Caddis Larvae (Trichoptera) Prey and PredationAuthor(s): Christopher MoriartySource: The Irish Naturalists' Journal, Vol. 17, No. 6 (Apr., 1972), p. 206Published by: Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25537559 .

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206

There is only one other record of Platynereis dumerulii swarming off the west coast of Ireland, that of Farran as Nereis dumerulii (cited in Southern., 1914 Proceedings of the

Royal Irish Academy, 31: pt. 47: 81). He also observed numbers of heteronereids around his ship, in Fahy's Bay (L6361). These were again all males. It is of interest that this latter occurrence was at 09.30 hours on the 13th May?at much the same season as the

swarming near Kilronan.

Zoology Department, University College, Galway. MICHAEL J. OTOOLE.

CARYOPHYLLIA SMITHII STOKES

Following Michael Long's discovery of pieces of three small specimens of

Caryophyllia smithii Stokes, north of Sybil Head on the Dingle Peninsula {Irish Naturalists1

Journal, 17: No. 1: 12), we would like to add a further record for the same area.

While crab fishing of the south of the Blasket Islands and Slea Head during the summer of 1970, several rocks and old shells were brought up on the pots, covered with the

testes of Caryophyllia. These were concentrated in the Blasket Sound and the Inishnabro Inishvickilaun Bight. Since all were dead, it would seem that they had probably been washed southwards through these channels from a "bed" somewhere to the North of the Blasket Islands.

Baltimore, Co. Cork. FINBAR MURPHY.

Trinity College, Dublin. MILES PARKER.

CADDIS LARVAE (TRICHOPTERA) PREY AND PREDATION A number of specimens of the freshwater mussel Anodonta anatina (L.) from Lough

Key, County Roscommon, G8102, were kept over the winter in an indoor aquarium tank, 70 X 50 cm, containing water between 5 cm and 10 cm depth. At the end of February 1971 an unsorted colleotion of invertebrates from a canal near Lough Key was added to the

tank and within a few days it was noticed that one of the mussels had died and the flesh

had disappeared with the exception of some traces of mantle. The shells of two of the

surviving mussels were gaping and within a number of larvae of Limnephilus flavicornis

(Fabricius) were found to be eating the tissues. As many as nine individuals of the caddis were seen in a single shell.

At the time it seemed possible that the mussels might have been unhealthy and

the caddis had attacked the weakened molluscs. It was also considered that the caddis

might be hehaving abnormally in the confined space of the aquarium. Some months later,

however, exactly the same behaviour was seen in a garden pond of some 400 X 100 cm

which contained recently introduced mussels. This suggested that both caddis behaviour

and the state of health of the mussels were normal. Examination of a number of mussels

in the field in Lough Key subsequently showed no evidence of caddis predation. Caddis

larvae are known to eat the corpses of large animals including birds and mice besides

attacking a variety of invertebrates (Hickin, N. E. (1967) Caddis Larvae. Hutchinson,

London). In the same garden pond (Co. Dublin O 1827) a magpie Pica pica (L.) was seen

feeding in June on a number of evenings. The prey proved to be another caddis, a

Limnephilid, probably Anabolia nervosa (Curtis) which frequently rested at the edge of the

pond, just below the surface of the water. The magpie would bring its victim to a flat

stone on the bank, hold the case down with one toe and pull the larvae out with its beak

before swallowing it. CHRISTOPHER MORIARTY.

Fisheries Division, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries,

3 Cathal Brugha Street, Dublin 1.

BOTANICAL NOTES

BANGIA ATROPURPUREA (ROTH) AG. IN LOUGH DERG, RIVER SHANNON

A short period of field work was carried out on the shore of Lough Derg, west of

Portuma, Co. Galway (H 15) on 13th July 1966 with Miss Vera Gordon and Miss Anne Swinney, Liverpool Botanic Society. A red filamentous alga was observed attached to

limestone boulders in shallow water in the townland of Stoneyisland (M8102). This alga was subsequently identified by Professor Mairin de Valera, University College, Galway, as

Bangia atropurpurea (Rhodophyceae), an alga rare in Irish waters. The previous records

date back to the last century and they refer to the following localities, Royal Canal, Dublin,

Leixlip, Co. Kildare, and Powerscourt waterfall, Co. Wicklow. The published records in

A Synopsis of Irish Algae, Freshwater and Marine (Adams, 1908) mention Leinster as the

only province from which the alga had been recorded.

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