THE WEEKLY ENTOMOLOGIST. 
139 
OBSERVATIONS. 
Lepidoptera. 
Woods near Woolwich. — The 
woods of Kent constitute, perhaps, 
the best collecting ground accessible 
to the London collector ; and to two 
of these, lying within an easy walk 
of Woolwich, I now propose to direct 
the steps of whomsoever reads my 
communications. On arriving at 
Woolwich we ascend the hill to the 
Artillery barracks (which everyone 
who has sailed down the Thames, or 
travelled by the North Kent Rail- 
way, must have noticed), cross the 
Common behind these, and arrive at 
the “ Bull ” on Shooter’s Hill, leav- 
ing Blackheath, of historic fame, to 
our right. Opposite to this point a 
road leads into the Crown Wood — 
a wood comparatively little worked, 
and one to which I confess I have 
myself not done justice, so apt are 
we to follow where others lead. It 
has, however, the reputation of being 
an excellent locality for the “ Pugs,” 
and for sallow collecting, while the 
Blackheath lamps are very produc- 
tive in the Autumn. I have heard 
of several good things being so 
taken here, but as my experience of 
the wood is confined to sallow col- 
lecting, I propose to direct my steps 
to the Plumstead Woods. 
A road, long, dull, and straight, 
leads down Shooter’s Hill to East 
Wickham, having arrived at which 
village we turn to our left, and follow 
a road as winding and irregular as 
the other was straight; or we can 
return through Woolwich and the 
village of Plumstead by road or by 
train. In the latter case Abbey 
W ood will be the nearest station to 
our collecting ground, but Plumstead 
will be found convenient to the 
woods, which occupy a range of hills 
extending to Belvedere and Erith. 
Plumstead wood, the first of these 
series, well known to coleopterists as 
one of the best ants’ nest grounds in 
England, is the only one of these 
woods in which I have collected, and 
that, unfortunately, only in the 
earlier part of the season. It is 
rather a peculiar wood, being a hill 
crowned with Scotch fir, with the 
slopes clothed with a mixed growth, 
among which birch plays a con- 
spicuous part. Here the Microp- 
teryxes swarm, Subpurpurella, Semi- 
purpurella, and Unimaculella occur- 
ing more freely than in any other 
wood with which I am acquainted. 
On the trunks of the fir trees we 
may find Xylocampa Lithorhiza at 
rest, concealed in chinks of the bark 
near the roots, and by sweeping the 
boughs we may obtain Ocnerostoma 
Pinariella. This indication of what 
may be got in early spring shows, I 
think, that these Plumstead Woods, 
with the adjacent heath, will be 
found to repay a search at a time 
when but few species are out, and' 
when a good day’s work is a pe- 
culiarly welcome but not an easy 
