New Station for Galium erectum HudsAuthor(s): Nora FisherSource: The Irish Naturalists' Journal, Vol. 3, No. 5 (Sep., 1930), p. 112Published by: Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25531839 .

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1T2 The Irish Naturalists' Journal. [Vol. III.

COLLETES DAVIESANUS AT BENDERG, CO. DOWN.

Benderg is the name given to the red cliffs at the south side of Killard

Point, in Co. Down, as you come into Ballyhornan Bay. They are com

posed of red clay and sand intermixed with rounded boulders. Enty

mologically they are interesting, for the extreme south end harbours a

great colony of this bee. I fear I am trespassing on Mr. Stelfox's bee

preserves, but my excuse is the wonderful entertainment this bee has given me. It is almost as you turn into Ballyhornan Bay, at the end of July or through August, that you begin to notice the species as they sit upon

tfce flowers hard at work gathering honey and pollen, to store their cells.

The two flowers they choose are those of Yarrow and the Feverfew,

especially the latter. But their whole habitat seems to lie within the space of a couple of hundred yards. I have not seen them anywhere else on the Co. Down coast, though Mr. Stelfox tells me he has met them in Co.

Wexford. To find their cells you must climb up the cliff and look out for a ledge covered with grass and wild flowers. If you have succeeded in finding their home, lie down among the grass witli your back towards the sea and keep your eye fixed upon any tiny burrows you can find in

the face of the cliff just beside you. But you must be earl^, as the sun

westering soon leaves Benderg, and with the sun your Colletes also vanishes. So long as the sun is shining you will see the bees constantly coming in nnd out of their burrows, bringing in their loads or starting forth on a new

quest. What you must especially look out for once your curiosity is satisfied with daviesanus herself, is the cuckoo bee, Epeohts, that feasts

upon her hoard. Epeolus flies into the burrow and lays her egg, with the result that the cuckoo grub, when hatched, eats all the store, whilst the true baby is left to starve. But though I spent many hours watching

Colletes fly in and out, I never as yet have had the pleasure of detecting its cuckoo. Perhaps you will be more fortunate if you pay a visit to

Benderg and spend a few restful hours half way up the cliffs/

Strangford. GEORGE FOSTER.

[There are two species of Epeolu* in Great Britain, but neither has yet been seen in Ireland.?Ed.]

-v

BOTANICAL NOTES.

NEW STATION FOR GALIUM EPECTVM I1UDS.

There is a small colony of this Bedstraw by the side of the Greenisland Station road, where I found it towards the end of July this year. I sent specimens to Mr. E. N. Carrot hers, who pronounced* it to be either G.

Mollitgo L. or G. erectum Huds. Subsequently he decided that it was the latter, the nearest recorded station for which

appears to be that of S. A.

Stewart's, at Whitewell, where it was found in 1896.

Greenisland, Co. Antrim. NORA FISHER.

-o

WATER SOLDIER. STPATWTES ALOIDES L.. AT WOODBURN

This interesting alien, first recorded from Woodburn mill dam in 1894, is thoroughly established there now. It seems to have conquered all other water-plants, covering altogether an area of about two acres.

Greenisland. NORA FJSHER.

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