Page:VCH Bedfordshire 1.djvu/111

 INSECTS The county of Bedford cannot be said to rank high in regard to the number of its species of insects in various groups. The paucity of its insect fauna may in great part be attributed to high farming, as well as to the nature of its soil. Yet the admixture of its clay with the great oolite and the more sandy formation towards Woburn furnishes a varia- tion of soil which is favourable to insect life, and it is very possible that further investigation — especially by a larger number of workers — may add considerably to the list of species found in the county up to the present time. The only orders which appear to have been studied in the county are the Coleoptera (beetles) and the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) : of the former order from seven to eight hundred species have been recorded ; of the latter over six hundred. COLEOPTERA The records of Coleoptera from Bedfordshire have hitherto been very few and far between, and the county has evidently never been worked by any of the older collectors, except perhaps for an odd day or two. Hydroporus marginatus, indeed, was first taken in Britain near Woburn by the Rev. Hamlet Clark, and Harpalus discoideus used to be regarded as a great prize when it was found near Sandy more than half a century ago, but these instances are quite exceptional, and at first it appeared hopeless to attempt to draw up any list at all. Mr. H. Willoughby Ellis of Knowle near Birmingham, however, has been kindly collecting during the past summer with a view to this list, and I am much indebted to him for the large number of species which he has recorded, and for all the trouble he has taken in the matter. I must also express my thanks to Mr. Herbert Studman of the School House, Woburn, for a few interesting records. It will probably be found in time that Bedfordshire contains a large number of good species. The banks of the Ouse will certainly furnish many, and there are woods and parks which cannot but contain a fair proportion of the rarer species which occur in the adjacent counties. Most of the species mentioned below are common, but there are a few very interesting insects among them. Among these may be men- tioned : Homceusa acuminata, Iscbnoglossa corticina, several good species of Homa/ota, Megacronus inclinans, Asemum striatum, Euplectus piceus, and last but not least Bagous cylindrus, which was found by Mr. Ellis in numbers a short time ago. Most of the insects mentioned in the list have been taken by 7i