User:Notafly/Alexander Henry Haliday/British Entomology

References to Alexander Henry Haliday in John Curtis' British Entomology

One of two families need only be here mentioned as examples:- the Diplolepidae or Chalcididae, which I always admired for their beauty, were neither arranged nor named in any family I had seen, which induced me to pay attention to those splendid little fairy-forms; and by occasionally illustrating a genus I cannot but congratulate myself that it has probably led to the invaluable researches of a Haliday and a Walker. Preface to Vol I London, Dec. 1839. List of subscribers (Vo1.I) J.C. Allman, Esq. Bandon, Ireland W. Clear, Esq. Cork Cork Royal Institution A.H. Haliday, Esq., Clifden, Belfast. G.C. Hyndman, Esq. Belfast. G. Roe Esq., Nutlay, Mairion, near Dublin Royal Dublin Society

Folio 426 [Cychrus rustratus]

and Mr. Haliday informs me that he has taken it near Belfast in Ireland.

Folio 446 [Carabus exasperatus]

in the list of British species of Carabus given in the folio text Ireland is mentioned frequently - this information was presumably supplied mostly by Haliday.

Folio 330 [Calosoma sycophanta] - of C. inquisitor ‘and Mr. Tardy has seen them flying among oak trees at Powerscourt in Ireland’.

Folio 302 [Pelophila borealis]

In the cabinet of Mr. Haliday’ For the opportunity of figuring this fine addition to our fauna I am indebted to A.H. Haliday, Esq.: it has never been taken in England and it is singular that it should not have been discovered in Scotland, for it inhabits the western coast of Lapland. The male represented was captured in Ireland, June 14 1829 on the sandy shore of L. Neagh by Robert Templeton, Esq., who presented it to the gentleman in whose cabinet it is now preserved”.

Folio 354 [Dyschirius inermis].

D. nitidus ‘Mr. Haliday thinks his specimens, captured on the banks of pools near Holywood in the Co. Down are the same as D. nitidus/D. aeneus Mr. Haliday, near London/D. gibbus and near Belfast, A.H. Haliday Esq.

Folio 15 [Omaseus aterrimus]

O. orinomum ‘Also on the banks of the Tees in March, at the base of Ben Lomond and near Belfast, Mr. Haliday O. rufifomoratus ‘I am indebted to Mr. Haliday for my specimen which he took with a few others near Belfast. O. tetricus Hal. ‘Discovered by Mr. Haliday, I believe near Belfast ‘. O. melanorius I11 ‘found everywhere, during the whole year under stones, at the roots of trees etc. near Belfast, Mr. Haliday.

Folio 326 [Blethisa multipunctata]

and Mr. Haliday has once met with it in Ireland’. Folio 250 [Ochthebius hybernicus] ‘In the cabinets of Mr. Haliday and the Author’ “For specimens of this fine species I am indebted to A.H. Haliday, Esq. who took them the end of last March on the shore of the Bay of Belfast after the tide had retired”.

Folio 307 [Hydraena testacea]

H. rufipes “Taken by Mr. Haliday, the beginning of May, under a stone in a rivulet at Woodside, Chesire”.

Folio 526 [Anisoplia suturalis] “taken by Mr. Bovington in immense profusion on the sea coast in the north of Ireland”.

