THE WEEKLY ENTOMOLOGIST. 
239 
above localities, as in July. I have 
tried June, July, August, Septem- 
ber, and I find the July days delight- 
ful, par excellence. 
On a baking hot day in the middle 
of last month, Mr. Leigh and I 
started from the Reigate Town 
Station, by the Box Hill train, pre- 
pared with pill-boxes by the dozen, 
and nets capable of great things. 
On this occasion, I had wisely re- 
frained from any attempt to conceal 
my character as a “ butterfly 
catcher,” and exchanged my hat for 
a cap. 
We were on the ground marked 
for our day’s work, by half past 
eleven, and toiled up the steep side 
of Box Hill, under a tremendous 
south country sun. Flitting over 
the short grassy turf, there are 
specimens innumerable of Ablabia 
P ratana, together with Ancliylopera 
Compta.ua. 
Then on the crest of the Hill we 
pause for a minute, and gaze on a 
view that pen cannot describe. The 
valley winds among tree- covered 
hills, clothed with a grass that lies 
as level and as soft as velvet. And 
from the woods below, peeps Dork- 
ing — beautiful in its rural quiet. 
But most Londoners have seen it 
for themselves; and to those ento- 
mologists who live in the provinces, 
and have not seen it, my advice is 
that they do so as soon as possible. 
So we turn and descend into the 
pretty valley, where huge vans, 
bearing loads of “ Free and United ” 
Foresters may be seen at certain 
festivals and on certain days of 
rejoicing throughout the year. 
Happily, the “ Free and United ” 
are enjoying themselves somewhere 
else, and the only sound we hear is 
the humming of thousands of in- 
sects over the beds of wild thyme. 
Among other species, we find our 
pretty little favourite Cledeobia An- 
gustalis, and dashing over flowers 
and grass and chalk are the 
brilliantly coloured P yraustas P«r- 
puralis and Ostrinalis. Then a few 
Sericoris Concliana are boxed on the 
level ground at the bottom of the 
valley. Further on, we begin to 
beat the yews, and like bits of 
yellow wood several Lithosia Helvola 
fall to the ground and are taken. 
Then the curiously marked and 
beautiful Platypteryx Falcataria, 
reposing quietly on a nettle leaf is 
added to our list. But what is this 
dark insect flying rapidly over the 
open ground F we net him and find 
Gnopliria Bubricollis — an old and 
well known Box Hill species. 
At last we turn our faces towards 
the Box Hill Road again, by which 
we have to get to Headley Lane, 
and beat the row of densely thick 
yews that lies in our way. 
The first insect we meet with 
here is Noctua Brunnea, which makes 
a rush for the long grass, and buries 
his head obstinately. Then Mela- 
nippe Galiata comes out of his 
