306 MR. hardy's journal of an 



merely mention this to state, tliat the smart was like the burn 

 of a nettle, or that occasioned by the sting of a pismire, but it 

 soon subsided. These bees rarely use their defensive weapons. 

 On the surface of the sandstone rocks, within sea-mark, to the 

 north of the town, I observed numerous impressions, resembling 

 those coils of sand cast up, at the present day, by marine worms. 

 In former times, a portion of this district appears to have been 

 wooded. Several years since, while a field was being drained 

 below New Shoreston, a large quantity of hazel nuts was dug up, 

 along with the antlers of a species of deer. The prevalence of 

 wild oats {Avena fatua) in this district is remarkable, and very 

 annoying to the cultivator. In one place I observed them mown 

 like a crop of meadow grass, preparatory to turnip-making. The 

 yellow mustard {Sinapis arvensis) isalso a frequent weed, whence a 

 popular adage has arisen '. — " Runches and Wild Oats are the 

 Badge of Bamboroughshire." At the period of my visit, the tur- 

 nip beetle ( Haltica Nemorum) had attacked many of the early 

 sown turnips. The great pest of the turnip crop, this season, 

 however, has been the small green caterpillar of Plutella Cru- 

 ciferariun. 



June 28th. — I walked to Belford, and thence over the moors 

 to Wooler. The weather, as it had been on previous days, was 

 remarkably sultry. The only insects met with worthy of notice 

 were Omias sulcirostris and Bradycellus coUaris. These were 

 found under stones on the heights above Lyham. 



June 30th. — I found myself on new ground. I first tracked 

 the Wooler water upwards from the Mill to near the Haugh-head. 

 Ceutorhyncus Echu, Longitarsus femoralis, the latter abundantly 

 frequented Edilum vulgare ; Helodes Beccahungce and Gymnae- 

 tron niger, the Veronica AQiagallis ; and Foophagus Sisymhrii 

 and Ceutorhyncus niger, the water cress. Here also were Chcetoc- 

 nema aridella, A^nai^a tibialis, and Dromius foveolus in the drier 

 places ; Philonthus fulvipes and Bemhidium fasciolatum, vars. 

 atrocoeruleum and tibiale, amongst the gravel ; and Gryptoliyp- 

 nus quadripustidatus and Bledius suhterra^ieus on the sands. A 

 specimen of a rare fij (Xyloj^hagus ate?') was also captured. I 

 had met with it previously in Scotland, sitting on trunks of trees, 



