THE NEW FOREST, JUNE 1917. \.ft " 



BY JAMES ,r. w.vriCER, M.A., r.:n^., f.l.s;-. .ax 



From June 7tli to 28th Mr. G. C. Champion and I were ^te: 

 of om" old friend Dr. D. Sharp at Brocdvenhui-st, and the experiences 

 during this time of two entomologists, who may fairly lay claim to the 

 title of " veterans," in this classic locality, may not he devoid of interest. 

 Onr visit was attended, on the whole, with very fair results as regards 

 collecting, and the only drawhack to its complete enjoyment was tlie 

 fact that our genial host, owing to indifferent health, was unahle to 

 accompan}^ us on an}' of our excursions. 



We Avere favoured with excellent weather during practically the 

 whole of our stay, and the Forest was looking its very hest, and teemed 

 with insect-life, including the inevitable biting Tabanid flies, which were 

 in more than their usual force, and the still more annoying and insidious 

 " midges,'' which in some shady situations made continuous work almost 

 inipossible. The abundance of dragon-flies, especially of the beautiful 

 blue and green Calopferyx, along the forest streams and in the moist 

 parts of the enclosures, was also noteworthy. One feature of the season 

 was the drj^iess of the bogs, as it was possible to venture on many places 

 which at ordinar}' times are quite inaccessible ; but this condition was 

 not favourable to the pursuit of aquatic beetles, and at no time Avere 

 we tempted to use the water- net. 



Much of our time was spent in long tramps to remote parts of the 

 Forest in search of timber fit to work for Goleoptera, but it has alwa^^s 

 been our experience that to find really good wood for this purpose is 

 an event of the rarest occurrence, and that trees in the right condition 

 are indeed few and far between. It is true that there were numbers of 

 huge oak boughs on the ground, broken off in the last winter b}^ the 

 weight of snow, as well as many beeches, some of very large dimensions, 

 torn up l)y the roots b^^ the wind and lying prostrate ; but these, almost 

 without exception, were in too fresh condition to yield anything of value. 

 This Avas also the case Avith the ncAv stumps in the enclosures, where the 

 trees, chiefly pine, oak and birch, Avere being felled Avholesale by gangs of 

 Canadian and Portuguese lumbermen, but we were glad to see that the 

 line old oaks and beeches of the Forest proper Avore spared so far. Some 

 of the productive dead trees that I had knoAvn in previous years had 

 disappeared, and most of those remaining Avere as dr}-- as tinder, and too 

 far gone in decay for the majority of Avood-frequenting beetles. Still, A\'e 

 occasionally came across a fairly good stump or pile of cord-wood, and 

 our captures on these included Pyrochroa coccinea and Cistela ceram- 

 hoides, rareh' ; Syncliifa Jitylandis, also rare, on a small and A'ery dry 



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