Folio 204 [Micropeplus tesserula] tesserula Hal. Mss In the cabinet of Mr. Haliday” The natural size of this minute and curious insect is given by the side of the magnified figure. It was sent to me by the captor, A. Henry Haliday Esq. with the following memorandum ‘Taken out of a pond in a marsh near Belfast, in the County Down early in February 1827; it was perfectly lively and active when taken ’. Folio 546 [Antherophagus similis] “A. silaceus Taken the beginning of July and end of August on Umbelliferae by Mr. Haliday”. Folio 443 [Callicerus spencii] “In the cabinets of Mr. Haliday, Mr. Walker ani the author” “For specimens of the curious genus Callicerus. I am indebted to my friend A.H. Haliday, Esq., who accompanied them with the following remarks etc. C. spencii Kirby - Curt Brit. Ent. p1.443 Taken at Holywood, near Belfast; before the vernal equinox it occurs occasionally in the shelter of furze bushes; in the first burst of spring I have found it abundant on the fresh grass of sunny banks, not associating with the coprophagous Aleocharae; as summer advances it disappears entirely. While it is in motion the antennae and especially the thick joints of the tip are continually quivering in an extraordinary degree: the membranous suspension of the basal joints seems adapted to give those organs a high degree of versatility. C. hybridus Hall Mss. “Size and figure of C. spencii; thorax somewhat broader, 4th to 9th joints of antennae not so short, gradually increasing, 10th scarcely one half longer than the 9th, the rest as in C. spencii; and the palpi similar. Head and thorax opaque dusty black; elytra rufescent, disk suffused with brown; abdomen black, margins of segments rufescent; legs ferruginous, entennae and palpi darker. A single specimen taken at Holywood with the preceding species” by Mr. Haliday. Folio 410 [Lomechusa dentata] ‘L. paradoxa - in sandpits at Bexley, Kent, the end of May by Mr. Haliday. Vol. II. Folio 602. [Elodes pini] “and in great numbers in July 1835, on the larches at Castle Connel, Near Limerick”. Folio 398 [Thanasimus formicarius] on the seashore, Dublin, by Mr. Bulwer. Folio 59 [Cossonus tardii] “I have great pleasure in adopting the specific name proposed by Mr. Vigors in honour of his friend James Tardy, Esq., of Dublin, to whom I have to acknowledge my obligations for specimens of this fine Cossonus, taken by himself and Mr. Vigors in July 1822 near Powerscourt Waterfall, county of Wicklow, Ireland, under the bark of decayed hollies; it appears like all other wood-feeding insects to be extremely local; for Mr. Tardy in a letter says “I have in vain sought for it in places abounding as much in holly and in similar situations in the same county”. A slimy exudation, similar to that seen where the Nitidulae reside, was observed on the spots inhabited by the Cossonus” Folio 211 [Apion difformis] “In the cabinets of Mr. Haworth, Mr. Haliday and the author”. “One specimen of the curious insect figured was taken on paling near the Croydon Road and another in a furze-bush on Blackheath Nov. 10th & 13th by Mr. A.H. Haliday to whom I am indebted for my specimen”. Vol. III. Folio 608 [Locusta christii] “In the cabinets of Miss Ball and the author”. “Another specimen, captured last September at Ardmore in the county of Waterford by Miss M. Ball has been obligingly transmitted to me for my inspection by Robert Ball, Esq. of Dublin: it is of the same sex as the one figured, but the elytra are much more spotted”. Folio 385 [Elenchus walkeri] “In the cabinets of Mr. Dale, Mr. Haliday, Mr. Walker and the Author”. “Mr. F. Walker first discovered a female? at Southgate amongst grass, 24th June. Mr. Dale next took a male? 11th June 1830, by sweeping some flowers and wheat near Glanvilles Wootton, and found it in his not when he returned home; and the end of June 1830 and July, 1831 Mr. Haliday took two females in sweeping some herbage near Belfast. To all these gentlemen I am indebted for the use of their specimens and to the last for having presented me with one accompanied by the following interesting observations. ‘I have no clue to the family it may be parasitic on, for I have not found any bee with the larva in it, the most common in its locality are Andrena cineraria and albicans and Halictus rubicundus and albipes. It seems very delicate, the only specimen I could succeed in bringing home alive I put under a watchglass, but having to leave it for an hour I found it dead though placed in a cool spot. It moved with a vacillating but tolerably rapid gait with the upper wings extended and the lower rapidly vibrating, the abdomen with which it smooths the wings, twisting freely in all directions. The antennae are kept apart with the branches divaricated, and the longer one generally bent in an angle at the articulation, the palpi mostly in motion. All the membranous parts are capable of much dilation and contraction, and are fully expanded when in lively motion, but contract after death. The wings were cinereous with blacker nervures. Abdomen longer than the rest of the trunk, fleshy, of 8 segments besides the anal one bearing the appendage. The first three are softer, more extensile and versatile than the rest which have a single row of transverse spots down the back, one on each segment, of stronger consistence and darker colour, also a series of more minute ones down the belly. The colour of the membranous parts is cinercous yellow, the horny plates of a darker blackish-cinereous shade; the ovipositor tibiae and base of antennae nearly black, eyes deep black Mr. A.H. Haliday ‘s Mss”. Folio 764. Taken by Mr. Haliday, I believe near Belfast. 8. M. splenium Curt .......………………………….. Mr Haliday has at least 26 very distinct species of this genus.

