LOCALiriES FOR BEGINNERS. 147 



years. It is by no means common now, and requires patient 

 attention to find and rear this beautiful insect. 



I have never sugared in this locality, but have occasionally 

 found odd noctuoids at rest, or started them from the herbage . 

 Perhaps the best of these was Mamestra ahjecta, which would 

 not be uncommon at sugar. There is not much upon which the 

 bait could be spread w^ith satisfaction, and we should have to be 

 very careful not to get bogged in the darkness. 



One of the prizes of this inhospitable district is the rare little 

 Psyche, Epiclinoptcryx reticclla, a most difficult insect to find. 

 It flies only in the brightest sunshine, and may easily be 

 mistaken for a gnat, so small and obscure is it. When the 

 knack of seeing these mites is once acquired a nice little series 

 may be obtained. 



Such are some of the moths frequenting salt-marshes. There 

 are many others, including Bomhyx castrensis, but it is not 

 likely we shall visit the locality for pleasure, though many an 

 interesting afternoon may be spent in summer in hunting over a 

 salt-marsh for imagines, or in autumn for larvae. Then we must 

 give attention to the stems of the aster plants, and find therein 

 larvae of one of the two Eupoecilics jn&t mentioned. I never worked 

 the flowers of this plant at night, but they look very suggestive 

 as an attraction for moths. 



I will now indicate other similar localities, for although 

 Benfleet is typical it is by no means one of the best. There 

 are several nearer Thames Haven ; Stanford-le-Hope is the best 

 station, though some distance off. Farther down there is a good 

 salt-marsh to the north of Shoeburyness, about half an hour's 

 walk from the railway station, when we pass the sand-hills on the 

 way, and may pick up other species than those peculiar to the 

 locality described. In this marsh, which is not actually by the 

 side of the Thames, but skirts the German Ocean, the sea- 

 lavender is more abundant than at Benfleet. Here, too, the 

 little Psyche has occurred in late years more plentifully than at 

 Benfleet ; the latter locahty is much more rich in luxuriant beds 

 of asters. Another fine marsh is to be reached by omnibus, 

 which runs in connection wdth certain trains from Southend 

 Station to Cricksey Ferry, which is on the Eiver Crouch, near 

 Burnham. Near the inn at Cricksey there are immense beds of 

 Staticc, the lavender flowers quite tinting the landscape as we 



