104 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT. 



perfect list, for on one side of Southport lies a vast tract of fen 

 or moss land, which I have hardly ever had time to search at 

 all ; but the ground I have searched, principally the sandhills 

 along the coast, has been ransacked pretty thoroughly ; and, 

 therefore, as the area is so much the more confined, the list is 

 perhaps of so much the greater value. The relative abundance 

 of species in any locality is also, I think, of importance ; but 

 the words we commonly use to denote abundance or the 

 contrary are generally so vague, and used or understood by 

 different naturalists in so different a sense, that I will just in 

 a few words try to explain the value of the general terms 

 ' rare,' ' common,' etc., appended to the names in the list, as I 

 myself use and understand them. 



" The term very common is used to denote that the species 



. may be taken, in its season, in the locality in question, as we 



should say in popular language, 'in any numbers,' that is, 



that a hundred or so might be captured during an afternoon 



of four or five hours, and this without any special search for it. 



" Common denotes that, in popular language, ' a great 

 many' might be taken in the above time, that is, to the number 

 of, say, forty or fifty, and this with but slight special search. 



" Frequent denotes that a score or so might be taken, in the 

 same time, with ordinary careful search. 



"Not rare denotes that a close search will generally procure 

 what we call ' a few,' that is, from five to ten or a dozen. 



" Occasional denotes that during the time stated, and with 

 careful search, two or three may be captured. 



" Rare would show that a specimen would be likely to be 

 obtained as we should say only ' once now and then,' that is, 

 about once out of several afternoons' very careful search. 



