INSECTS" 



There are few English counties which had a more interesting insect 

 fauna than Kent, and this was doubtless due to its numerous and 

 extensive woods and marshes, to the varied geological formations, its 

 vast extent of coast line and river border and its proximity to the 

 continent. 



Until a comparatively recent period probably no county in England 

 produced so many species of insects and so large a number of specimens ; 

 but the advantageous natural conditions of Kent have during the last 

 fifty years been seriously injured by over-cultivation and over-population, 

 the destruction of old woods and by the gradual encroachment, on the 

 north-western portion of the county, of London and its south-eastern 

 suburbs. The very small amount of common and waste lands in the 

 county, as compared with the thousands of acres of forests or woods, 

 heaths and commons in Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, Dorset, Devon and 

 many other counties, and the extensive acreage devoted to hop gardens, 

 orchards and market gardens, may account for the rarity or entire absence 

 of some species formerly abundant in the county. On the other hand 

 certain species which are common on the continent are more frequently 

 found in Kent than in any other county in England.^ 



Probably no other English county has been so thoroughly worked 

 for the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) ; and the Coleoptera (beetles) 

 have also been most assiduously collected. The Orthoptera (grass- 

 hoppers, etc.), the Hymenoptera (bees, wasps and ants) and the 

 Hemiptera (bugs) have not been neglected ; but the Neuroptera (dragon- 

 flies, etc.) and Diptera (flies) seem to have received less attention than 

 has been given to these orders in many other counties. 



ORTHOPTERA 



Earwigs, Grasshoppers, Crickets, Cockroaches, etc. 



With the exception of Hampshire, Kent has a longer list of species 

 of this order than any other English county. Altogether thirty-three 



' The sequence of the orders here followed is that adopted by Dr. D. Sharp, F.R.S., in the 

 Cambridge Natural History (1889-92). — H. G. 



- I have to express my cordial thanks, for valuable assistance received, to the late Mr. C. G. Barrett, 

 F.E.S.; the late Mr. A. Beaumont, F.E.S. ; Mr. B. Bower, F.E.S. ; Mr. Malcolm Burr, Bj\., F.L.S. ; 

 Mr. E. A. Butler, B.A., B.Sc. ; Mr. Arthur J. Chitty, M.A., F.E.S ; Mr. Albert B. Earn, F.E.S. ; Mr. 

 Charles Fenn, F.E.S.-, Mr. Hubert Elgar ; the Rev. Canon Fowler, M.A., D.Sc, F.L.S. ; Mr. Edward 

 Goodwin; the late Colonel Howard L. Irby, F.L.S. ; Mr. William J. Lucas, B.A., F.E.S. ; Dr. H. G. 

 Knaggs.M.D., F.L.S. ; the late Mr. Robert McLachlan,F.R.S. ; Captain Savile G. Reid, R.E.,F.Z.S. ; 

 Mr. Edward Saunders, F.R.S. ; Mr. Frederick W. L. Sladen, F.E.S. ; Mr. J. W. Tutt, F.E.S. ; 

 Commander J. J. Walker, R.N., F.L.S. ; Mr. Sydney Webb ; Mr. W. West; and Colonel John W. 

 Yerbury, R.A., F.Z.S.— H. G. 



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