Suffolk Naturalists a Century ago

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THE DIPTERA OF SUFFOLK

Subfamily DIXINA'.

[Dixa autumnalis, Mg. Taken by me only on Mediterranean coast at Antibes.]

Dixa serotina, Mg.—On bushes in Assington Thicks, 15 vi 1900 ; Tuddenham Fen, v 1904.

D. cestivalis, Mg.—Found in Ipswich garden, 1908 (Mr. Raymond Bennett); not again seen tili 8 vi 1945, when a $ was swept in Bentley Woods marsh.

D. amphibia, DeG.—Singly in Slaughden salterns ,25 vii 1899; Blythbro Wood, 16 ix 1929 ; and on Reeds at Buss Creek in Southwold, 16 ix 1928.

D. nebulosa, Mg.—Larvas, probably of this species, were fished at Fritton marsh in iii 1941 (Trans, iv, p. cvi).

D. maculata, Mg.—Taken at Boyton by Mr. Verrall(EMM. 1920).

SUFFOLK NATURALISTS A CENTURY AGO. EXCELLENT accounts of both the ' Ipswich Science Gossip Society ' founded in 1869, which later called itself the Ipswich Scientific and more recently the vivant Ipswich Natural History Society, and ' Ipswich Field Club' which merged with the first in 1924, were contributed by our Member, Mr. Lingwood, to the Local Paper on respectively 31 January and 7 February 1945 ; but who, among those Members, suspects to-day that Suffolk possesstd its Botanical Society as long ago as 1826 and that a Naturalists' Society was formally proposed here during 1829 ? The earliest two volumes of C. J. Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, London 1828-9, preserve in permanent print what is utterly forgotten elsewhere respecting our County's surprising activity at that time, affording many valuable " facts respecting the comparative past and present rarity of Animals and Plants " here. In it eight and some anonymous Naturalists contributed papers :—W. B. CLARKE of East Bergholt wrote on 24 Nov. 1828 ; J. D. HOY from Stoke Nayland, 22 Nov. that year ; D. G. KERRIDGE from Ipswich on 17 Feb. & 15 July 1829 ; the Revd. William KIRBY of Barham, F.R.S., &c., in 1828 and June 1829, who was now 69 and had recently refused a canonry ; the prolific Daniel STOCK of Bungay in March, 1 April, 11 June, 28 July, Aug., 17 Nov. and 22 Dec. 1828 ; T., wrho does a two-pages review of Miss Laetitia JERMYN of Ipswich's 1829 2nd ed. of her ' Butterfly Collector's Vade Mecum ' ; R. C. TAYLOR Fsq., F.G.S., 7 Wilmington Square, London in 1829 ; and T. W. S. on 20 June 1828. Besides these, Stock gives obituary notices at ii, p. 120, of Robert STONE Esq., F.L.S., formerly of Bungay and for twenty vears before his death aged 78 on 6 Jan. 1829 of Bedingham Hall in Norfolk, where his

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herbarium of British plants was nearly complete and who contributed largely to Withering's " Botanical Arrangement " ; and of Mr. John A S H B Y of the Society of Friends, for many years grocer & draper in Bungay before his decease there aged 74 on 24 Nov. 1828. Stock's collection began with Insects, continued with Fossils and ended with Plants, wherein he was friend of Woodward and William Curtis, mentioned in Smith's Britannica & English Floras as discoverer of Ornithogalum luteum, Ker., at Shipmeadow.

Their necessarily, at that period, somewhat populär subjects must be noticed in inverse classified order. C L A R K E claims lo have invented and here figures a Geological Hammer, which he successfully used ' during a long campaign amongst the rocks of Germany ' ; and T A Y L O R records " a very beautiful Moss Agate recently found at Aldborough on the coast of Suffolk. Since polished, it is 5 inches long by 3 in width and about 1 | thick ; weight 14 ounces. Many good specimens of Agate have been found on this coast, but this is said to be by far the most valuable."

— S T O N E ' S sole Palaeontological note relates to a ' Fossil Shell [named by the Editor Inoceramus Cuvieri, Sow.] attached t o a F l i n t ' that is figured and had been recently found at Ditchingham ; as well as the fragment of the tooth of an Flephant [?Elephas primigenius, Blum.], weighing over 3b lbs., in gravel at Wortwell.— T. W. S.'s " Rare Birds shot in the Neighbourhood of Yarmouth " are named (lacking authors) :—Anas nyraca, fuligula et gJacialis, Tringa hyperborea, Laurus minutus, Colymbus auritus, Alca alce, Procellaria Leachi and ' the Kentish or Alexandrian Plover'. Also notice is taken (ii, 452) of Edward Donovan's 1823 Nests and Eggs of British Birds.

