A HISTORY OF CORNWALL 



The entomology of Cornwall has not received so much attention as its 

 marine zoology, and several of the sections have been entirely neglected by 

 local observers. The Lepidoptera have naturally attracted many workers, 

 and the late Mr. W. E. Baily of Penzance summed up their observations 

 and his own in the annotated list of 799 county species he published in 

 1894. This list is excellent so far as it goes, but contains practically no 

 records from the north of the county and almost none from the district 

 between the Bodmin Moors and the Tamar, while the rich collecting 

 district about Liskeard and Looe is scarcely referred to at all. About 

 600 species of Coleoptera have been recorded from the Penzance and Land's 

 End district, but except for the extreme south-east of the county and the 

 Isles of Scilly the rest of Cornwall, so far as beetles are concerned, has been 

 practically a land unknown. The published lists of county Hymenoptera are 

 almost entirely confined to the Aculeata of the Land's End district and of the 

 north coast, and to a list of 125 Entomophaga from the country around 

 Penzance, but there are occasional references to Ichneumons from other parts 

 of the county. The saw-flies, on the other hand, have been almost wholly 

 neglected. The dragon-flies have received a fair amount of attention, but the 

 only other records of importance for the Neuroptera are some notes by 

 Mr. W. C. Boyd on the occurrence of a few Trichoptera in the west. The 

 county Orthoptera have never received systematic attention, but many valuable 

 data have been preserved. The Diptera are represented by a list of 340 

 species collected by Messrs. J. C. and C. W. Dale in the west of Cornwall 

 and by a list from Colonel Yerbury of his captures on the Isles of Scilly, 

 together with occasional references in periodical literature. The Hemiptera 

 Heteroptera of West Cornwall were ably dealt with by Mr. Marquand ; a few 

 occurrences have been noted from the south coast, and Mr. C. G. Champion 

 has published a list of his captures at Scilly. The Homoptera, however, have 

 received practically no attention. No attempt appears to have been made so 

 far to identify the Aphides, but Mr. E. D. Marquand has published a list of 

 forty-eight Cornish species of that seldom-studied order, the Aptera. 



When this article on Cornish Entomology was originally planned, the 

 sections on the Lepidoptera and saw-flies were to have been written by 

 Mr. W. E. Baily, on Entomophaga by the Rev. T. A. Marshall, and on the 

 Coleoptera, Aculeate Hymenoptera, Hemiptera, and Aphides by the present 

 writer, while it was hoped that other local entomologists might be induced 

 to take up the other sections. The death of Mr. Baily and of Mr. Marshall, 

 and the absence of local workers on the less popular sections of entomology, 

 caused the whole of the responsibility for the work to devolve upon the 

 author. Fortunately the Biological Department of the County Technical 

 Schools at Truro is a very large one, and systematic entomology has been 

 taught there for the last six years, so that with the enthusiastic co-operation of 

 a number of his senior pupils the difficulties of the work have been gradually 

 overcome. In addition to the systematic workers on various orders, there has 

 been from year to year a large number of collectors, many of whom have 

 rendered admirable service. The necessity for completing the work somewhat 

 hurriedly has prevented full use being made of all the material collected, and 

 though every species about the identification of which no doubt exists, is 

 given on the following lists, the distribution in the county is not always so com- 



164 



