58 [March, 



were brougbt to light. Mr. J. J. Walker was kind enough to direct 

 iny attention to the rubbish left behind on the retirement of the 

 waters, which he had already investigated with a large measure of 

 success ; and as I was spending Easter within ten miles of the locality, 

 I found mj'self, with the aid of a bicycle (an almost indispensable 

 adjunct to collecting), on the marshes at an early hour on Easter 

 Monday. It was some time, however, before 1 found the flood-rubbish, 

 and in the meantime I worked the ditches for Ba<^ous, OcJitkehius, &c. 

 When at length 1 did come across it, the enormous amount of material 

 suitable for harbouring beetles was quite embarrassing. One deposit, 

 some forty feet by twenty, was evidently full of beetles, and from 

 this, along a raised causeway marking the site of one of the old sea- 

 walls, there extended a thin yellow line quite half a mile in length, 

 showing many places where the deposit lay deeper. The rubbish 

 consisted chiefly of dry grass-stalks from the meadows, and remains 

 of reeds from the ditches, and was in excellent condition for working. 

 It is by no means an easy task though to work a large amount of 

 flood-rubbish satisfactorily, and I believe that the best plan would be 

 to fill large muslin bags with the best stuff, and leave it tied up for a 

 few hours while working for insects elsewhere, examining the con- 

 tents of the bags later on, when the beetles would probably be found, 

 either at the bottom, or in the neck of the bag. Of course, the 

 Carabidce, most of which are found on the ground under rubbish, 

 would have to be looked for separately. 



"Working as I was with only a mackintosh cloth, the beetles were 

 so numerous that usually a large proportion of the more active 

 species were over the side of the cloth before it was possible to 

 secure them. In fact, the large number of beetles in sight at one 

 time caused almost as much embarrassment as the quantity of rubbish. 

 It requires a very quick eye, as well as a ready hand, to secure the 

 better beetles rapidly, without at the same time bottling a host of the 

 common kinds ; and if the collector's knowledge of beetles in the 

 field is at all rusty, he is compelled to run the risk of either taking 

 numbers of useless specimens which he does not want, or of passing 

 over many of the more desirable species. 



I was able to visit the Iwade marshes three times in all, and on 

 the afternoon of Saturday, April IGth, had the good fortune to be 

 accompanied by Mr. J. J. Walker, who has been kind enough to check 

 my list of species. 



The insects present in great numbers in the rubbish were one or 

 two common species of Tachyporus, Astilbus canaliculatus, the usually 



