120 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



A FORTNIGHT'S COLLECTING IN THE 

 NEW FOREST. 



By F. E. PRESCOTT DECIE, B.A. 



(Continued from page no.) 



The following day (the 13th) was fine and sunny, but it was warm, as 

 there was a strongish north-west wind blowing. In the afternoon we drove 

 over to Stoney Cross to see RufW Stone. We went by way of the Kennels, 

 Manor Park, and Robin's Bush Farm, and returned by Castle Mai wood and 

 Winstead. We saw two whinchats in the whins, on the bank above Rufus* 

 Stone. Insects were very scarce indeed, and a few Diptera and Micro-lepid- 

 optera were all we took. I ought not to forget to mention the rhododen- 

 drons, which grow in profusion in the Manor Park, and are really magnificent, 

 reaching, as they do, a height of twenty feet or more, without being in the least 

 straggly. The common sort only were properly in flower at this time, but 

 there were some darker varieties, the blossoms on which were nearly over. 



In the evening, two A. luhicipeda and two E. vulgata came in at the win- 

 dow to light. 



The fact that we had been informed, on what we considered trustworthy 

 authority, that B. roboraria might be taken at this season, at four o'clock in 

 the morning, flying among the large oak trees on the outskirts of Little 

 Holmshill Enclosure, led to our making a start on the 14th, at the un- 

 pleasantly early hour of 3.30 a.m. The morning was fine and bright, but it 

 was very chilly before the sun rose. On starting, we made straight for our 

 destination along the Beaulieu Road, and while on our way we were quite 

 surprised at the number of rabbits, which were running in all directions over 

 the heather. That there were rabbits about we were well aware, but we had 

 no idea there were so many. Whether B. roboraria does or does not ever fly 

 in or about Little Holmshill Enclosure at four o'clock in the morning, we 

 are never likely to know, but certain it is, that on this particular morning, 

 we did not fall in with the species. However, we had a delightful walk, and 

 our labours were not altogether in vain, for we found several kinds of larvae 

 which were new to us, and which presumably were night-feeding species, 

 which had not yet concealed themselves from the dangers of the day. The 

 only larvae we knew were one A. pyramided, taken on bramble, and one T. 

 cruda, on oak. Several species of Diptera, too, were represented among our 

 captures, but the only ones named up to the present are Melanstoma scalaris, 

 Hylemyia strigosa, and Aricia pallida. Birds, as has been before remarked, 

 are scarce in the Forest as a rule, but on this occasion we saw a good many, 



