ENTOMOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. 



JANUARY, 1836. 



Art. XXIX. — Wanderings and Pond e rings of an Insect- 

 Hunter. 



Chapter I. 



[The Insect-Hunter walketh over Blackheath, across the fields, to Eltham ; 

 thence, by Sidcup and Foots' Cray, to Birch Wood; he descanteth on 

 writers and dogs; he entereth the wood, and recordeth its productions; he 

 concludeth the chapter.] 



It happened, one fine morning, towards the end of June, 

 that I rose before the sun, fitted myself out for an entomolo- 

 gical expedition, and walked quietly over Blackheath, behind 

 Morden College, and across the fields towards Eltham. The 

 tower of Severn- droog, that ultima Thule of Cockaigne, seemed 

 to float, like an anchored ship at sea, on the dense white mass 

 of mist that entirely hid from my sight Shooter's Hill, on which 

 the tower stands. The skylarks hovering in the blue ether 

 above me, were hymning the praises of their Maker. The 

 corn-fields, heavy with dew, were not undulated by a single 

 breeze. Near as I was to his multitudinous dwelling, sur- 

 rounded by the evidence of his toil, there was no sound of 

 man ; — I was perfectly, deliriously alone. The presence, aye 

 even the distant voice of man would have oppressed my very 

 breathing, would have destroyed the charmed existence which 

 I then possessed. I continued on my way, and each succes- 

 sive mile produced its variety ; its men, its birds, its insects. 

 Each mile was pleasing after its manner, but those traversed in 

 the earliest hour were the most delightful. 



NO. IV. VOL. III. R R 



