218 THE entomologist's record. 



whilst the fen-loving Muslin moth ( Nudaria senex) and its companion 

 Footman (Lithosia mnscerthi), with Acidalia emntaria, are to be seen 

 fluttering liglitly along the edges. Threading its way, with buzzing 

 flio-ht, in and out among the ditch plants is Coeiwhia rnfa, whilst over the 

 surface of the water Hi/drocampa nymphaeata, H. stagnata, Paraponyx 

 stratiotata and Catachjiita lemnata, sometimes abound. Nothing stranger 

 than the larvae of these water moths comes within the ken of the lepi- 

 dopterist, nothing more interesting than their habits will he discover 

 among his insect studies. Then, when evening closes and the weird 

 stillness comes over the hills whilst the dai'ker mantle of night enwraps 

 us within its mysterious folds, the rare Schoenohim mncronellns with its 

 mahogany-tinted wings and long-pointed snout, plays hide and seek 

 with Dorypliora palusfreUa, among the plants by the ditch-side. Then, 

 too, the Agrotids get on the wing (I use the term iVgrotids in its widest 

 sense), and their flight is as the onward rush of an invading army. 

 Hundreds, thousands, millions I have seen there ; to their number in 

 some seasons there seems no limit. 



Such were the sand-hills as I knew them until a few years ago ; such, 

 in part, I do not doubt they are still. But about ten years ago, a philan- 

 thropist found out our Eden, and built tents in the hollows that the 

 delicate little Nola centnnalis loved. Thither, in the summer-time, he 

 brought lads from the Great City, who, perhaps, would not otherwise, 

 have seen God's sea, nor felt His pure air blow upon their faces, and 

 His bright sun tingle and tan their cheeks. As an entomologist, I have 

 often been inclined to curse the philanthro])ist who discovered the Deal 

 sand-hills. But I know something of the boys who come from the 

 black slums of the Great City ; I have seen the inside of their homes (I) ; 

 I have talked with the women who bore them, and have, ere now, like 

 the prophet who was brought to curse the king's enemies, found myself 

 blessing the philanthropist altogether. Then the golfers came. For 

 them I have the utmost contempt. They are men of like passions with 

 ourselves, and I hate them most bitterly, and this is why. The first 

 piece of groiuid they levelled was the little corner in which Acidalia 

 ochrata loved to lay her eggs, where the banks sheltered her from the 

 rude blast. I spoke to two individuals I met there, when they were 

 apparently di.scussing the spot. They smiled — a heathenish, besotted, 

 ignorant, sardonic grin, which was meant to convey withering contempt. 

 1 was informed that I had no business there at all (which was true, I 

 suppose, as such things go). My appeal, I am sure, settled the fate of 

 Acidalia ochrata, so far as it had not been hitherto settled. 



A clear, dark night ; a sky into which one peered, and learned, in a 

 way never known before, that it was unfathomable ; a glorious scintil- 

 lation of the heavenly jewels which thickly stud the firmament ; a 

 veritable canopy of points of light where the angels' path — the milky 

 way— stretches its arch through the deep blue-black dome of Heaven ! 

 The night is warm, with the slightest suspicion of a breeze crawling 

 over the sand-hills from the south-west ; it is a night in which all the 

 delights of Nature are concentrated for the enjoyment of her creatures. 

 I wonder if my companions remember those occasional nights, when we 

 sat on the little seat and looked out over the sea, watching the waves 

 roll in upon the shingle, their path marked by the reflections of the 

 stars, which tossed up and down in the depths of the water, whilst the 



