lea resided. Members were, doubtless, aware that the nurserymen imported largely from the south of France all the rare or tender shrubs of that region ; and he conceived it very probable that the eggs, or even the larva of the Anthocaris belia, might have been introduced along with some French plants. This appeared to him to be possible ; therefore, if Mr. Lea discovered that any such importation of plants had taken place within the immediate vicinity of the capture of the insect, his opinion would be, that it had taken flight from its chrysalis, attached to one of these plants. Rev. J. Greene observed, that if an importation of plants had taken place in Mr. Lea's neighbourhood, this would remove many otherwise insuperable difficulties. Mr. Hogan then read the following NOTES ON VARIOUS INSECTS CAPTURED OR OBSERVED IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF DINGLE, CO. KERRY, IN JULY, 1854. So few districts in Ireland are, as yet, known entomologically the study of insects appearing to have been the last in attracting attention from most Irish naturalists hitherto that the briefest records of species found in any new locality become of value, as tending to furnish a better knowledge of their relative distri-bution throughout the country. With the view of promoting this object, and of supplying a guide to those who may hereafter visit the same district, I submit to the Association the following notes on various insects captured or observed by Mr. Haliday and myself, while spending a week at Dingle, last July. The paucity of the numbers will, at once, strike the reader ; but he must not forget the shortness of our stay, or the season of the year, which is not so prolific, in most insects, as the earlier and later portions of the summer ; at the same time, as the weather was very favourable (except on one unfortunate occasion, that of our ascent of Mount Brandon), we must confess that our opinion of the district, as a whole, is, that it is decidedly barren, and by no means one for any entomologist to visit, who is not prepared to sacrifice the filling of his boxes to the chance of finding some new or rare species. That the latter is not an improbability, however, is evident from our discovery of one or two new Diptera, and of the larva of one of the Microlepidoptera, besides the capture of
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