Forest is Platycnemis pennipes, seen in June 1939. This was. however, a singleton and almost
certainly not indicative of a breeding colony at that time. Ashwell, who was then the secretary of the
Bishops Stortford Natural History Society, led an excursion of the Essex Field Club to Hatfield
Forest on July 18th, 1948. but. unfortunately, the weather was poor, and only three species were
seen.
Ashwell was also responsible for a number of valuable records from other parts of Essex. There
are specimens dating from between 1939 and 1957 from the Chelmer/Blackwater, just north of
Little Baddow. These include I. elegans and C. splendens, as well as P. pennipes (1942 and 1957).
Although I have not been able to locate specimens. Ashwell is also credited with records of B.
pratense from this site between 1940 and 1960 (R. Merritt, pers. comm). Finally, there is a record of
C. virgo from Plaistow, taken in June, 1937.
Meanwhile, in the south of the county, where interest had previously focused on the search for
Lestes dryas, (see Proceedings of the South London Entomological and Natural History Society,
1933-40) the newly formed South Essex Natural History Society should have been well-placed to
carry out much-needed field work on the Odonata in south-east Essex. But H. C. Huggins, the well-
known lepidopterist (see Firmin et al., 1975) bemoaned the lack of entomologists concerned with
other orders in his Entomological Notes for the January 1939 issue of the Society's Bulletin
(Huggins, 1939). Huggins claimed a 'fair working knowledge' of the group and offered to help any
member wishing to take up their study. Huggins himself gives a list of some uncommon species in
the district, such as Sympetrum rubrum (= sanguineum ?), S. flaveolum. A. imperator and A. mixta.
Unfortunately. Huggins' efforts appear to have borne little fruit, as subsequent issues of the Bulletin
carried no further dragonfly reports. Nevertheless, Benfleet continued to be visited by London-
based and west Essex entomologists, and it was on one such excursion of the Entomological
Section of the L.N.H.S., in search of the elusive Lestes dryas that, in July 1946, Coenagrion scitulum, a
species new to Britain, was discovered. Pinniger and Longfield were both responsible for the initial
discovery and subsequent identification, whilst Hammond was called upon to do the first
illustrations.
By the late 1940s sufficient field-work across Essex had been conducted for an assessment of
dragonfly distribution to be made, as distinct from presenting lists for specific localities. The first of
these more ambitious undertakings was Cynthia Longfield's very substantial article on 'The
Dragonflies (Odonata) of the London Area' (C. Longfield, 1949b) in the London Naturalist. As a
professional biologist, based at the B.M. (N.H.), Longfield has had a long and distinguished career,
and an influence on the study of dragonflies of international importance. But from the point of
view of the present study it is her active involvement in local and amateur natural history circles,
and the help and encouragement she gave to many of our most committed field naturalists which
should be recognised. Along with Syms. Hammond, Pinniger and others, she was a fellow of the
Royal Entomological Society, and still recalls the excitement generated by the exhibition of two
specimens of C. scitulum at a monthly meeting.
As well as her activity in the more professionally-orientated national scientific societies.
Longfield found time and energy to play a full and active role in the L.N.H.S. over many years
before returning to live in Ireland in 1957. She joined the Society in 1926, was soon active in the
newly-formed Entomological Section, and became the first woman president of the Society in
1932. She continued for a second year of office, and her presidential addresses were
characteristically wide-ranging, on the history of natural history, and on her overseas natural
history expeditions. She was particularly active in the Entomological Section, chairing it for eight
years prior to 1951. She subsequently took the chair of the Nature Conservation Committee of the
Society. I have already alluded to the encouragement she afforded the young E. B. Pinniger, and
she recollects how 'he often brought his finds to me at the Museum' (pers. comm.).
Longfields's paper on the dragonflies of the London area was prepared as one of a series of
surveys initiated by the Entomological Section of the L.N.H.S., and she acknowledged the co-
operation of L. Parmenter. R. M. Payne, E. B. Pinniger and C. O. Hammond among others. Hera
remarks on Essex were mainly confined to that part of the west of the county which lies within the
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