234 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



and shall be glad to hear if any of your readers have taken it in 

 this part of the country. — James Gunther; Oldham, August 18. 

 Lepidoptera, &c., round London.— In Dr. Kendall's paper 

 (Entom. 198) I see he draws attention to a subject which has 

 interested me for some time past, viz., the disappearance of 

 insects once common in the vicinity of the metropolis. Ento- 

 mologists whose memory carries them back thirty years cannot 

 fail to be struck with the present paucity of many species that 

 once occurred abundantly round London ; take, for instance, 

 the best parts of Epping Forest, say Loughton and High 

 Beech, and the contrast between thirty years ago and now will 

 be at once apparent. When I first visited that locality, in 1858 or 

 1859, every bramble bush in bloom almost swarmed with common 

 Diurni, such as Epinepliele tWionus, &c., and the falling off in 

 their numbers since then is almost startling; and this I quite 

 agree with Dr. Bendall is owing to " sootilisation," and I think 

 we ma)' add the long continuance of cold summers until this 

 year. I have not mj'^self seen Lepidoptera so common since, as 

 they were before, the celebrated wet summer of 18G0, which, I 

 believe, caused the extinction of several species in certain 

 localities. I believe the east and north-east of London suffer 

 most acutely from " sootilisation," the prevailing wind, taking 

 the whole year round, being from the south-west ; and in proof 

 of this anyone has only to visit one of the large lakes in 

 Wanstead Park and examine the north-east corner of it after a 

 south-west wind, and the fuliginous scum he will find deposited 

 thereon will soon convince of the reality and solidity of 

 " sootilisation." This sooty deposit, which is so apparent on 

 the water, must fall on vegetation in like manner, and no doubt 

 has caused sad havoc with many species once common. Nearly 

 all the lichen has gone from the trees in the Forest, and this, I 

 believe, is another proof of the impurity of the atmosphere. 

 Thirty years ago I used to take many common species of Micros 

 on an old fence at Hackney, but you may go round the park 

 palings here and never see so much as an insect of any kind. I 

 have also, in common with Dr. Kendall, noticed in this neighbour- 

 hood the great scarcity of Lepidoptera round the street lamps. 

 What has become of Bomhyx neastria, once so great a pest on 

 fruit trees and whitethorn hedges almost close to London ? It 

 seems to have totally disappeared ; and Odonestls potatoria seems 



