JANUARY. 9 



generality of collectors, the questions generally asked 

 being " Have you been to West Wickham ?" " Where 

 is West Wickham?" " Do you know where West Wick- 

 ham is ?" While collectors of a certain stamp used to 

 alight at the Annerley Station, if they thought they 

 had been seen by a less fortunate " brother of the net 

 and pin," in order that the famous " West Wickham 

 Wood" should remain the exclusive hunting-ground of 

 the fortunate few. 



The wood is very extensive, and is composed prin- 

 cipally of birch, intermixed with larch, pine, oak, 

 elm, beech, whitethorn, and some fine spruce firs, to- 

 gether with an infinite variety of shrubs and plants 

 of smaller growth. If we follow the road until it turns 

 towards the " Cricketers," at Addington, and turn into 

 the Wood on our left, we shall soon see before us a fine 

 avenue of excellent pines ; in close proximity to these 

 is the " Heath Field," from a corner of which a foot- 

 path leads to the celebrated " Hypericum ground." 



But let us return to our station opposite the " Fox." 

 A little way along the road, opposite the palings, on 

 the edge of the Wood by the roadside, you will see 

 some fine spruce firs. Have you a bag with you ? — 

 Yes, certainly. Then let us search under these trees, 

 and picking up a few of the larger cones, examine 

 their apices ; in many of them we shall find a fat 

 larva, surrounded by a resinous exudation, feeding 

 upon the pith of the cone : this is the larva of Coccyx 

 Strobilana. You need not trouble yourself to examine 

 every cone, but fill your bag with them at random, as, 

 although you cannot expect every one to contain a 

 larva, yet, as most of them do, it would be only 

 b5 



