Lydekker, R.
Mitchell, J.
Owen, R.
Parkinson. J
Sutcliffe, A.J.
Current, AP.
& Oakley, K.P.
Whitaker, W.
Part III.
1886 Catalogue of the Fossil Mammalia in the British Museum. (Natural History).
Part IV.
1840 Geological Rambles Round London. Five manuscript volumes in Library of the
Geological Society of London, Undated but written about 1840.
1846 A History of British Fossil Mammals, and Birds.
1811 Organic Remains of a Former World. Vol. 3.
1979 Some little known and potentially important middle and upper Pleistocene
mammalian localities in Essex. Quaternary New sletter No. 29 pp. 5-12.
1877 The Geology of the eastern end of Essex (Walton Naze and Harwich). Memoir
of the Geological Survey.
W.H. George
ON MOTHS AND BEES ETC.
Mention was made in Newsletter No 19 of Elephant Hawk moth larvae found on Fuchsia.
I have seen this a number of times although never as many as sixteen on one plant. Other
members of the Lepidoptera have also happily taken to our garden plants. The Orange
Tip butterfly Anthocharis cardamines lays eggs on Dames Violet Hesperis matronalis and
other Crucifers. Many moths are polyphagous but some have specific foodplants. Among
these the Juniper Carpet, Blairs Shoulder Knot, Golden Plusia, Varied Coronet and
Currant Clearwing have all adapted to cultivars found in our gardens.
This year T was pleased to find the small bee Chelostoma campanularum visiting the
Nettle-leaved Bellflower Campanula trachelium growing near Manuden in N. W. Essex.
As the name implies this bee is known to favour the Campanulaceae. A few days later I
noted it visiting garden Campanulas in my own flower beds.
In the second article in E.F.C. Newsletter No 19 Peter Harvey mentions the scarce bee
Macropis europaea, which is associated with Yellow Loosestrife Lysimachia vulgaris.
This is indeed a rare plant in the county nowadays. Perhaps we should be looking for
M. europaea on Lysimachia punctata, a very common garden plant of the same genus and
of european origin. A long shot, perhaps, but the flight period and flowering times do
overlap.
Similarly the search for the very scarce bee Andrena hattorfiana could include a look at
the field trials of commercial seed firms in Essex. Acres of flowers attract many insects
and the largest display of Scabiosa that I saw last year was in field trials near Colchester.
Surely there may be other interesting insects in our gardens. After all when we see
bumble bees on our cultivated plants they have similarly forsaken their usual habitat for a
source of nectar that we ourselves have provided.
Charles Watson
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 20, February 1997