S T O C K ' S Coleopterous Insects driven from their Winter Quarters (i, 492) parallels the even earlier note at our Trans, iv, 61 and is worthy of quotation, if from only a physiographical aspect : " T h e marshes and low meadows about Bungay were flooded for several days in January 1828, and the water was as high as had been known for some years. T h i s produced a very singular spectacle on 19-20th of that month, but especially the former, when Insects, chiefly Coleopterous, were driven by the rushing down of waters from their winter quarters and, being washed to land, had taken refuge by crawling up posts by the side of Earsham dam, adjoining the town, in such numbers as to be truly astonishing. I have no doubt, from the quantity I saw floating on water, but myriads must have been destroyed " : unfortunately none are named (Dr. Garness began his incomplete ' Coleoptera in the Neighbourhood of Bungay ' in Morris- Naturalist 1858, p. 16). K E R R I D G E later mentions Silpha A-maculata as taken near Ipswich ; and STOCK (ii, 213) says Dytiscus marginalis, like the Hemipteron Nepa cinerea, is frequently met with, and the Neuropteron Panorpa communis in the greatest abundance, about Bungay. T h e sole mention of Hymenoptera is the same author's folklore anent ' Putting Rees in Mourning ' in Norfolk.

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HOY'S historic note on Thecla pruni, L., appears at ii, p. 88 r " It may be interesting to hear that, during the past summer, a new or at least a very rare Insect, Thecla spini, has been taken in this countrv [NOT county !]. Mr. J. Seaman of Ipswich, a most indefatigable and persevering entomologist, captured many specimens of it during the month of June last. I have a catalogue of some of the rarer British birds killed in this county within a few years, which I will forward to you.—J. D. HOY. Stoke Nayland.

Nov. 22. 1828."

KERRIDGE r e f e r s to t h e ' d i f f i c u l t y in o b t a i n i n g

the Eggs of Butterflies', after recording from near Ipswich larvas of [Argynnis] Paphia, [Acherontia Atropos], Zeuzera cesculi (figured by him at ii, 291, Aigeria crabroniformis et apiformis, along with imagines of only the now-extinct Endromis versicolor and extremely rare Notodonta trilopha, Esp. misprinted ' Irotopha' [which solitaire, with Barrett's (Lep. Brit. iii, 117) one specimen 'taken

by Mr. Garneys in Suffolk', shows four to have occurred in our County:

1828, c i r c a 1858, 1867 & 1884],

STOCK d i d n o t a s p i r e

to recognise at Bungay anything rarer than Sphinx ligustri, Pygcera bucephala and Arctia caja (ii, p. 213).—Two collectors in Suffolk, John CURTIS and Francis STEPHENS, published in 1829 their respective ' Guide to an Arrangement of British Insects ' and ' Systematic Catalogue of British Insects', noticed at ii, p. 452.

Diptera were little studied at this time ; the sole note on them is KIRBY'S " Some Account of the Hessian Fly, Cecidomyia tritici " (figg. c??) ; and the sole one on Arachnida is his " Nidus on Rush",. ascribed to Aranea tuberculata, DeG. vii, 227, pl. xiii, fig. 5, though nowadays I fancy we should call it Agraca brunnea, Bl., of Trans, supra, ii, 175. His speech at the London dinner on 29 November 1828, precursor of the Ray Society, in commemoration of ticentenary of John R a y s birth, indicates his exalted position among coeval Scientists : Chair taken by Davies Gilbert Esq., M.P., President of the Royal Society. " After dinner Mr. Vigors, Secretary of the Zoological Society, spoke of the high sense now entertained of Ray as a philosophical zoologist. On the healths of the Naturalists of Great Britain being drunk coupled with the name of Mr. Kirby, that Reverend Gentleman said that he had never before addressed a public assembly of a festive character ; but he feit it right to take that opportunity of testifying his admiration of the great and good Ray. He had been great as a natural philosopher, and great also as a moral philosopher. He penetrated the world of Science further than any of his contemporaries and, by his exertions, formed a bright constellation of information, whose beams had served as a guide and beacon to more mcdern laboureis. In Entomology, the branch of Science to which he himself was devoted, the naturalist of 1828 was indeed deeply indebted to Ray, who had combined the system of Aristotle with that of Swammerdam and cleared the way for Linna-us. Much had been done to unveil Nature, but still much

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remained to be done ; and he hoped that a course of perseverance would be pursued until all was accomplished.—On giving ' the University of Cambridge', the Chairman noticed Ray's expulsion thence. T h e Rev. Professor H E N S L O W returned thanks ; and remarked that it had, so far as marble and canvas could make amends, atoned for the great injustice which M r . Ray had sustained : the bust of that great man was ranged with those of Newton, Boyle, Barrow, D r y d e n and Willoughby. T h e spirit of Ray still lived there ; and, although the study of Natural History had not yet been brought to that degree of perfection there which it might be, he hoped the day was not far off when it would command general attention. Such pursuits he considered the best correctives of fanaticism and bigotry". Henslow's 1829 ' Catalogue of British Plants ' is noticed at ii, 359.

