The life of the 19th Century Entomologist Henry J. Harding.

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The life of the 19th Century Entomologist Henry J. Harding.

Now a forgotten entomologist, Henry J. Harding (c1804-?) was a well known figure among contemporary collectors in the middle of the 19th century. From humble origins, he became the president of two London Entomological Societies and became a full-time professional collector, earning a living by his field craft, collecting sought after British specimens to sell to clients. Researching this British 19th century entomologist I initially had difficulty in finding any reference to his first name. Harding always added his initials H. J. to his notes and articles in the entomological journals. There was no mention of this entomologist in Pam Gilbert’s A Compendium of the Biographical Literature on Deceased Entomologists published by the British Museum Natural History (1977) and no entry in their accessions register or any British specimens labelled Harding in their collection (Geoff Martin pers comm). However, Harding like most of his fellow entomologists of this period, almost certainly added no data to his specimens. Kathleen Diston at Oxford University Museum of Natural History kindly searched the library for Harding's full name but drew a blank until she found a letter dated the 5 January 1860 that was sent to James Charles Dale by Henry Harding with instructions to send a postal order for 10 shillings to the post office in Shoreditch, in payment for a pair of continental specimens of Leucodonta bicoloria, a very attractive moth from the Notodontidae family. There are the only four letters from Harding in the Dale correspondence dated between 28 December 1858 and 9 June 1860, which is surprising, as Dale was usually a client over a long period with professional collectors of this period, such as Peter Bouchard and Richard Weaver.

The well known collector Sidney Webb published an article in the Entomologist, with Harding's reminiscences of his early collecting days. At the time of Webb's article in 1883 Harding was nearly eighty years of age, his health was good but unfortunately he was living in destitute circumstances. The only confirmed Harding Lepidoptera specimen I have found is that of Pontia daplidice, a rare migrant to Britain that is labelled 'captured by H. J. Harding, Folkestone', which is in the Dale collection at Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Coleoptera collected by Harding in the Dover area of Kent in 1860, bearing his name are in the Hall collection at Oldham Museum (UK Beetle Recording website, 2019).

Harding throughout his long life was an enthusiastic entomologist who for many years lived at 1, York Street, Church Street, Shoreditch in the East End of London. Harding's early occupation before he became a professional collector is not known. Many of his early collecting forays were with friends who were Spitalfield Weavers. Harding never advertised his specimens for sale, although lists of his captures appeared in the Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer between 1856 & 1861. His integrity as a collector of bona fide British specimens was never questioned and he certainly would have had a list of regular clientele that purchased any rarities captured by him. Harding at one stage also had a large personal Lepidoptera collection, which was not listed as being sold at auction by Chalmers-Hunt (1976).

Between 1851 & 1855 Harding was the President of The Society of British Entomologists. At the society's meetings the main exhibitor of Lepidopera specimens was the President in the Chair Harding. This society seems to have only existed for a brief period and the proceedings and those of The Entomological Society of London, which later became known as the Royal Entomological Society were published in the Zoologist, but this practice was discontinued in 1855 by the editor of the journal Edward Newman. By 1860 Harding had become the President of the Haggerston Entomological Society that was based in the End of London. This society which had begun in 1858, welcomed members from all stations in life and attracted such famous entomologists to its meetings as Edward Newman, Henry Doubleday, Samuel Stevens and Henry Tibbats Stainton. The society's inauguration was conducted in the Carpenter Arms, Martha Steet, Haggerston, but nine months later the meetings were held in the rooms above the Brownlow Arms in Brownlow Street, Haggerston. Here its members met for the next thirty years. By 1860 the membership has risen to 60, the society had a library and had purchased a 40 drawer cabinet that held 2,000 donated specimens. At the society meetings all the members were given a clay pipe and refreshment was ordered from the public bar below. The Haggerston Entomological Society later became known as the London Natural History Society which still has an enthusiastic membership today. The London Natural History Society has a number of historical photographs of members of the Haggerston Entomological Society, but they have none of Harding, and have no information on him, which is unusual, as he was for a period, one of their former Presidents.

