Page:VCH Herefordshire 1.djvu/149

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INSECTS recording. But from the Tipulids onwards the various families, with one or two exceptions, have been sufficiently worked to afford a good idea of the extent to which they are represented here. Among the 1,344 species enumerated are a good many whose names are not to be found in Mr. Verrall's list ; but it has not been thought necessary to draw special attention to them, because whilst some are important introductions — that is to say, apparently confined at present to their place of discovery (Herefordshire) — others are well known to occur elsewhere, and are only awaiting official recognition. At the same time many species in nearly all the families have had to be passed over on account of the uncertainty attending their identification, owing in some cases to their being without doubt undescribed forms. The Leominster district in the centre and the north-east of the county has been quite neglected. On the other hand the localities whose names recur over and over again in the following list are dotted pretty evenly over the remaining portions. ' Woolhope ' is commonly used in a general sense to include a large area on the Silurian limestones of alternating hill and valley, containing many large woods and much rough ground ; whilst Haugh Wood, Mains Wood, Coldborough Park, and Stoke Wood are favourite localities within it. Tram Inn lies half a dozen miles to the south of Hereford, and consists of rough unreclaimed pastures very wet in places, in which snipe still breed annually, and with a flora as interesting as the fauna. Scattered about are certain shallow circular depressions, under water in the winter, but drying up in the course of the summer. These curious places are the special habitats of various good Sciomyzids. Shobdon Marsh, with its boggy wood, and Moseley Mere lie in the north-west near the quaint little village of Pembridge. The Leech Pool, almost under the shadow of the old ruined castle of the lords of Clifford, is a natural piece of water (probably part of an ancient bed of the Wye) close to the Welsh border. Almost choked with water plants of all sorts, and with a sallow carr in the middle, it is the special locality for certain species that are not known to occur elsewhere in the county. Depending for its water upon surface drainage, it all but dries up during a prolonged drought, and in this condition is more easily worked and more productive. Cusop Dingle, a most fascinating place, is a deep valley some four miles long among the foot-hills to the north-east of the Black Mountain. In the lower half its little stream forms the divide between England and Wales, but in the upper and more interesting portion both sides are wholly in Herefordshire. It is well wooded, the trees being of many kinds, and above the tree line are the bare and stony hill-sides which run up to 1,100 ft. and 1,400 ft. The Doward is on the banks of the Wye at the southern extremity of the county. Considering its richness in the Lepidoptera, it is rather disappointing as regards Diptera. Probably the Mountain limestone is too dry a formation for these insects. The Monnow localities refer to that portion of the river between Pandy and Pontrilas, where it comes into the plain at the southern end of the Black Mountain. Here it generally forms the boundary between Herefordshire and Monmouthshire, though sometimes it is wholly in one county, and sometimes in the other. It is a broad shallow stream, with a pebbly bottom, extensive shingle beds, and two or three nice swampy bits. Its banks are sandy, and in them the burrowing wasp, Odynerus spinipes, makes its curious nests in numbers. ORTHORRHAPHA ORTHORRHAPHA {continued) Dilophus febrilis, L. D. albipennis, Mg. Mg. D. lutea, Mg. D. chorea, Mg. D. sericata, Bibio pomonae, F. B. marci, L. B. leucopterus, Mg. ; scarce, Haugh Wood and Doward. D. Mg. B. hortulanus, L. B. ferruginatus, Gmel. stigmatica, Mg. D. didyma, Mg. D. dume- B. venosus, Mg. B. reticulatus, Lw. ; Woolhope, torum, Mg. D. ornata, Mg.; extremely local, not rare. B. nigriventris, Hal. B. varipes, Cusop Dingle, among butter-bur (Petasites vul- Mg. B. johannis, L. B. lepidus, Lw. ; Wool- garis). D. morio, F. hope, scarce. B. clavipes, Mg. ; much commoner Rhipidia maculata, Mg. than the preceding Rhamphidia longirostris, Mg. Dixia maculata, Mg. D. nebulosa, Mg. D. aesti- Antocha opalizans, O.-Sack ; once Westhide, i Sep- valis, Mg. tember, 1900 Ptychoptera contaminata, L. P. paludosa, Mg. P. Empeda flava, Schum. E. nubila, Schum. lacustris, Mg. P. albimana, F. P. scutellaris, Goniomyia tenella, Mg. G. jucunda, Lw. ; i o Mg. ; very local, confined to the wet ditches of banks of the Monnow between Pondy and Pon- the Golden Well, Dorstone trilas ; identical with the Wyre Forest insect, Limnobia bifasciata, Schrk. L. quadrinotata, Mg. but whether true jucunda Mr. Verrall is novv L. nubeculosa, Mg. L. flavipes, F. L. nigro- doubtful. G. schistacea, Schum. ; i $ Cusop punctata, Schum. L. decemmaculata, Leow.; ZJiwf/^, 29 June, 1899. G. lateralis, Meg. G. Stoke Wood; several of both sexes taken Sep- scutulata. Egg. ; very common in the bogs tember, 1906, from an old beech much infested of Haugh Wood. G. abbreviata, Lw. ; i ?, with fungus. L. trivittata, Schum. L. macro- Harrington, 3 September, 1899- referred stigma, Schum. rather doubtfully by Mr. Verrall to this Uicranomyia pillipennis. Egg. ; once ; Bodenham, species 29 July, 1897. D. modesta, Mg. D. mitis, Acyphon a maculata, Mg. 97 13 I