2l8 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



vated, and mountains and the sea-shore are inhabited by many 

 peculiar species. Dead animals, ants' nests, and damp layers at the 

 bottom of haystacks, heaps of vegetable refuse, dung, the bark of 

 trees, the sap flowing from wounded trees, and solid wood, both in 

 and out of houses, each furnish their contingent of beetles, and during 

 the summer, when ponds, &c, are partially dried up, the small resi- 

 due of water provides a good supply for the water net. The muddy 

 banks of ponds contain many species, and in general damp ground is 

 better than dry." 



Too much information, especially with regard to local species, is 

 certainly detrimental, but something a little more definite than the 

 above might be given. When Mr. Stainton compiled his excellent 

 " Manual of British Butterflies and Moths" (which, to my idea was 

 one of the best works of the kind ever written), he obtained records 

 from correspondents in certain districts, summarised them, and pre- 

 sented a life-history of each insect in a most concise form — the time of 

 occurrence of larva and imago, food-plant, and the locality ; also signs 

 denoting that it occurred, or at times, had been unusually common in 

 certain districts. Now both Stephens' Manual and Curtis' work, 

 though giving a deal of information, contain many errors ; besides 

 which, several new species have been added to the list, and others have 

 been eliminated ; whilst a reference to continental authors requires a 

 knowledge of foreign languages, and there also we meet with many 

 errors. One fruitful source of error is the constant repetition of the 

 localities of early authors, " such a locality, for instance, as 'Battersea 

 Fields,' which has so completely disappeared, that it is all but impossi- 

 ble to define the boundaries of the district formerly known by that 

 name. Other localities, as ' near the mill at mouth of Wandle, 

 Wandsworth,' or 'field by the river, near Hammersmith,' have long 

 ago been converted into 'spoil banks' or otherwise destroyed." 



Again, when looking up a species, one is often referred to "London 

 district." This, at any rate, is a gloriously uncertain term to apply 

 to a locality. I will exemplify this. It may sometimes happen that 

 a coleopterist, resident in the country, is on a visit to London, pos- 

 sibly with the view of obtaining local species. If his ideas of the 

 extent of the London district are similar to those of the postal 

 authorities, or the inhabitants of London, he will be greatly deceived ; 

 but if he takes the larger view, which coleopterists generally under- 

 stand this term to mean, he will find that the term "London district " 

 includes almost all the country in the basin of the Thames, for a 

 distance of about 25 miles round, and comprises every known geolo- 



