208 :Sertember, 



THE INSECTS OF A SUFFOLK BROAD IN AUGUST. 

 BY CLAUDE MORLEY, F.E.S., &c. 



We all know something at least of the redundancy of insect life 

 in the Norfolk Marshes, but I fancy very few have tempted fortune 

 south of the Waveney, excepting Mr. Bedwell, whose particular pro- 

 vince of Oulton Broad I shall be careful to leave untouched in the 

 present notes. Barnbt is a village of some 250 inhabitants, midway 

 between Lowestoft and Beccles, possessing rich marsh lands, which 

 extend to the northern confines of the county. The whole is now 

 drained and converted into water meadows and cattle marshes, but in 

 two or three places are clumps of trees and tangled undergrowth, 

 generally enclosing reedy water, where wild fowl most do congregate ; 

 and the intersecting ditches are rich in bog plants. The " Broad " 

 and those adjacent once formed part of the estuary of the Waveney, 

 and were reclaimed probably about the same time as was the great 

 Bedford Level. The soil is for the most part peat, I suspect underlaid 

 by white clay or marl. By far the most prolific plant, when I paid 

 the locality seven visits in August, 1898, each of but a few hours' 

 duration, was Angelica sylvestris, which possesses peculiar attractive- 

 ness for all sorts of insects, though Spircea and Alisma yielded their 

 quota. Although the " Broad " comprises some 400 acres, but a square 

 five-eighths of a mile was explored, and only insects noted within this 

 scope are recorded. How superficial was my search the predominancy 

 of anthophilous species, which could easily be netted on the tables, 

 will abundantly evidence. 



The beetles met with (including such marsh species as Hydrophilus piceus, 

 Siilicus orbicidatus, Stenusfoi-nicatus, Scirtes orbicularis, Silis ruficoUis, Anthocomxa 

 rufus, Donacia cinerea, versicolora, &c.) have already been noticed in my " Coleoptera 

 of Suffolk." 



Many Hemiptera were beaten from the ubiquitous alders : Phytocoris populi, 

 ^forhinus angulatus, Orthotylus Jlavinervis (new to Suffolk), Psallus ambiguus, and 

 P. obscurellus (new to Suffolk), being not uncommon ; Oastrodes ferrxigineus (larva), 

 uncommon with us, was taken from pine. 



The Neuroptera were less abundant than might have been expected, but they 

 received no particular attention : Psocus longicomis, on water weeds, pine and alder, 

 Lestes sponsa, common, Hemerobius subnebulosus and Limnophil us sparsus only are 

 worthy of notice. 



Orthoptera were represented by Steuobothrus rufipes and viridulus, and Tettix 

 bipunctatus, the latter sparingly ; Xiphidium dorsale (new to Suffolk) was abundant 

 in the herbage, and once or twice occurred on Angelica ; it had, I believe, been 

 previously recorded from Cambridge alone, north of the Thames. 



The Rymenoptera were abundant, and fine series occurred. Of the Aculeates : 

 Salitts exaltatus, Pemphredon leihifer, Oorytes A-faxciatus (one ? ), Crahro chrysos- 



