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108.)

1932.
 
January, like Dec. 1931, was a very mild month & after some gales & rain the week of 18th - 25th was absolutely calm & the days mostly very sunny except for some fog or mist. Barometer extraordinarily high as well as temperature. One Crocus came out in front garden early in the month, but the rest did not appear till 26th. Snowdrops were out from 10th & by 20th at least two of the red Saxifrages had several flowers (prematurely) open. Hazel [[male symbol]] catkins were seen by the Owen boy, just below [[insertion]] ^ & Celandine at Kilmashogue bridge [[/insertion]] Recket's factory on 17th: one bush well out & another just out: owing to flood I could not cross to look for [[female symbol]] flowers.

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25th Jan. 1932. The poorest day of the week: rather bleak, strong SE to SW winds, after a wet night when a slight depression passed over.
With Palmer & D.K. Keran (of Edinburgh) Took bus to Malahide & walked to Portmarnock Pt. & round dunes (golf links) back by estuary & bus home Mostly coll. marine mollusks on shore, but spent 5 minutes shaking [[underlined]] Psamma [[/underlined]] roots on dunes & got one Braconid ([[underlined]] Blacus ruficornis [[/underlined]] Nees. [[female symbol]] ?) & [[underlined]] Hemiteles [[/underlined]] [[female symbol]], as well as two species of Chalcids & some beetles for O'Mahony.

[[left margin vertical insertion]] Collected some galls of [[underlined]] Aulex hypochoeridis [[/underlined]] on dunes & from these the flies & some Chalcid parasites emerged the following June! [[/insertion]]

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109.

Purple Crocus out on 1st Feb. 1932.
9th Feb. 1932. After a few days illness Hugh, our younger boy died of scarletina, just a fortnight before his eleventh birthday. February was very dry & cold & the beginning of March the same, except for a slight break, with a depression about the 3rd.
13th March 1932. A most glorious day, after a few frosty nights & fine sunny days with E. wind. Wind cool, but not strong enough to matter. Cycled to Enniskerry, where Hugh was buried, & spent the day in the marsh (between roads) & in the glen (Glencullen or Knocksink). Co. WI. 11.30 till 4 pm. 
On the willows in the marsh (now well in flower) I only saw a few Honey Bees. In the glen I saw nothing until I reached the big willow bush on sandy cliff which faces the Raven's Rock & [[Annaghcreary?]] Wood (now felled). At this willow just as I got near it, a large insect like a [[female symbol]] Bombus flew away, but I was not near enough to be sure it was a Bombus. From 1.30 till 3.30 numerous [[underlined]] Andrenas [[/underlined]] seen at this tree (mostly well out of reach. I believe all were either [[underlined]] A. praecox [[/underlined]] or [[underlined]] A. apicata [[/underlined]] & both [[2 male symbols]] & [[2 female symbols]] were seen. 
[[underlined]] Pezomachus [[/underlined]] [[female symbol]] taken on sandy cliff, with [[strikethrough]] L. miss [[/strikethrough]] [[underlined]] Formica fusca [[/underlined]] [[2 virgin female symbols]] which were very active. P.T.O.

Transcription Notes:
Shockingly brief, to-the-point mention of his son's death among the descriptions of weather (on 2nd page).