1887.] 171 



shores o£ the island are bold and rocky, in most places quite perpen- 

 dicular, though there are some very nice bits of rough broken under- 

 cliff here and there on the eastern side, which produce a very varied 

 and interesting vegetation, and are the best localities for Lepidoptera 

 in the island. Few beetles are to be found here however, the best 

 place for these being the summit of the western cliffs, and near the 

 Bill, where, under jthe innumerable loose stones, many interesting 

 Geodephaga, &c., are to be found — not to mention a superabundance 

 of earwigs, snails, slugs, ants, and especially wood-lice, which latter 

 vermin are in greater profusion at Portland than I have anywhere else 

 seen them. The quarries as a rule are unproductive, nor have I found 

 any good CoJeoptera on the steep flowery slopes on the north front 

 below the Verne Fort. 



The Chesil Beach is even more interesting, being a long, gently 

 curved ridge of rounded pebbles, extending from Portland to beyond 

 Abbotsbury, a distance of more than ten miles, its average width being 

 about 200 yards, and in height some 30 feet above high water mark. 

 A large shallow lagoon, called the " Fleet," is shut off from the sea by 

 the pebble ridge, and opens into Weymouth Bay by a narrow mouth, 

 crossed by a wooden bridge known as the Ferry Bridge. Adjoining 

 this bridge, on the Portland side, is a narrow strip of low sand-hills, 

 intersected by the railway and the road to Weymouth ; these are 

 covered with a profuse and varied growth of flowers in the summer 

 (Ononis, Anthyllis, Lotus corniculatus, and Armeria vulgaris forming 

 the chief part), and are most delightful collecting grounds. Sweeping 

 is, however, of very little avail (as in Portland) ; the only beetle which 

 appears to frequent the flowers being DoUcliosoma nolile, which occurs 

 in vast profusion on the thrift blossoms in June. On the right of 

 the road, looking towards Portland, are some damp saline hollows 

 between the road and the pebble ridge, swarming with Bledii, Pogoni, 

 Dichirotrichus of both sexes, Broscus, &c., and at low water a wide 

 expanse of tidal sand is exposed at the end of the " Fleet," which is 

 always worth inspecting. Close to Portland Station the sand-hills 

 disappear, the road and railway running close to the beach, but there 

 are some very good places at the foot of the railway-bank, on which 

 Crithmum maritiinum grows in abundance. 



Among a large number of species of Coleoptera met with, the following appear 

 worthy of record : — Cillenus lateralis, plentiful, in early summer, on tidal mud and 

 sand near the ferry bridge ; Adelosia picimana, abundant under stones in very dry 

 places on the west cliffs ; Amara convexiuscula, with the preceding, not rare ; 

 Licinus silphoides, common, and generally distributed, occurring all over the island 



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