THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
29' 
either in the last week of May or the 
first week in June, while I was absent 
on a journey, and on my return I found 
it, with other things he thought not 
worth setting, stuck up against the 
woodwork in his room. He told me 
that he had one or two others in his net, 
but turned them out as worthless. I 
feel quite certain this insect was taken 
by him, and I know that Mr. Goodwin 
neither knew nor had any communication 
with any dealer in foreign insects, and 
further I much doubt whether there 
was a foreign specimen of Palustris in 
England at the time; for when I sent it 
up to my friend Mr. H. Doubleday to 
name, neither he nor any one in Loudon 
who saw it could say what it was; and 
it was not until Zeller’s visit to Epping 
that Mr. Doubleday ascertained from 
him its name. 
Ayr o Us fennica was taken, I have no 
doubt, by John Berestord, of Chester- 
field ; it has never been properly looked 
for since, for unfortunately he has done 
very little in collecting for some years. 
The mere lact of an insect being taken 
once and not again seen lor years proves 
nothing. Goodwin once took Acidalia 
rubricalu. at Stookton-iu-the-Forest, but 
though he hunted the same ground for 
it for years he never could take a 
second ; luckily I had another specimen, 
taken by my friend Mr. Baines, or I 
suppose I should be told that it, too, 
is foreign. T. D. Allis. 
York , April 13. 
PS. — Who the Mr. Walker alluded to 
may be I know not, but I believe I am 
collect in saying that Palustris does not 
occur iu Lapland. T. H. A. 
AN ENTIRE PARISH TURNED ENTO- 
MOLOGISTS. 
To the Editor of the ‘ Intelligencer.’ 
Sir,— The following paragraph, from 
the ‘Essex Standard’ will account for 
my extraordinary heading : — 
“ St. Peter's Church . — The satisfaction 
felt at the recent restoration of this 
church has been damped by a very 
singular circumstance: the whole of the 
new sittings in the body of the church 
are found to be infested with myriads of 
minute insects, which have somewhat 
puzzled our local naturalists ; but Dr. 
Becker, a German medical practitioner, 
pronounces them to be of the class con- 
nected with cutaneous diseases. They 
are supposed to have originated from un- 
covering the vaults and human bones, in 
the process of lowering the floor of the 
church; and at present no remedy has 
been suggested short of removing the 
fittings and covering the floor with a 
coating of concrete. The celebration of 
Divine service has necessarily been sus- 
pended, and the use of St. Mary’s Church 
has again been obtained for evening ser- 
vice, as during the progress of the altera- 
tions.” 
I enclose you a few specimens, and if 
you could throw any light on the subject 
I am sure, for one, I should be very 
much obliged. Dr. Becker informs me 
he considers the “animal” in question 
to be the Acarus dermanyssiformis of 
Ehrenberg and Donue. 
Yours truly, 
W. H. Haewood. 
St. Peters , Colchester ; 
April 1 1 . 
[The insects are decidedly an Acarus, 
but what species and what are its habits 
we caunot say ; but no doubt the insect 
is connected with the new fittiugs them- 
selves, and has nothing whatever to do 
with the process of uncovering the 
vaults; we have, however, forwarded 
specimens to an entomologist, who may 
perhaps be able to throw more light on 
the subject.] 
