SMITH : YORKSHIRE NATURALISTS AT TANFIELD. 



l 9$ 



Mr. Leonard Hawkesworth, who represented the Entomological 

 Section, furnishes the following :— The Entomological Section was 

 not adequately represented ; much good work might have been 

 done in spite of the early date, which was the excuse put forth, had 

 more workers been on the ground. Two Butterflies only were 

 seen ( Vanessa urticce and Pieris rapce) and one Moth {JLupithecia 

 abbreviata). The writer noted a few Beetles. Byrrhus pilula was 

 seen on the surface of a pond near Mickley, and four specimens of 

 Geotrupes stercorarius were observed on the wing at the same place, 

 in brilliant sunshine at noon. The following list calls for no further 

 remarks : 



Carabus violaceus L. 

 Xebria brevicollis F. 

 Pterostichus niger Schall. 

 Pterostichus vulgaris L. 

 Pterostichus strenuus Daws, 

 Calathus cisteloides Pz. 

 Anchomenus dorsalis Miill. 

 Leistus spinibarbis F. 

 Bembidium littorale 01. 

 Ocypus olens Miill. 

 Silpha rugosa L. 

 Silpha atrata L. 

 Byrrhus pilula L. 



Aphodius fimetarius L. 

 Aphodius punctato sulcatus S. 

 Aphodius contaminates Herbst 

 Aphodius rufipes L. 

 Aphodius ater DG. 

 Geotrupes spiniger Marsh. 



Geotrupes stercorarius L. 

 Geotrupes sylvaticus I'z. 

 Sericosomus brunneus L. 

 Rhagium bifasciatum F. 

 Chry-vomela polita L. 

 Otiorhynchus sulcatus K 



Mr. A. H. Pawson, who acted as Secretary of the Botanical 

 Section in the unavoidable absence of Mr. Farrah, reported as 



folio 



W S 



— The country around Tanfield is very rich in 



spring 



flowers. It is an early district. The slight elevation (below 150 ft.) 

 is favourable, and the shattered limestone rocks and light porou- 



moisture which often retard 



chilling 



soil part easily with the 

 vegetation on low ground. It was also a very forward season. The 

 Sweet Violets — which flourish exuberantly on these sandy banks, in 

 every shade from deepest blue to purest white, filling the air with 

 fragrance — were almost over. Gagea luiea, too, was only to be dis- 



tinguished by its withering leaves. 



This uncommon and little 



known flower is found in frugal sufficiency on the banks of the 



river and streams in this neighbourhood, usually about the flood- 

 level ; it blooms about the end of March, before folks are much 

 afield. Like the early buttercup, which it somewhat resembles, 

 provident of its pollen and used to rough weather, it only opens its 

 little umbel of flowers in the sunshine. The perianth is green 

 on the outside, and when closed quite conceals to an unobservant 

 eye any semblance of a flower. These floral leaves persist, turn 



t in ripening the fruit by performing the 

 f with which the plant is otherwise ill 



funct 



ions 



of foliage-leav 



July 



.6. 



H 



