50 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



swept Leptura livida, Lema melanopa, Telephorus lateralis, T. litura, and 

 Mordettistena pumilla, from the railway bank. 



On June 21st, I kept Jubilee at Woking. The special inducement for 

 this visit was to obtain Donacice, This genus is best obtained by searching 

 the sedges and other water plants. Commencing at 11 in the morning, by 

 3 o'clock in the afternoon I had obtained about 100 specimens, which in- 

 cluded D. linearis, thalassina, comari, hydrochceridis, sagittarice, and sericea. 

 Other captures were Gyrinus natator, Erirhinus nereis, Galeruca sagittarice, 

 Luperus hetulinus, Cassida equestris, Lina populi, Phyllopertha horticola, 

 Corymbites tessellatus, &c. 



On June 26th, I had a few hours at Esher, getting Sericosomus brunneus, 

 three Corymbites tessellatus, several Donicia menyanthidis and sericea, Crypto- 

 cephalus lineola, and many others. 



On July 2nd, I made a short trip to Wanstead Park. Here I found 

 Donacia semicuprea abundantly, and also obtained D. lemnce, linearis, and 

 thalassina. Chrysomela polita were also very common on the sides of- the 

 lake ; and I netted a few Telephorus hcemorrhoidalis, one Rydronomus alis- 

 matis, and some Aphthona cyanella. 



On July 9th, I took train to Woking, thence walking on to the Basing- 

 stoke Canal, being in search of the later species of Donacia. The weather 

 was dull, but I swept several Donacia thalassina from the short rushes, and 

 got a specimen or two of D. sagittarice. At one o'clock the sun shone 

 brightly, and the heat was intense. Danacia bidens and dentata were soon 

 observable skimming over the water, and also at rest on the small float- 

 ing leaves in the canal, but far out of my reach, and unobtainable by sweep- 

 ing. I therefore selected the best spot, and entered the water to procure 

 some of them. The catching business, however, was not so easy as one 

 might imagine, and several times I just missed them, before I hit on the 

 right method of proceeding, which was to take hold of the stem of the plant 

 and drag the leaf under water, when the beetle, being out of its element, was 

 readily picked off and transferred to the laurel bottle. In this manner I 

 obtained about 60 specimens of D. bidens and dentata, and six D. sagittarice, 

 making a total of about 140 Donacise for the day's captures. Afterwards I 

 found a good specimen of Dytiscus circumcinctus, clinging to the stem of a 

 plant by the side of a pool, and I took a variety of common insects, including 

 three Tabanus bovinus (the Bat fly), which evinced a strong partiality for my 

 bare limbs, and accordingly paid the penalty for so doing. 



At five o'clock I journeyed on to Farnham, a town some 39 miles distant 

 from London, and associated in my mind with many pleasant memories. It 

 was here that my father — Mr. James Lewcock — an ardent ornithologist 



