54 APRIL. 



celebrated for " Pictaria" and from thence we will 

 extend our journey to Birch Wood. 



Having obtained our tickets for the Dartford Station 

 of the North Kent Railway, and ensconced ourselves in 

 our seats, we shall in due time arrive there, when, if 

 we direct our course across the Heath, leaving " Darn" 

 on our left, we shall soon arrive at our destination the 

 Black Fence surrounding Baldwyns, the estate of Mrs. 

 Mennett : and truly it is justly celebrated; for if a smart 

 gale from the south-west blow.s, the fence is literally 

 swarming with insects which, as Mr. Stainton observes, 

 the collector has nothing to do but box he hardly 

 needs to look for them. I have been on Dartford 

 Heath at three o'clock in the morning in the month 

 of June, when a brisk south-wester has been blowing, 

 and have seen the moths making direct for the fence. 



c5 * 



which many of them never reached, being intercepted 

 by the net. Dartford Heath is a flat, sandy, elevated 

 plain covered with heath (Erica cinerea), and has a 

 very wild and comfortless appearance. A tyro, un- 

 acquainted with the peculiarities of the place, would at 

 once pronounce judgment against it (if he were prone 

 to jump at conclusions) ; but he must not judge by ap- 

 pearances in respect to Entomological localities ; if he 

 does, he will often be deceived, the most out of the way 

 and uninviting situations often producing the greatest 

 harvest to the collector, and such a one is " Dartford 

 Heath/ 7 



Now let us commence our examination of this pe- 

 culiar locality ; and first we will commence with the 

 fence: on looking at it carefully we shall find the larvae 

 of Taleporia pseudo-bombycetta and Xysmatodoma 



