BUGS. 169
whom I gratefully record my own thanks for interesting me
personally in their history.
I may be allowed, in your name, to express our pleasure at
the re-appearance of Mr. Linder among us this afternoon, and
also to welcome the surviving old-time Forest champion, Mr.
Alfred Willingale, who, in spite of his advanced years, has been
prevailed upon to come here to listen to this account of his
early experiences.
Lastly, I should like to show you a number of views of the
Forest as we know it to-day, all taken in the Loughton neigh-
bourhood, and loaned me by various friends, which will
serve to remind us of the heritage we possess in this glorious
unfenced woodland, and of the debt we owe to, among others, the
Willingales of Loughton.
BUGS.
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO
THE EPPING FOREST FORMS.
BY CHARLES NICHOLSON, F.E.S.
[Read 27th October, 1923.]
WHEN the word Bug is mentioned the idea conveyed varies
according to the nationality or social status of the persons
concerned. Amongst the generality of our American cousins
the word is used indiscriminately for all insects and small insect-
Jike creatures, and the expression "bug-hunter," as with us,
means a collector of insects or an entomologist. In the American
underworld, however, the bug-hunter is a stealer of breast pins
or a robber of drunken men, whilst colloquially both nations
refer to people of importance as "big bugs."1 Amongst the
scientifically initiated on both sides of the Atlantic the word
Bug means one of that group of insects known as the order
Hemiptera (or Rhyncota), which includes the bed bug—the
1 The old meaning of the word was "bugbear" or "goblin," An example of its literary use
in this connection occurs in the Bible—" Thou shalt not nede to be afraid of any bugs by night"
(Matthew's Bible, Psalm xci. 5)—which is rendered in the Authorised Version, "Thou shaft not
be afraid for the terror by night." Shakespeare repeatedly uses the word with this meaning :—
"Sir, spare your threats :
The bug which you would fright me with I seek."
Winter's Tale, iii. 2.
"For Warwick was a bug that fear'd us all."
3rd Part King Henry VI., 5, 2.
Editor.