OF AN INSECT HUNTER. 309 



side ten years' growth. When a portion of the undergrowth 

 has been cut, the ground is spontaneously covered with the 

 humble ground-ivy and the common bugle, {Ajugu rejjtaiis.) 

 Round the blossoms of the bugle the elegant Sesice hover to 

 extract the sweets. Both the species fuciformis and hombili- 

 formis may be taken daily, as long as the flower continues in 

 blossom. The time is May, and synchronous with the Sesice 

 are the elegant butterflies Euphrosyne and Selene, the lively 

 Lucina, and the feeble, frail, and slender Sinapis. The wood 

 is, throughout, intersected with roads, the thick foliage of the 

 sides of which is most prolific, and should be carefully beaten 

 into the large clap-net : the produce will be a variety o^ 

 Noctuites, (particularly the rich A^. fimbria^ Tortricites, and 

 beetles of all kinds ; and the grassy edges of the roads, if swept 

 with the round hand-net, yield multitudes of minute Hyme- 

 noptera and Diptera. In these roads the umbellate flowers 

 are the resort of Zarcea fasciata, Leptura A-fasciata, and 

 other rarities. 



To the south-east of the wood, and closely joining it, is a 

 field of heath, which produces the following Orchidece in 

 abundance: — Ophrys apifera, Listera ovata, Orchis hifoUa, 

 morio, mascula, and maculata. In this field, the males of 

 Saturnia carjnni and Endroniis versicolor, are occasionally 

 taken on the wing : they fly in the afternoon, and invariably 

 against the wind. 



- To the south-west of the wood is another field, like the 

 former, uncultivated, and, throughout the summer, a perfect 

 flower-garden. Here abound the various species of Hieracium, 

 and other composite flowers, on which sun-loving insects 

 delight to settle. Here also grow, in great profusion, Lotus 

 corniculatus, Thymus serpyllus, Acinos vulgaris, Echium 

 vulgar e. Poly gala vulgaris, with its various shades of red, 

 purple, blue, and white ; Orchis mascula, maculata, and 

 morio, ax\6. the tall white hijolia, are most conspicuous ; scabiosa 

 succisa and arvensis ; Centaurea nigra and scabiosa. The 

 entomological produce is abundant and various : on the Cen- 

 taurea feed a number of Tephritites, the most abundant of 

 which are — Alciphron, cornuta, pugionata, and sonchi. I 

 have taken a hundred specimens of cornuta from the flowers of 

 Centaurea scabiosa in a single day ; and a month earlier, 

 before the flowers were expanded, I have found Alciphron 



