NOTES ON COLLECTING, ETC. BOS 



Totteridge where the sport was better, four Apion spencei turning up 

 (the insect that I really went for). The weather now turned very cold 

 so I gave up sweeping and tried searching and soon came across a large 

 piece of fungus on an old oak stump which yielded about sixty 

 Gyrophcena sirictula, and some refuse on a piece of waste land close to 

 Woodside Park produced Ilomalium pla7ium and oxycanthce. 



On September 24th I went to Coombe Wood to see what was to be 

 got by sifting the dead leaves there. I did not get there till somewhat 

 late in the afternoon, so instead of looking over the siftings there I 

 brought them home to examine, and the result was that I got far more 

 than I expected, which is accounted for, I think, from having more 

 siftings to look at and having a better light to look it over by than the 

 semi-darkness of Coombe Wood about four o'clock on a September 

 afternoon. Among the insects that were common may be mentioned 

 Alexia pilifera, Oxypoda pallidula (I took ten), Quedius picipes, nigriceps 

 and peltatus ; I also took two specimens of Lithocharis brunnea and 

 single specimens of Homalota decipiens, Mycctoporus lucidus, Philonthns 

 decorus, Agathidmm Jiigrinum, Ocalea dadia, Cychramus luteus and 

 Cceliodes rubicundus. Just before going into Coombe Wood I tried the 

 gravelly bank of the Beverley (by the wooden bridge leading over into 

 the wood), and took three Homalota hygrotopora by throwing water over 

 it. 



On October 8th I took the train to Hammersmith and walked 

 along the tow-path to Barnes railway bridge and from there to Kew. 

 Along the tow-path I noticed some large masses of fungus growing on 

 one of the willows, so I at once set to work to examine the bits on the 

 ground which are more productive this time of year than the growing 

 fungus on the tree itself. Homalota nigra was present in swarms and 

 also four Homalota occulta (none of which can be referred to Dr. Sharp's 

 description of the var. fungivora), this latter insect does not appear to 

 be particular as to its food so long as it is strong, as later in the day I 

 took two more in very rotten vegetable refuse, and on November 5th I 

 took a specimen from a dead bird in Richmond Park. The prize of the 

 day's outing was a specimen of ii-'^Z/^Vz ^r/;^?/w/ which was also taken from 

 the same lot of fungus. A little further down the tow-path I succeeded 

 in taking two Cholera nigricans and four C. nigrita in some ground 

 fungus, and coming back from Kew I found a specimen of Homalium 

 iopterum under bark of an old stump in one of the hedges. 



On October 15th I went to .see if I could not find a decent locality 

 in the north-west part of the London district, so I took the train to 

 Willesden and walked up Dollis Hill to Hendon where there appear 

 to be some very decent lanes for sweeping and which I shall certainly 

 visit next summer. In some dead leaves by the side of the road up 

 Dollis Hill I took two Oxypoda vittata and a single specimen of 

 Homalota pagana, the latter being rather interesting, as all I have 

 from North London ; this specimen (and three in Mr. Newbery's 

 collection) have the abdomen lighter only at the apex and the thorax 

 pitch-black, thus giving the insect a very different appearance from the 

 type form. In one of the fields close by I found a fermenting manure 

 heap with some hay on ihe lo|), this I shook over some india-rubber 

 sheeting and Micropepliis margarilie. came out in swarms, and also a 

 good number of Mo/iotoma rtifa, but this insect wants good eyes and 



