THE LEPIDOPTERA OF AN ESSEX GARDEN. 81 
The Lepidoptera of an Essex Garden. 
By F. N. PIERCE, F.E.S. 
Picture a large square house, standing back from the road, with a 
short carriage drive leading to the front door; on the porch large-leaved 
ivy clings, climbing side by side with rose trees and honeysuckle on the 
face of the house, peeping in at the windows as they wander at will to 
hide the somewhat stiff appearance of the early Victorian architecture. 
It is here in the spring one sees the delicate little Celastrina (Lycaena) 
argiolus flitting from leaf to leaf, as it seeks a suitable spot whereon to 
deposit its egg. To the right of the house is a miniature spinny, with 
a narrow overhung pathway leading to the church. Behind this path 
is a kitchen garden with a plentiful supply of fruit trees, always a pro- 
ductive spot on an evening’s sugaring. To the left we can wander 
along one of two pathways ranning parallel with the road, two delight- 
ful paths, shaded by the foliage of laburnums, hornbeam, yew, elm, 
with numerous lilac bushes, whilst in rough rock-like beds daffodils, 
narcissus and anemones abound ; again an ideal treacling ground. At 
the end we enter a waste field, used until the so-called improvement in 
educational matters, as a playground for the children attending the 
little church school. This field is separated from another vegetable 
garden by a thick myrabolum plum hedge. At one part is a little 
rustic seat, in front of which grows a large patch of valerian, so that, 
net in hand, the watcher can sit awaiting the arrival of ‘“‘ Hawks” and 
“Plusias,” which put in an appearance as the dusk settles. Still pro- 
ceeding up one of the pathways we arrive at the garden proper, a large 
square grass plot surrounded with a thorn hedge, and a single huge 
lime tree, planted to shade the house from the glare of the Hssex sun. 
The grass plot itself has a surround of flower beds, in which many rare 
and lovely flowers thrive and bloom amidst the ubiquitous weeds, that 
in such a large garden are almost impossible to keep under. Nor must 
I forget to mention the collection of Artemesias that have been intro- 
duced with a view of feeding Phorodesma smaragdaria, and here and 
there a non-native tree, which seems out of its element and struggles 
for existence, a poor thin ash, a birch that pines for the moisture of our 
moss land, tall scrubby fir trees, and a single little bushy oak, perhaps 
the only one that has accommodated itself to its new home. Such then 
is the garden of my old friend the Rev. C. R. N. Burrows, at Mucking, 
in Hssex, truly an oasis in the flat, uninteresting (except to the ento- 
mologist and botanist) salt marshes. Perhaps we may be permitted to 
glance into the hallowed sanctuary of the study. We enter by a glass 
door that leads to the lawn. In front of a window facing the drive is 
a large leather-covered desk, surrounded by bottles, pocket boxes, spirit 
lamps, etc., whilst in the centre is a little Leitz dissecting microscope, 
ready for use. This is the instrument that does all the work. Toone 
who has had the advantage of the latest prismatic binocular it looks 
impossible that much can be seen, but it is a true illustration that it is 
not the instrument, but the user, that produces the marvellous results. 
The brain versus the machine. To the left is a part of his Entomo- 
logical library, where we see rows of Hntomologists, Records, etc., and a 
huge ledger labelled Indea Hntomologicus. This huge tome is the great 
index. Does Mr. Burrows want a reference, he turns up the species, 
May 15rx, 1918. 