All the local Botany here is contributed by S T O C K : Henslow's first paper on our County appeared in 1841. Fritillaria tessellata (figured) was a b u n d a n t in some meadows near Harleston on the Norfolk border ; Lemna minor and flowering L. major (figg.) were plentiful in ditches about Bungay ; Orobanche minor was profuse in Clover-fields about Bungay and, with roots attached to Premanthe muralis, in that town ; and a plant of Orchis pyramidalis was found at Bungay on 29 June 1828. T h a t December must have been mild, for on 21st near Bungay were seen in flower (ii, 88) :—Poa annua, Mercurialis perennis, Daphne sempervirens, Vinca major, Lamium album, L. purpureum, H o r m i n u m sylvestre or Salvia verbenaca, Sonchus oleraceus, Crepis tectorum, Taraxacum officinale, Phrygia nigra, Bellis perennis, Achillea millefolium, Senecio laciniatus et vulgaris, Ulex Europaus, Trifolium arvense, Geranium Robertianum, molle et pusillum, Malva vulgaris, Lychnis vespertina, Stellaria media, Sisymbrium officinale, Lepidium ompestre, Erysimum cheiranthoides, Thlaspi cuneatum, Ranunculus repens et acris,—' I am aware that local floras vary according to soil, Situation, &c, but I reckon among the more f r e q u e n t plants of this neighbourhood ' : Campanula rotundifolia, Viola tricolor, Solanum dulcamara, Alisma plantago, Epilobium parviflorum, Adoxa Moschatellina, Oxalis acetosella, Reseda luteola, Chelidonium majus, Tragopogon pratensis, Eupatorium cannabinum, Orchis morio et mascula, Listera ovata, Tortula subulata et Bryum argenteum (ii, 213). Finally he approves of ' Changes in the N a m e s of Plants ' (p. 462), gives a note on T h e Sun-Flower (464), and records f r o m near Bungay Triodia procumbens grass and white-flowered Colchicum autumnale in 1828 (p. 387).—To Daniel Stock's local influence may obviously be ascribed the establishment on 8 April 1826 of " the Bungay Botanical Society " , limited to thirty M e m b e r s who form H o r t u s Siccus and hold monthly Meetings at 6 or 7 p.m., with a Feast in June. N o r was this the only Suffolk coterie, for K E R R I D G E of Ipswich proposes, in a f - p a g e article, the formation of a ' Natural History Society '

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there, in order to encourage collectors. Ipswich has seen such a project come to fruition ; but Bungay could not now produce a dozen Botanists.

T o some Member of this Bungay society we probably, as Henslow & Skepper's Flora of Suffolk did not appear tili 1860, owe the anonymous list of 46 species of " Rare Plants found in Suffolk " that is appended at page 20 to third edition (Woodbridge 1829) of John Kirby's ' Travellers Guide'. Hind does not quote i t ; and it seems worth perpetuating here, in the order as printed without authors' names, but omitting localities there indicated :— Anemone pulsatilla, Arenaria peploides, Artemisia campestris et ?naritima, Aristolochia clematitas, Asplenium rnta-muraria, Atropa belladonna, Bunias cakile, Brassica campestris, Carduus acaulis et erosphoris, Chara flexilis, Chelidonium glaucium, Cerastium umbellatum, Cucubalus otites, Cicuta virosa, Erysimum chieranthoides, Fritillaria meleagris, Frankenia leevis, Fucus siliquosus, Genista pilosa, Gentiana campestris, Inula crithmoides, yellow-berried Ilex aqmfolium, Leonurus cardiaca, Marchantia hemispliarica, Medicago polymorpha, CEnanthe pimpinelloides, Ophrys nidus-avis, Orobanche camosa, Panicum sanguinala, Pisum maritimum, Rieda natans, Sedum Anglicum, Scleranthus perennis, Sambucus ebulus, Silene noctiflora, Scrophularia vernalis, Stratiotes Aloides, Trifolium glomeratum et scabrum, Tillaa muscosa, Veronica triphylles et verna, and Urtica pilulifera the Roman Nettle.

COLLECTING MACRO-LEPIDOPTERA NORTH-EAST SUFFOLK. B Y THE BARON DE W O R M S ,

IN

Ph.D., M.A., A.I.C.

to the very great kindness of Mr. & Mrs. P. J . Burton, I have enjoyed two very pleasant visits to Lowestoft in 1946.

I reached that coast town on 18 April, after nearly three weeks of continuous sunshine, which extended over mv sojourn there. My chief objective was Vanessa polychloros, L., that had been appearing in the Eastern Counties fairly commonly. T h e next day M r . Burton and I set out under ideal conditions for Fritton Lake, where he had recently seen a Large Tortoiseshell. None appeared ; but we found many small larvse of Limenitis Sibylla, L., just out .of hibernation and nearly always on the sparsely growing bowers of Honeysuckle round the base of Alders : they were quite easy to detect on the stems [and later abundant there.—P.J.B., 29 April]. One larva of Hylophila bicolorana, Fsl., still in its brown stage, was beaten from Oak. Afternoon took us to Frostenden, and no sooner had we descended into the hollow of the brick-pit

THANKS