NOTES 147 This species’ limited occurrence in Ireland may be gauged from the distribution cited by Heath et al. (1983. Moths and Butterflies ofGreat Britain & Ireland, 9) and by E. S. A. Baynes who, in his Revised Catalogue ofIrish Macrolepidoptera (1964), stated that it is “ ... extremely rare and, so far, only recorded from the Killarney area of Co. Kerry”. Records are apparently quite scarce and Baynes noted the following: “Donovan mentions a specimen taken by Allen and identified by Prout, and records a total of five ab. oclireola Hb. taken by himself, two of which were obtained on 27.vii.1936. The latest record is of nine moths taken at light in the Tore area of Killarney between 8 and 9.vii.l939 and eight more in 1944 (B. P. Beirne and A. A. Lisney). These insects were of the orange buff form, ab. unicolour Bankes.” The late Raymond F. Haynes, who collected Lepidoptera extensively in the Killarney district for many years, left an unpublished manuscript Lepidoptera ofthe Killarney District which contains a wealth of information on the area, has repeated the above records but also noted “... my own specimens were bred from larvae which I beat from lichens growing on trees in the Muckross Demesne near the Abbey ruins”. However, no dates are given. Quite recently, I came across a further reference to this species in an article by R. “ Fairclough (Ent. Rec., 80), entitled Luperina nickerlii in the Dingle Peninsula, August 1967”. Fairclough stated that on 29 August 1967 “... we pitched our sheets in Tore Woods where a cold clear night did not give us much idea of the local Fepidoptera. We had seventeen species the only two of interest being one Atethmia xerampelina Esp. and a number of large yellow Eilema deplana Esp”.- Michael O'Sullivan, 20 St James Gardens, Killorglin, Co. Kerry, Ireland. Stomorhina lunata (Fabr.) (Dipt.: Calliphoridae) in north-west Kent The locust parasitoid Stomorhina lunata is regarded as an occasional vagrant into north-west Europe. Rognes (1991. Blowflies (Diptera, Calliphoridae) of Fennoscandia and Denmark. Fauna Entomologica Scandinavica 24), summarised its distribution as “widely distributed in southern Palaearctic (also northern parts of France, and occasionally Great Britain, but not breeding there) and all ofAfrotropical Region; in Oriental Region only northern parts; in the Nearctic common on the island of Bermuda, but not elsewhere”. He stated that in Fennoscandia the only known record was of a single male captured on a flower-head of Tagetes in the Helsinki Botanical garden on 29.ix.1844. The species was apparently first recorded in Britain at Christchurch on 3.viii. 896 1 by R. C. Bradley (Wainwright, C. J. 1949. J. Soc. Bn Entomology 3: 97-98), and Jenkinson 1901 Ent. Mon. Mag. 37: 299-300) stated “1 have secured five specimens ( . this year. took one female at Hindon, near Salisbury, on August 30th. Males 1 occurred at Fyndhurst, June 26th; Paul, July 26th (Miss Allard); Cambridge, September 15th; Cambridge, September 25th (Miss Haynes). Nearly all were on flowers of Compositae; they sit with the wings overlapping, and so have a pointed look behind. It is an odd looking insect”. As Miss Allard was Jenkinson’s housekeeper it is assumed that the July 26th specimen was taken in his garden at 148 ENTOMOLOGIST'S RECORD, VOL. 115 25.V.2003 10 Brookside, Cambridge and the September 25th specimen per Miss Haynes from the Cambridge Botanical Garden (Wainwright, C. J. 1928. The British Tachinidae (Diptera) Trans, ent. Soc. Lond. 76: 139-254). d'Assis-Fonseca (1947. Ent. Rec. 59: 137) recorded the species as abundant in his garden at Westerleigh, Cote Drive, Westbury-on-Trym between 20 and 26 September ofthat year. In total, 19 males and 12 females were taken from a clump ofGolden Rod Solidago canadensis. He also stated “It is of interest to note that the species may be a regular visitor to this part of the country as I took a single male in Blaize Woods, near Bristol, on 8th July 1945, and a single female at Edington, near Bridgwater, on 21st June 1947”. Also in 1947, C. N. Colyer (Ent. Rec. 59: 155) referred to his capture of a male “on a dahlia” in a park at Cockfosters, Hertfordshire on 19 October 1947. In 1949, the ailing C. J Wainwright op.cit stated that he had personally taken lunata ( .) - that year from Mudeford, near Christchurch ,and published these additional records 1934 Bembridge, Isle ofWight, H. W. Andrews; 3 August 1944, Southwell on Portland Bill, C. J. Wainwright and late 1949, Coombe Dingle, near Bristol E. E. Lowe. Nothing was said by J.P. Dear (1981. Blowfly recording scheme - an interim report. Ent. Mon. Mag. 117: 75-76) of further occurrences of Stomorhina lunata in Britain and hence this observation may be of some interest. On l.ix.2001, I was demonstrating insects to the then eight years old enthusiast Thomas Venner at Swanscombe NNR (VC 16). At one spot (O.S. Grid reference TQ 594742) a small patch of Golden Rod Solidago canadensis was encountered and here a number of showy insects, including Cerceris rybyensis (L.) (Hym.: Sphecidae), Helophilus pendulus (L.), Sphaerophoria scripta (L.) and Syritta pipiens (L.) (Dipt.: Syrphidae) and Tachinafera (L.) (Dipt.: Tachinidae), were found feeding on the flowers. Whilst going for a Conops which proved to be quadrifasciatus De Geer (Conopidae), I , thought that I had accidentally sucked a specimen ofMusca autumnalis De Geer into the pooter and no more thought was given. When the contents of the pooter were examined under the microscope the next day I found that this specimen had a pronounced epistoma, ruling out M. autumnalis and that there was a row of hypopleural bristles, ruling out the Muscidae. It did not take long before its identity was determined to be Stomorhina lunata. To quote Jenkinson, it is, indeed, “an odd looking insect” and another which the dry, un-illustrated, descriptions in the literature cannot prepare one for- Laurence ME Clemons, 14 St. John’s Avenue, Sittingboume, Kent 10 4NE. The Dusky Hook-tip Drepana curvatula (Borkh.) (Lep.: Drepanidae) new to the Isle of Wight On 8 August 2002, Dave Wooldridge caught an example of the Dusky Hook-tip Drepana curvatula in his trap at The Causeway, Freshwater. When he returned from fetching a box it had gone, but he was positive of its identification. Two other examples of this species were taken in Kent two weeks previously, suggesting strongly that all ofthese records ofthis rare species relate to primary immigrants. Less than twenty have been recorded in the British Isles - Sam Knill-Jones, Roundstone, 2 School Green Road, Freshwater, Isle of Wight P040 9AL.