Remarks on the Great Oolite of Minchmhmnpton. 115 



suppose to have some influence on the Lepidoptera and Hymeno- 

 ptera; it is provincially called the potatoe- wood ; it is at that 

 time covered with blossoms, which, though they grow in thick 

 racemes, offer nothing pleasing to the sight or the scent. But 

 these form the centres of attraction to the insects I have named ; 

 Pierides and Thecla in particular flutter around the summits in 

 considerable numbers, and swarms of small beetles and Hies. 

 The Bauhinia displays its elegant blossoms, and in one corner a 

 large patch of Cassia attracts Papiliones and Coliades; but in 

 general there is an almost total lack of the flowering herbaceous 

 vegetation that fringes the roads in most other places. It is 

 remarkable also that the trees in these woods are nearly, if not 

 quite, destitute of epiphyte Orchidacece, which are so abundant on 

 Bluefields Mountain at a similar elevation, that hardly a tree is 

 without one or more specimens. But in other respects the cha- 

 racter of the vegetation in the two regions differs greatly. 



This district I habitually visited every alternate week, very 

 frequently spending eight or ten days at a time with my worthy 

 friends at Content. Probably two-thirds at least of my collec- 

 tion of insects were the result of my labours here. The eleva- 

 tion of the region may be assumed (I speak only from my own 

 estimate) as ranging from 1500 to 2000 feet above the sea. 



Before I leave this subject, I would add, that during the period 

 of insect-abundance on the Hampstead road, a large number of 

 species were taken by flying in at the open windows of Content 

 cottage by night. Many valuable specimens occurred in this 

 way, not only of the crepuscular and nocturnal Lepidoptera, but 

 of other orders in considerable variety. Curculionidce, Longicornes 

 and Lampyrida were very numerous. I am inclined to think 

 that a far greater number of insects are active by nm-ht than 

 by day. J 5 



At length then I proceed to the list of species, deferring the 

 notice of a few other less important localities until they arise. 



[To be continued.] 



XIII.— A few general Remarks on the Fossil Conchology of the 

 Great Oolite of Minchinhampton in comparison with that of the 

 same Formation in other localities. By John Lycett, Esq.* 

 The following observations have been suggested to me by a re- 

 mark of Dr. Buckland in his Bridgwater Treatise, and which 

 has since been occasionally quoted and repeated by others;— in 

 effect, that during the vast period when the secondary formations 



* Head before the Cotswold Naturalists' Club at Purton, August 3, 1847. 



8* 



