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in plenty. In most of the dykes the water was clean and clear, and I 
imagine it could not have been absolutely stagnant. I never saw any 
fish taken from any of the ponds with the exception of the two species 
of sticklebacks, the common three spined and the much rarer ten 
spined. This latter species only occurred in one pond and I believe it 
is not a very common species. 
The osiers also were very full of various larvae, and I think I am 
safe in saying that I have never since found larvae of Smennthus ocellatus 
and Dicrannra vinula in such numbers as I used to find them in these 
marshes. The unusual feature about the larvae of ocellatus found there 
was, that propably 90 per cent, of them were ichneumoned. I have 
found these larvae from Cornwall to Suffolk, but in no other place have 
I found the number of ichneumoned larvae to predominate. With a 
little experience it was quite easy to tell which of the larvae were stung 
and which were not, as with those stung the horn at the tail was 
invariably shorter, and it would lose nearly all the blue colour, whereas 
the healthy ones had a perfect tail, and it was of a rich blue. It would 
almost appear as if the larva had gnawed a piece off its own tail for 
some unaccountable reason, as there was frequently an indication of a 
healed wound. 
Bird life was also well represented. A friend of mine, some years 
my senior, had shot on these marshes, wild duck, snipe, and the lesser 
Grebe, the last mentioned bird clearly showing that the place must 
have been marsh land pre-historically, as these birds have no power of 
flight, and they were probably there from the dark ages. All this 
grand hunting ground disappeared as by magic. I think it must 
have been about the year 1862 when the main drainage was extended 
or much enlarged, down the Bayswater and Kensington Roads, and 
when this was done the water all disappeared, the bullrushes for a 
season were left high and dry, roads were soon made, houses sprung- 
up, and what was once Hammersmith Marshes now glories in the name 
of West Kensington Park. 
Another collecting ground of my young days, which perhaps 
is not entirely devoid of insect life at the present day, was 
Wormwood Scrubbs and Old Oak Common. These places are 
practically one and the same, as they are only separated from one 
another by the line of the Great Western Railway. Some of the most 
interesting species taken in that spot by myself, or by my schoolday 
colleagues, were Melitaea artemis (a single specimen), Vanessa poly - 
cldoros, Lycaena agestis, and about the year 1865, Hesperia sylvanus 
was particularly numerous. Bombyx rubi was very abundant both in 
the larval and perfect state. Arbuti was also plentiful, as well as 
Tanagra choeropliyllata. Statices was another local species which was 
found in some numbers, and also Arctia villica. This latter species, I 
believe, still holds out to the present day, as the railway banks afford 
undisturbed feeding ground, but I understand that it is no longer in 
great abundance. 
With reference to the capture of artemis, I was greatly surprised 
at the time to meet the species so near London, but I have since seen 
that Frederick Bond used to take it at Kingsbury, in Middlesex, which 
is no very great distance from Old Oak Common, and probably the 
specimen I saw was one of the very last of an old colony. 
Before concluding, it now only remains for me to thank most 
heartily the officers of the Society for their willing co-operation in the 
