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president’s address. 
Again, Leucania phragmitidis , a common species in our own 
fens, was in profusion at Wicken in 1873. Mr. Fletcher and 
myself used to examine them feeding on the flowers of the grasses 
in hundreds, selecting a few fine specimens, but as a rule passing 
them by. Next season this, too, was comparatively scarce, and 
remained so to the end of my personal acquaintance with Wicken. 
Now in the winter 1872-73, there were heavy floods, and on one 
occasion when I walked down to look at the Fen I found it under 
water, with only the Sallow bushes standing out. But in the 
following winter no floods of any account took place, and the 
spring of 1874 was forward and dry. The summer was very dry. 
A long succession of rainless days and dewless nights occurred, and 
the bottom of even the larger fen-drains became quite dry and 
hard. Of course, this may have been only a coincidence, but the 
facts appear to me curious and worth preserving. 
Another name, I fear, must be added to the list of the fen 
insects whose days are numbered. Perhaps the most singular and 
“ fenny ” in appearance of all this interesting group is Macrogastev 
ctrundinis (the Fen Leopard). It occurs in most of the fen-lands 
of Central Europe, and was discovered in this country by Mr. 
Doubleday, who found a male floating in a drain at Holme in 
1841, but did not again meet with it till 1S48, when he took two 
females in the same locality. In 1850, the larva having been 
discovered, it was found to be common all round Whittlesea 
Mere. This larva feeds inside the reed-stems, living for the most 
part in the lower joints underground, and seems able to bear some 
amount of hardship. It still holds out at Wicken under very 
unfavourable circumstances. For the reeds in this fen are not 
large enough for a full-sized amndinis. Save in the ditches, you 
can hardly find even a moderately large reed, and the moth has, 
as you may see from the specimens shown, accommodated itself 
to its surroundings, and dwarfed considerably. My acquaintance 
with it began in 1873, when I captured two females and five males. 
From that date to 1878 I found it in fairly uniform numbers, 
never securing more than a dozen or so in any one season, but 
never wholly missing it. It is still taken annually in the Fen 
