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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



A. cratccgi. L. shut pis may always be had by those 

 who know where to go for them, for they do not 

 wander far from their haunts, though less strictly 

 local than A. Galathea, for which I know two stations, 

 widely apart. The little Duke of Burgundy Fritillary 

 {N. lucina) I have seen and taken, but not in such 

 numbers as I did some years ago at Selborne. 

 G. c-album occasionally appears, but I never saw it. 

 The large Fritillaries and L. Sybilla are very abun- 

 dant in all the large woods. 



As every one knows, these are the headquarters of 

 the two splendid Red Underwings C. nupta and 

 C. promissa, perhaps the most beautiful moths which 



Fig. 102. — Marbled white (Melanagria Galathea). 



Fig. 103. — Marbled white (Melanagria Galathea). 

 Upper side. 



the collector can hope to take away, unless they yield 

 the palm of beauty to the lovely green D. Orion or 

 the fine black and yellow A. villica, of which I once 

 netted a variety with almost spotless hind-wings. 

 Two years ago I captured a female E. russula : the 

 males are tolerably common, but the other sex is, I 

 believe, usually considered a great rarity. S. fuci- 

 formis is usually abundant just for a short season, 

 frequenting rhododendrons. The splendid Emperor 

 Moth (S. pavonia) occurs in plenty, but is easier to 

 rear from the larva than to catch on the wing. I 

 have seen the perfect insect as early as April 18; 

 and I once collected in a thorn hedge, and subse- 

 quently reared the large smoke-coloured caterpillars 

 of the odd-looking Lappet [G. quercifolia). E. Jacobaa: 

 is a perfect pest, especially in the larva state, swarm- 

 ing in masses on Ragwort. F. piniaria abounds in 

 the fir plantations, together with the speckled V. met- 

 adata. It would be a needless occupation of space 

 to enumerate even a tithe of the good moths that 

 occur. Suffice it to say that at least three-fourths of 

 the British macro-lepidoptera have been taken here. 

 If the New Forest is a favourite hunting-ground 



with lepidopterists, it is scarcely less known to 

 beetle collectors, and the coleopterist must possess a 

 very fair collection indeed who can spend a week 

 here without adding something to it. Carabns nitens 

 is occasionally found on moist heaths, but by no 

 means so plentifully as one would be led to suppose 

 from books ; much more common is the brilliant 

 Pixcilus cupret/s, which it somewhat resembles. The 

 great stagbeetle abounds, and now and again one 

 comes across its smaller relative, Dorctts parallelopi- 

 pedus. Once it was my good fortune to come upon 

 a dead specimen of the giant longicorn {Prionus 

 coriaritts), a most noble fellow, formidable even in 

 death. The Rhynchophora are probably very nume- 

 rous here ; Hylobius abietis was extremely abundant 

 two years ago. I used to find them in all sorts of 

 odd corners in and out of the house ; since then I 

 have not seen more than a couple. The large and 

 handsome Cleonus nebnlosus has come under my 

 notice once or twice, together with the little grey 

 Gronops hinatus. Cryptocephalus sericens — brilliant 

 silky green — occurs in the flowers of Hieracium 



Fig. 104. — Duke of Burgundy 

 Fritillary (Nenteobius lucina). 

 Under side. 



Fig. 105. — Duke of Burgundy 

 Fritillary (Nemeobius lucina). 

 Upper side. 



with black and 

 a smaller bright green, and I 

 -a Jassns, perhaps — which I 



pilosella ; Coccinella 12-punctata, abounds on the 

 coast, and so does Opatrum sabidosum ; and among 

 young oaks in the forest I have occasionally seen the 

 handsome scarlet Skipjack, Elater sanguineus, flying 

 in the hot sunshine. 



We have two very elegant members of the cer- 

 copidse : Cercopis sanguinolenta, 

 crimson elytra, and 

 fancy local, species- 

 found in abundance in sweeping the marshy border 

 of a wood. Dragon-flies are numerous, both in 

 species and individuals. By-the-by, if some one 

 acquainted with our British neuroptera — the Libelhtla 

 section — would send to Science-Gossip a synopsis 

 of genera and species, I am sure it would be regarded 

 as an act of kindness. 



The Forest-fly {Hippobosca equina) is one of the 

 features of the district. Thick, black masses of these 

 repulsive insects may be seen on every horse and 

 cow ; and while the native cattle, " to the manner 

 born," treat them with supreme indifference, a strange 

 animal is driven frantic at the approach of one. Can 

 any one tell me why ? It is generally supposed that 

 their food is the blood of the cattle they infest, but 

 the organs of the mouth, which are of extreme sim- 

 plicity, seem singularly incompetent to pierce the 

 hide of a horse or cow. The impression among some 

 of the people here is that they pull out the hairs and 



