INSECTS 



Not erroneously has Suffolk been termed ' that best of entomological 

 counties,' for I firmly believe that there is not another in Britain, with the 

 possible exception of Surrey, which lacks the sea-coast species, to compare 

 with it in the number and variety of its insect-fauna ; and if its list of at- 

 present discovered kinds is not equal to that of other districts the fact must 

 be attributed to lack of observers rather than to paucity of material. It is not 

 my province to set forth the very varied geological and floral features which 

 go so far to influence its insects' presence, but it is only fit that those localities 

 which may most advantageously be visited by the entomologist and their 

 peculiar treasures should be indicated in order ; and this will explain the 

 constant recurrence in the following account of some dozen of them with, I 

 trust, unnauseating frequency. The visitor leaves the railway at Bentley 

 station, and, after a glance at the crag-pits at Tattingstone and the Brantham 

 Dale on the east, strikes off west and begins his hunt at the Bentley 

 Woods, where for twelve years I collected weekly or oftener, and on my last 

 visit took a new Psocid ! It is a wood locality with oak on the one side, fir 

 on the other, and a marshy meadow between. The Raydon Woods, still 

 keeping westward, are similar though less wild ; and, farther on, Assington 

 Thicks is part of the same ancient forest-track, and its fauna has, perhaps, 

 been less disturbed through the ages. Then comes an unprofitable track 

 through Sudbury and Melford to Haverhill in the south-west corner of the 

 county, which is all heavy land, and with the single exception of Stanstead 

 Wood, of little use to us. Turning north we are soon on the chalky slopes 

 about Newmarket, which should yield many new things, though I have always 

 been disappointed there. Some ten miles to the east is Bury St. Edmunds 

 and Tostock, where Mr. Tuck has found many good things in the broad 

 woods, though it is all heavy land. But straight ahead we come to Tudden- 

 ham and Herringswell, which once formed part of the great fen level, and we 

 still find such inn-signs as ' The Anchor ' there. This is the best marsh- 

 collecting in the county : the Angelica grows 8 ft. high, one falls over 

 tussock-grasses hidden bv herbage, and on the southern side are scattered 

 woods of alder merging into birch, with broad open tracks of wild heather 

 and rabbits' warrens ; while on the north it is bounded by the sluggish and 

 weedy Lark River, on the banks of which, a little farther west, is good 

 collecting at Barton Mills and Mildenhall. The chalk at Worlington is 

 worth a visit from the latter town. Continuing northward we come to the 

 best heath collecting in the county ; between Eriswell and Brandon there is 

 heath, as far as the eye can reach nothing but heath — and rabbits. Maidcross 

 Hill at Lakenheath is worth a visit — it is all sand ; and Palmers' Heath 

 between it and Brandon is also productive. We are now at Brandon, 



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