ENTOMOLOGY OF DELAMERE FOREST. 'i 



with cottages thatched, and with whitewashed walls. From the 

 Station the forest road stretches beyond the railway bridge to 

 Hatchmere, a mile or so away. The road divides this part of the 

 woods into sections of an opposite character. On the right tlie 

 ground rises away with hill and hollow. The trees are chiefly 

 oaks, and we leave the turnjjike and wend our way, net in 

 hand, among them. Were it spring-time we should find on the 

 bark, Pachnohia rubricosa, a few of the commonest of the family 

 Tceniocaiupa, such as T.gotliica, T.incerta, T.stahilis, and T-pul- 

 verulenta, and A)»2)]tidasys strataria as a rarity; while we should 

 capture Hyhernia leucophearia, H. marginaria, H. defoliaria, and 

 Larentia multistrigaria, with the aid of the net. But in July we 

 only come across Acronycta psi and Aplecta nebulosa. The 

 latter rests by day on the oak trunks, and its long, triangular 

 shape can be seen a score or more 3^ards of. In October, the 

 same tree trunks are haunted by Agriopis aprilina and Oporcibia 

 dilutata. 



Here are accidentally met two brethren of the net. They are 

 strangers who have come from a long distance, having heard 

 of the fame of the forest. At our invitation they join us, and 

 we cross the road into the section of the forest on the left. 

 The ground dips down into a broad and wooded valley, crossed 

 at right angles by wide, deep ditches, some of which are full 

 of nearly stagnant mud and noisome water. The trees in the 

 drier portions are chiefly Scotch firs, and among the branches, 

 in the hot sun, flit and sport innumerable Buphalus piniaria. 

 There is, especially on the low-lying ground, an undergrowth 

 of birch, and beneath this a carpet of heath and fern, of bil- 

 berry and moss. Among the firs, and from the ground, we 

 occasionally raise Eucosmia undidata and in plent}', Macaria 

 liturata and Ellopia prosaparia. The larvae of the two last — with 

 B-inniaria — can be beaten from the fir branches in September and 

 October. Beat them with a long stick, and hold underneath an 

 inverted umbrella. Before we leave the drier ground, with its 

 pines, we disturb two or three Noctua castanea, and box them. 



Among the birches, with their taller companions, the pines, 

 are occasional clear spaces, where heath and wild flowers grow 

 luxuriantly. Here we come upon the quiet little Thecla rubi, in 

 its short trips among the herbage. There is a Noctua tasting the 

 sweets of the heath blossoms. It is Agrotis strigula. We dive 



