54 
description in The British Noctuce, the Guernsey specimens which had 
been captured, and most (probably all) of the Isle of Wight specimens, 
were Caradrina ambigua. 
The Rev. C. R. N. Burrows of Rainham, then read the following 
paper:— 
ENTOMOLOGY AT RAINHAM, ESSEX, in 1894. 
I feel that, before commencing to address you, I should offer some 
apology for appearing before you this evening, and disclaim at the very 
beginning any pretence of being able to instruct you in matters entomo¬ 
logical. I must assure you, then, that I feel in the position of one 
pushed into publicity, and I should have much preferred to remain the 
“ mute, inglorious Milton ’* I have ever been, and to have taken the seat 
of a listener, while someone better qualified than myself interested 
and instructed us upon the subject of the evening. 
While disclaiming any right to lecture you in a learned or purely 
scientific strain, I may yet lay claim to a certain amount of experience 
in collecting, gained through a long course of years. 
Though not born with a net in my hand, my earliest memories are 
entwined with entomology, for amongst the first things which I can 
call to mind, is a visit with two spinster ladies to Hounslow Heath, in 
search of Anarta myrtilli, when myself too young to join in that healthy 
but somewhat exhausting exercise. 
You will not then, I hope, take me for a novice, but rather for what 
I really am, an entomological dabbler —perhaps I should say an un¬ 
scientific collector—of long standing, whose spare time for a great number 
of years has been devoted, whenever possible, to discovering and re¬ 
cording the Lepidoptera which can be taken in the various localities 
where my life has been spent. 
So far, I have been introducing myself and not the subject before 
us, but it is really this lifelong passion for collecting, which has been 
the cause of my appearance before you to-night. 
All English entomologists (perhaps I ought to say lepidopterists) 
seem to have been complaining of this year, 1894, as having been a very 
bad one for our pursuit. My systematic hunt has resulted in putting 
into my hands a number of insects which, though not, perhaps, what 
can be called rarities, seem to me to have a good deal of interest; and 
as this belief seems to be shared by my entomological advisers, I have 
allowed myself to be prevailed upon to lay before you an account of my 
captures. 
Rainham, the seat of my present investigations, is not itself a very 
inviting place. If any of you travelled to Southend in days gone by, or 
to Gravesend by Tilbury now-a-days, you will, I am sure, know the 
place. It is the place for stinks. 
Here cabbages, onions and other vegetables are grown for the London 
markets; and here, also, the condemned fish from Billingsgate, the 
blood from Deptford, and the bones from everywhere, are worked up 
into manures. The sweepings of streets and markets, the dust and 
rubbish from contractors’ yards, sometimes even the offal from the 
slaughter yards, all, I believe, make their way to Rainham, spreading 
their aroma far and wide, until they are converted once more into 
cabbages, and sent back whence they came. 
