Information about recorders was sparse in Lucas' publication. We cannot be certain that
the Shaw mentioned is in fact the same man who published the Synopsis of the British
Orthoptera in 1899/90 although it is of course very likely. Harwood had two sons,
Bernard Smith who died in 1933 and Philip who died in 1957, so the above records could
be from any of the three Harwoods.
Philip, who lived in Scotland for many years amassed a large collection of British insects,
containing many from his father's and probably brother's collection. A reference in the
1952 Transactions of the Society for British Entomology[2], tells of Mr P. Harwood's
collection containing what was thought to be the first British capture of M.roeselii f.diluta
at Clacton-on-Sea on 16th August 1922 by B.S. Harwood.
Little is known of other recorders mentioned in Lucas' list, Colonel J.W. Yerbury was
known to be collecting dragonflies in 1911 whilst F.W. and H. Campion of Walthamstow
were certainly recording dragonflies in the Epping Forest area for many years at the turn
of the century.
Early in the 1930's, a group of entomologists from South London, began to make yearly
excursions to Essex. Among them was a Dr K.G. Blair who had a wide ranging interest in
entomology. The first record of these field meetings was of an outing to Warley Common
on 11th June 1932 when Tettix bipunctatus was reported. There followed several yearly
field meetings to South Benfleet, the first of these being on 16th July 1933 when Blair
found Chorthippus elegans, Conocephalus dorsalis, Tettigonia viridissima and both typical
Metrioptera roeselii and the macropterous form diluta. Blair reported the find of
M. roeselii f. diluta as only the second recorded British specimen. On the 15th July 1934
they returned to South Benfleet this time to record M. roeselii f. diluta as abundant and
also, rather amusingly, to report a specimen of Tettigonia viridissima biting the finger and
drawing the blood of one of their number. The next reported field meeting of this group
was on 18th July 1937, again at South Benfleet, when they found Chorthippus elegans,
Conocephalus dorsalis, Tettigonia viridissima and Metrioptera roeselii but, interestingly,
no mention was made of f.diluta. Blair died in 1952 but the outings into Essex continued
well after his death, although only the four species above were ever reported.
In the summer of 1936 P. Freeman collected Metrioptera roeselii from Billericay, another
example of the sporadic field work which seems to have characterised Essex Orthoptera
recording. The same year heralded the publication of Malcolm Burr's work British
Grasshoppers and their Allies. This was the first work that showed distribution of
Orthoptera by the publication of maps on a County basis. There were no great surprises
in Burr's work as far as Essex was concerned, except that Myrmeleotettix maculatus is
not recorded despite Lucas' mention of it a few years earlier. He does however, record
Platycleis grisea as an Essex coastal species. All of the other common species were
mentioned including the macropterous form of Metrioptera roeselii.
Very little literature can be found relating to Orthoptera recording in Essex immediately
after the publication of Burr's work in 1936. At any other time, a publication such as this
would have been expected to generate enthusiasm but, with the outbreak of the second
World War imminent, it was not until the mid 1940's that further references to recording
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