ENTOMOLOGIOAL RAMBLES IN THE MIDLANDS. 931 
ENTOMOLOGICAL RAMBLES IN THE MIDLANDS. 
No. I—BEWDLEY FOREST. 
BY W. G. BLATCH. 
In a former paper on ‘Midland Entomology” I tried to prove, 
amongst other things, that the oft-repeated statement about the Midland 
Counties not producing any but the commonest insects was a fallacy. I 
now propose to take my readers, mentally, to several of the best hunting 
grounds in the district, especially such as lie within easy reach of 
Birmingham, and to point out some of the more interesting insects, from 
a collector’s point of view, to be obtained from them. 
Foremost amongst these is undoubtedly Bewdley Forest, and we 
have accordingly chosen that for our first Ramble. 
Some “forests” to which I have been introduced are hard to find, 
and harder to see when you have found them, almost every distinctive 
feature having been long since swept away by the march of civilization ; 
but this does not apply in the present case, the forest for which we are 
now bound being perfectly genuine. 
Wyre Forest (its right name) is several miles in extent, and is 
situated between Bewdley, Cleobury Mortimer, and Arley, at the junction 
of the three counties of Salop, Stafford, and Worcester. Its distance 
from Birmingham is 224 miles, and the railway journey occupies (by 
certain trains) about an hour. There are several ways of entering the 
forest, those most generally used being the Arley and Bewdley routes. 
The first is preferred by many Botanists and Entomologists, but the 
latter is perhaps the best, all things considered ; we will therefore follow 
it on this occasion. Upon leaving the station we make for the fine bridge 
over the Severn, connecting Wribbenhall with Bewdley, and, having 
crossed it, turn down the steps on the right and go up the river-side as 
far as the quaint little church at Dowles. We then cross a bridge, turn 
sharp to the left, and, by ascending Dowles Brook, soon find ourselves 
surrounded by dense woods, and busily engaged in our entomological 
pursuits. 
But, in truth, before we had left the side of the river our attention 
had been arrested by the myriads of dragon-flies, stone-flies, and other 
insects which sport amongst the rank herbage margining the bank, and 
our nets had been busily occupied in securing specimens of the pretty 
little moths, Emmelesia albulata and E. decolorata, that flit about so 
EE 
