34 
Good and suitable accomodation is also to be found with Mr. and 
Mrs. Norman at the “ Maid’s Head Inn,” there is Mrs. Marshall a 
relation of the Baileys, also Mrs. Simkin of the “ Limes,” on the 
village green ; all these I know personally and they all know the 
“ little Doctor ” — that’s me ! 
Xuw with regard to the paraphernalia, a large sheet supported by 
three poles with guys to keep it taut, attached to pegs driven into the 
ground, is the chief item. Equally important is an acetylene lamp — 
this has quite superseded the old oil and paraffin lamps — and by the 
way I might mention, that I consider the best lamp now in existence 
is that made by Mr. Rose, the Wicken Blacksmith. The lamp is made 
from the design suggested by my friend Mr. Turner and called the 
“ Turner Lamp.” Its chief advantages are its extreme portability ; it 
can be carried in one hand with all its appurtenances, and is furnished 
with shelves which can be let down to put boxes and bottles on when 
required. Calcium Carbide can be obtained in any quantity in Soham, 
and those Entomologists who go unprepared with the requisite 
paraphernalia, may hire lamps and sheet from the local Entomologists, 
Messrs. Houghton and Bailey. 
The commencement of the Fen is about two miles from the 
Vicarage Farm, and the main path through the Fen is about a mile 
in length. It is called The Drove, and it is in The Drove that the 
lamps and sheets are placed. It is a most picturesque sight in the 
height of the collecting season to see a dozen of these lamps and 
sheets with the shadows of the men flitting across the sheets, and 
numbers of little bright stars of light advancing and retreating up 
and down the intervening spaces, and indicating collectors examining 
sugared posts, etc., which are set up at convenient distances along 
The Drove. These posts, etc., belong to the local collectors, Messrs. 
Bailey and Houghton, and consist of a rough piece of board stuck 
in the ground with a bit of virgin cork nailed to it near the top. I 
may also add that thistle heads with a dab of sugar are most 
attractive. 
The earlier hours of the day—if the exigencies of pinning and 
setting previous captures will permit — may be profitably employed 
searching for larvae, pupae, or day-flying Lepidoptera ; and I think it 
advisable to be on the ground half-an-hour before sunset, to select 
your pitch and rig up your sheet and lamp, and then do a little 
dusking. You will probably get the prettily marked little Anesychia 
funerella and other decent Micros, and two or three varieties of Swifts. 
Banksia argentula and Hydrelia uncula can be obtained in fair 
quantities in the Fen at the further end of The Drove on the left- 
hand side. 
The next performance is to put the sugar on, and on favourable 
nights you will often find early comers on the old sugar. You light 
up when it is fairly dark, and you may be pretty certain of a very 
successful evening if your face and hands are tormented by the 
myriads of gnats and midges, etc., which haunt the Fen. 
One particularly good night followed a day which had been sultry 
with heavy banks of cloud auguring a tempestuous night, which was 
not altogether realised, although we had some rain accompanied by 
distant thunder. 
xx. 
