COLEOPTERA OK RICHMOND PARK. 147 



the immodiatc noi,c;hbourhoo(I of the metropolis made famous by 

 Power, Rye, and otlicrs, has not been without its effect on Richmond 

 Park. Though a very large area is covered by the park, some eightornine 

 square miles, still much of the once open ground outside its boundaries 

 is now covered with villas and rows of suburban houses. From one 

 corner, however, open ground still stretches away, the well-known 

 and equally famous coleopterous locality, Wimbledon Connnon, at one 

 point being only separated from the park by the main Kingston and 

 London road. Many of my best captures have been made in the 

 connecting strip of hawthorn-covered, somewhat boggy, portion of 

 the Common, strictly speaking, outside the park limits, but really 

 forming a part of it, entomologically speaking. 



There is another and more powerful reason, however, why the 

 park is no longer the collecting ground it once was — it is now one of 

 the most popular resorts close to London, especially since the out- 

 break of the cycle craze ; its roads are every day crowded with cyclists, 

 anxious to find good roads comparatively free from all vehicular traffic, 

 where they can get a 10 or 12 mile spin without going over the same 

 ground twice. The result is, that the old peace and quietness, and the 

 neglect of appearance, are gone for ever ; the keepers now look after 

 it as carefully as if it were a London park, dead and fallen timber is 

 removed at once, dead leaves are swept up, ponds are scraped out, 

 and general havoc played with everything from the collector's point 

 of view. There are still a few large game enclosures, where, probably, 

 the old wood-feeding specialities linger on, but I have never had the 

 pleasure of access to them — the public are rigidly excluded from these 

 choice spots of thick undergrowth. One has, therefore, now but scant 

 chance of taking any of the more valuable rarities of old days, the 

 records of which make one very disgusted at the present scanty fauna. 



The park is fairly well wooded with oaks, beeches and chestnuts, 

 but they are mostly too solid and substantial for wood-feeding beetles 

 at present. Wild flowers are very scarce, most of the open ground being 

 covered with a dense growth of bracken, in fact, I have seen very few 

 flowers in the park, except the wild hyacinth, and a few lowly herbs. Such 

 plants as the Umbellifera), however, are only conspicuous by their 

 absence, hence general sweeping is practically quite unproductive ; I 

 have often tried the bracken, but found hardly anything worth bottling. 

 The soil is mostly sandy and light in character, perfectly free from 

 stones of any kind, 30 stone turning, a fertile source of so many ('arahi- 

 dac in spring and autumn, cannot be practised. 



In fact, most of my captures have been made {a) by working at the 

 few decaying old hawthorns scattered over the slopes of the ridge 

 which looks out over the Thames valley, (6) by water work in the pond, 

 and the small brook which enters the park from W^imbledon Common, 

 (r) by working at moss and roots of rushes in a small damp wood 

 near the Ham Common Gate, or lastly (d) by working the deer and 

 other animal droppings. I will deal briefly with my best captures 

 in the various great divisions. 



Geoilcp/iai/a. — Of course, on such a sandy soil, ('icindda campcatru 

 occurs freely, but its brother, sijlvatica, though found freely not a 

 dozen miles off, in similar conditions, does not favour us. 



On the banks of the largest sheet of water, " Penn Pond," 

 Elaphms cupreus occurs in plenty, along with several of the smaller 



