iSgi.] 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



241 



of the fir trees and secure Cyplioii padi and a profusion of CoccinelUe , 

 there is Coccinella variabilis, hardly two of which are ahke, there is 

 also C. hieroglyphica, C. 18-guttata, C. oblongoguttata and C. 

 bipitnctata. We also take several Elatev balteatus and a couple of E. 

 pomorum. So keeping along this forest track we gradually approach 

 Oakmere, a narrow winding water, perhaps a mile or so long. The 

 country immediately round it is cleared of trees, but a zone of swamp 

 fringes its shores and renders access to its waters a matter of difficulty. 

 Here, on the dryer spots, the scented bog myrtle grows, and great 

 tufts of whinberry and the tall Lastrea fern, and between are holes of 

 peat and deep brown water, into which, as you leap from one tussock 

 to another, you may see the ringed snake slip - they abound in this 

 swamp, and, if report can be trusted, there are also adders. Here 

 in July you will take the Marsh ringlet, var. RotJiliebii, quite 

 commonly. The mere itself is unworkable on this side for 

 Hydradephaga, but these boggy pools yield some sport. The best 

 things turn out to be Colynibetes bistriatus and Hydvophovus parallelo- 

 gramuuis. Besides these, however, we took H . memnonius, H. assimilis, 

 H. nigrita, H. litiiratus, H. obsciinis, H. Gyllenhali, H. planus, and 

 erythrocephalus, Philhydnis marginelhis, and other common things. 

 The water, however, was thick and muddy, and it was not easy to 

 capture its coleopterous denizens. Another use we put it to: a few 

 cows it seemed picked up a scanty living on this moss, and by 

 submerging their droppings we took Aphodins hcvinorrhoidalis, A. 

 depressus, A.fossov, and A.ater, in great numbers, likewise common 

 vStaphs inumerable and Cercyona. 



A little later in the year, as you pick your careful way through this 

 swamp, a great yellow moth will suddenly start up and dash away. 

 If you can manage to net the thing, you will find you have Eiithemonia 

 russiila. The geometer Fidoiiia atomavia also wnll be very common - 

 we disturb one or two now, indeed, as we pass, and on dull days we 

 have taken Euplirosyne at rest on the reeds. 



Passing round the head of Oakmere, we get up into the pine woods 

 at the other side, and notice Fidonia piniaria fresh out, aimlessly 

 fluttering about the tree stems, the two sexes of which insect are so 

 unlike as to persuade the tyro that he has two different species of 

 moth. Here, some of the firs have been recently felled, and their 

 stems littered round with chips show white and shining here and there. 



