3182 Insects. 



Entomological Localities. By J. W. Douglas, Esq. 

 (Continued from page 3106). 



West Wickham Wood. 



11 There grew pied wind-flowers and violets, 



Daisies, those pearled Arcturi of the earth, 

 The constellated flower that never sets ; 



Faint oxlips ; tender bluebells, at whose birth 

 The sod scarce heaved ; and that tall flower that wets 

 Its mother's face with heaven-collected tears, 

 When the low wind, its playmate's voice, it hears. 



" And in the warm hedge grew lush eglantine, 



Green cow-bind and the moonlight-coloured May, 



And cherry blossoms, and white-cups, whose wine 

 Was the bright dew yet drained not by the day ; 



And wild roses, and ivy serpentine, 



With its dark buds and leaves, wandering astray.'' — Shelley. 



Most prolific in Lepidoptera is this wood, the cause being doubt- 

 less the variety of plants growing here, and from March to October 

 the collector will find something new continually appearing. Situated 

 between West Wickham and Addington, it is easily accessible from 

 London by the Croydon Railway; it is moreover one of the few woods 

 near town where an entomologist can go without reading " Trespass- 

 ers will be prosecuted." On the highest part the soil is sandy peat, 

 where grow only heath and fir-trees : immediately adjoining this, to- 

 wards Addington, the soil becomes stifTer, and here is a grove of beech 

 and oak. The rest of the wood, towards Wickham and Shirley, is 

 composed chiefly of oak, birch, and hazel, mixed with sallow, spindle, 

 and many other shrubs ; and everywhere the ground is covered with 

 a mixture of plants too numerous to mention. The following list of 

 insects is given to show what has been found; a diligent worker would 

 doubtless be able to add some rarities to it ; but for one to be aware 

 of the riches of the place, it must be worked and visited again and 

 again. 



Trochilium Myopaeformis. On the flowers of Euphorbia Amygda- 

 loides, in May. 



Sesia Bombyliformis and Fuciformis. Hovering over the flowers of 

 Ajuga reptans, in May. 



iEgeria Bembeciformis. Bred from a stump of sallow. 



