124 NOTES ON THE LEPIDOPTERA OF LEIGH, ESSEX,
by Mr. Sydney Webb, then of Red Hill, but now of Dover, and we
collected together for four years, being occasionally accompanied by
Mr. C. A. Briggs and the late Mr. Walter P. Weston. After 1875
we ceased to work the locality, and I have only visited it for a few
odd days since that time.
It will be observed that in the following list many species which
evidently must occur in the neighbourhood are absent, and others,
which should have been captured in numbers, are represented by
records of single specimens. This defect was owing to the very
limited time at our disposal, and to our not commencing operations
until the early spring species were over.
With the exceptions specially named, the list is confined to our
own captures. There are probably many members of the Club who
can make valuable additions to it.
Several terms relating to the various localities mentioned require
some explanation :—
The "Slopes" mean the sloping ground on the northern side of the railway,
between Leigh and the "Crow-stone."
The "Railway ditch" is the ditch between "the slopes" and the northern
side of the railway.
The "Sea wall" is the embankment raised on its southern side to protect the
railway from the sea between Leigh and the stile towards the Crow-stone.
The "River wall'' (which we so called for the sake of distinction), the em-
bankment between Leigh and Benfleet.
The "Salt marsh," the saltings between the river wall and Benfleet Creek.
The "Potteries" are the Leigh Potteries.
"Eastwood" comprises the woods extending from Leigh Heath to Hadleigh
village and northwards.
The nature of the soil is London Clay capped with gravel, or local
sandy deposits, and thus the surface soil varies considerably within a
short radius. From the slope between Southend and Crow-stone,
our member, Mr. G. E. Vaughan, has obtained a fossil tooth of
Elephas1
On the shore at the Crow-stone is a patch of sand on which grow
Salsola kali and Eryngium maritimum. Thrift (Armeria) is abundant
upon sandy places near the Crow-stone, and also in some places in
the salt marsh.
The "slopes" appear to be singularly rich in vetches and other local
plants. On the "River wall" we have often noticed Dianthus
armeria. The chief timber trees are oak and elm.2
l For notes on the geology of the district, see Mr. Whitaker's "Geology of London" (1889),
vol. i, pp. 262, 421, 454, 467, 478, 498. Sic., and the well-sections in vol. ii.—Ed.
2 I noticed a good deal of hornbeam in "Carpenter's Wood,'' and Clematis vitalba is very
common in the hedges between Eastwood and Rochford.—B. G. Cole, 1889,