Folio 528 [Conipteryx pscociformis]

'Psociformis Haliday's Mss.—Curt. Guide, Gen. 741*. No. 2. Length -2/3- of a line, expansion 4 lines. Dead pearly white,_ antennae twice as long as the body, composed of nearly 40 joints, subochreous : superior wings very ample and distinctly iridescent - inferior wings small. In the Cabinets of Mr. Haliday and the Author.This group may be distinguished from Psocus by the greater number of joints in the antennae palpi and tarsi, by the powdered wings (from whence the name of Coniopteryx) and the absence of a stigma. For the curious Larva represented at fig. L, I am indebted to my friend Mr. Haliday, who says in his letter, " This larva is found wandering in groves from the end of August to October; it is probably Aphidivorous; though this I have not proved, nor have I bred it, but I can entertain no doubt that it is the larva of C. tineiformis. The general character is closely allied to the larva of Hemerobius, to which genus it is related." It is rosy, with a large oval blackish patch on the back, and large white spots down each side. 1. C. tineiformis Curt. Mr. Haliday says, "It occurs in groves (especially on Coniferae) in summer: the colour is clear bluish white, but the dried specimens either fade or become rubbed. In the living insect the palpi are porrected and adhere together, forming a kind of beak. When captured they feign death, with their antennae bent in under the thorax, as in Hemerobius and Chrysopa." 2. C. Psociformis Hal.—Curt. Brit. Ent. I pl. 528 This Insect I also found in Norfolk many years since, and Mr. Haliday took it in the same situation as the last: and adds, " when the deflected upper wings in repose conceal the lower, it resembles the former species, but it is distinguished by its superior size and more brilliant white colour."

Folio 544 [Polycentropus irroratus] Curt. Brit. Ent. I took specimens the middle of last August in the Isle of Arran, and the beginning of September I met with others on large masses of rock in the bed of the river at Cartland Craigs, a magnificent and highly picturesque ravine near Lanark,which I visited with Mr. Haliday and Mr. H. Walker.

Folio 561 [Chimarra marginata] In a tour through the south-west of Ireland last July [1834], Mr. Haliday and myself observed the Eriocaulon in abundance, in various lakes from near Oughterard to Roundstone in Connemara.

Folio 211 [Apion difformis] In the Cabinets of Mr. Haworth, Mr. Haliday, and the Author.One specimen of the curious insect figured, was taken on paling near the Croydon road ; and another in a furze-bush on Blackheath, Nov. 10th and 13th, by Mr. A. H. Haliday, to whom I am indebted for my specimen.

Folio 486 [Macrocnema unimaculata] Macrocnema is one of Illiger's families of Haltica, characterized by him in the 6th Vol. of his Magazine, which I have never been able to obtain ; but Gyllenhal has transcribed them into the Appendix of his 4th Vol. No mention however is made of the anomalous antennae, which are only 10-jointed, the 2nd joint being wanting or lost between the 1st and 3rd; a character first pointed out by Mr. Haliday : it is also distinguished by the length of the posterior tarsi, which are attached in a groove on the inside, remote from the internal angle.

Folio 751 [Eriocephala calthella] It is to Mr. Haliday's acute investigations that we owe the detection of this anomalous group, and I am greatly indebted to him for the valuable materials he has placed in my hands. On comparing the dissections with those of Lampronia, it will instantly appear that it is impossible to retain the insects to which they belong in the same genus ; the extraordinary variation in the form and length of the labial palpi and of the maxillae, are most important differences. It will be now advisable to take a more general view of its relationship to the Trichoptera, for, as Mr. Haliday has justly observed, the whole aspect approaches the groups Hydroptila and Narycia. If the larva of E. Calthella was known, no question would remain ; but even in the absence of that testimony, I think it will be clear that it belongs to the Lepidoptera. The wings are clothed with scales ; the maxillae, though short, are in the situation we find them in the Lepidoptera ;the palpi are not hairy, and the anterior tibiae have an internal spine. The only character, therefore, that makes an approach to Trichoptera, is the relative proportions of the palpi, to which may, perhaps, be added the remarkable neuration of the wings, which is certainly very unlike any other Lepidoptera I have examined, and the caudal appendages of the male are rather singular. From this review of the affinities to the two orders, although it must be admitted that by this exception the distinctive character, which I imagined was furnished by the palpi, proves no longer to be unobjectionable, still it is not to be altogether disregarded, and I think that the internal spine of the anterior tibiae, so constantly present in the moths, is nowhere to be found in the Trichoptera ; if such be the case, we have a new distinctive character, scarcely of less value than that which we have been obliged to abandon.A short notice of all the species will be found at fol. 639b, under Lampronia, from No. 10. subpurpurella to No. 20. bistrigella.