184 



The Naturalist. 



private. It was with very happy anticipations we started from 

 Liverpool for our three weeks' holiday. Some time before arriving at 

 Brockenhurst we gazed with delight on the beauties of the Forest on 

 each side of the railway as we rushed through it. On arriving at 

 Brockenhurst we inquired for the best hotel, and were directed to a 

 small country inn, the " Rose and Crown," the hostess of which 

 seemed not a little perplexed as to how she should provide for such an 

 unusual influx of visitors. 



We commenced operations early the following morning. We had 

 plenty of choice as to collecting ground. There was the extensive 

 Forest in every direction, also numerous enclosures, besides the open 

 commons, &c. We selected for our morning's explorations " The 

 Park Enclosure," which we had hardly entered when my companion 

 called me to see what he thought was a fine specimen of B. rohoraria, 

 settled on one of the trees ; this proved, however, to be consortaria^ 

 nevertheless a great prize. Those present who knew the delight of 

 seeing T. biundularia sitting on the trees in Delamere Forest can 

 understand our pleasure in capturing this grand moth. We, of course, 

 worked very hard after this discovery, examining thousands of trees, 

 and were successful in securing a fair number of specimens. In 

 addition to these, on arriving home after our morning's labour we 

 found our boxes filled with hosts of butterflies, and amongst the moths 

 Crepuscularia, Ruhricollis, Dolabraria^ Pimciulaia, BarbaLis^ &c. 



The difficulty, in having so many excellent collecting places to 

 choose from, was day by day to decide which to select, each planta- 

 tion, heath, and common swarming with its own peculiarities. The 

 profusion of butterflies everywhere particularly surprised us, making 

 collecting so different to that in the North of England. 



During our stay at Brockenhurst we took the following butterflies : 

 CratcBgi (a few), Sinapis, Cardamines, Sibylla, Selene^ EupJirosytie, 

 Lucina, Rubi, Argiolm, Alsus^ Alveolus^ Agestis, Tages^ Sylvanus, 

 &c. We a,lso spent one day in the Isle of Wight, filling our boxes 

 with M. Cinxia and L. Adonis. The weather was not favourable for 

 collecting, being cold and wet. We sugared almost every night, but 

 without much success. The species we met with were, with few 

 exceptions, most abundant. Butterflies literally swarmed, the 

 difficulty being not how to fill our boxes, but what to select. An 

 enumeration of our captures may be interesting. In addition to the 

 butterflies mentioned, we took Fuciformis, Bombyliformis, Filipendula, 

 Complam^ Quadra^ Rubricollis, JacobecB, Russula, Fillica, Mendica^ 

 Quercm, Coryliy Advenaria, Fasciaria, Maculata, Margaritaia^ Bolabraria, 



