/;/ Menioriam : Alfred Beaumont. 



and he did splendid work among' the coleoptera, hymenoptera^ 

 neuroptera, and diptera, repeatedly adding- species new to the 

 British list, and in some cases new to science in some of these 

 orders. Perhaps his favourite locality of late years was the 

 lovely district of Oxshott, in Surrey, and where the writer has 

 spent some enjoyable hours collecting in his company. It was 

 there that he added to the British list the very interesting- lace- 

 wing fly Chrysopa dorsali's, and we believe the locality produced 

 to him several hymenoptera new to science. He seemed never 

 tired of collecting-, and setting- his captures, and up to the time 

 of his death, at so advanced an age, his setting of the most 

 minute species was a marvel of neatness. But the naming of 

 his captures was always irksome to him, and rather than trouble 

 over it, he usually sent his doubtful specimens to specialists, 

 often to their advantage, as they were frequently allowed to 

 retain the specimens of even new species if there happened 

 to be more than one representative. 



In 1885, whilst stripping off the bark of trees at Lewisham, 

 searching for beetles, Beaumont happened to come across 

 specimens of the rare micro-lepidopteron, Ochsenheimeria 

 vcicidella, and afterwards found that the species could be taken 

 in g-reat plenty in the district under the bark of trees. He used 

 to tell with great glee the story of how he introduced Mr. H. T. 

 Stainton to the species. Calling on Mr. Stainton at Mounts- 

 field to tell him of his find, Beaumont told him he could almost 

 guarantee to find it for him in his own (Stainton's) grounds. 

 Mr. Stainton was incredulous, but, on Beaumont's invitation, 

 armed with a lot of chip boxes, he walked into the garden with 

 him. Beaumont very soon showed him the insect in plenty, and 

 before they had got round the grounds Mr. Stainton had not 

 only filled his boxes with a moth in his own special group, 

 which he had never even suspected to occur there, but had 

 been obliged to transgress one of his favourite sayings, which 

 was to 'never put more than one moth in a chip box,' for 

 numbers of his boxes contained two apiece ! Another story, 

 which illustrates his kindliness of disposition, may be told here. 

 Beaumont was ahvays a keen sportsman, and in his young- 

 days, when poachers were suspected in his preserves, he was 

 not averse to accompanying- the keepers at night to join in the 

 watching, and, if necessary, to be in at the fray. On one occa- 

 sion, in Butter Nab Wood, he took the gun from a man who 

 was poaching, and then told him he must pay twelve shillings, 

 or he should send him a ' summons ! ' The man brought him 



Naturalist, 