Harding contributed collecting notes and articles to Edward Newman's The Zoologist, a Monthly Journal of Natural History and Henry Tibbats Stainton's The Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer. The Intelligencer was a popular penny a week journal that first appeared in 1856, but by 1861 there was a decline in sales due to a lack of interest at that time in entomology and Stainton discontinued the publication. For several successive summers Harding based himself at Deal on the coast of Kent, a very rich collecting locality with extensive sand dunes to the east and the chalk cliffs of Dover stretching away westwards. His communications to the Intelligencer of his captures in the Deal district must have been a delightful but a tantalizing read for his fellow entomologists. During the spring of 1857 Harding also made the difficult journey north to collect at the famous collecting grounds of Rannoch in the Central Highlands of Scotland. Later the same year Harding went to Deal, and certainly collected there with his friend and fellow professional collector Peter Bouchard. However, a few years later in 1860, his friendship with Bouchard ended acrimoniously. Harding published a note " Caution" in The Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer that warned other collectors about trusting Bouchard, who he said owed him money. In a reply to Harding's accusation, Bouchard stated that he had left several cabinet drawers with insects as security for the £3 he had borrowed which Harding had declined to return, so he did not repay the money. Bouchard brought a libel case against Harding, the jury giving him the verdict. Harding having to pay Bouchard £30 damages, a small fortune for a working entomologist. A full account of the Entomological Trial is given in the article The 19th Century Professional Collector Peter Bouchard. In his later years, leaving an expanding London, old Harding went to live on a permanent basis at Deal, where he had so many happy memories of collecting insects within sight of the sea.

We all have a story of where our interest in entomology began and for many it started in our youth. Harding wrote in the Entomologist for 1883 " My first introduction to entomology took place when I was about fifteen years old. I was taken to see a collection and was quite pleased with what I saw. An entomologist of the name of Sluse, who was clever at drawing and painting induced my father to cultivate a taste for collecting, but he confined his efforts to the garden, consequently his knowledge never extended much further than tortoiseshells, peacocks, and *alderman, as he called them. I often assisted him in taking those species common in cottage gardens. Soon after I became acquainted with a man named Weatherhead, from whom I learned my first lesson, and went with him to Colney Hatch Wood, where we frequently collected. I also about the same time became acquainted with Daniel Bidder (usually spelt Bydder) a coleopterist who introduced me to the forest in the neighbourhood of Wanstead. I frequently made excursions to that place with other boys, having for our primary object the collection of blackberries but I always had an eye to such insects as were flying at the time." Harding recalls that Charlton pits was a fine place for Sesia ichneumoniformis (fig 2) which is now placed in the genus Bembecia. Charlton Sand Pit, or Gilbert's Pit in the Royal Borough of Greenwich survives to this day, and is regarded as a Geological Site of Special Scientific Interest. * An early name for the Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta.

Harding recorded that he first went to the famous Birch Wood near the village of Swanley in Kent with the Spitalfield Weaver Daniel Bydder. In a recently discovered entomological journal by James William Bond, who was for a period a Spitalfield Weaver, he recorded that he visited Birch Wood on 15 May 1825 with William Weatherhead, who had as in Harding's case, introduced him to the delights of collecting insects. At the Bull Inn, Swanley, Bond and Weatherhead met Harding with Bydder junior and senior who had also been working Birch Wood for insects. During their visits to Birch Wood Harding and Bydder and the other collectors worked during the daytime with a beating stick and the net for moths, nocturnal collecting by baiting with sugar had yet to be discovered. During one visit they came across a moth that was plentiful on the wing which they had no idea of its identity, and were contented to take a dozen each. Arriving home, they showed Daniel Bydder's father George their captures who was a knowledgeable entomologist and he said "you should have taken more in fact all you could, you will never get that chance again". Harding (1883) recorded that George Bydder was right in his remarks, for he did not capture another specimen of the moth Lygephila pastinum (fig 3) again until many years later. Birch Wood was cut down around 1860.

Figure 1. The Bull Inn at Birch Wood Corner 1826. A meeting place of entomologists.



Bond records in his journal that he visited localities around London to collect insects with Harding on a number of occasions. At Hackney Marsh on the outskirts of the city of London on the 19 June 1827, he met Harding and together they walked the 11 miles to Hainault Forest to look for the longhorn beetle Stictoleptura scutellata on old hornbeam trees. On the 2 February 1828 Bond went with Harding to the famous collecting ground of Coombe Wood in Surrey, where they caught Nymphalis polychloros, recently emerged from hibernation. On the 19 July 1829 Bond and Harding with the collectors Courtney and Gogay, caught the steam packet ferry from the London Bridge Wharf to Greenhithe in Kent, and walked through the narrow Kentish lanes to Darenth Wood, where among other things they caught the striking day-flying moth Callimorpha dominula. In 1830 Bond and Harding visited Wanstead Woods on the 15 May and two days later they went to Colney Hatch Wood, where by the brook they captured Anthocharis cardamines and found a nice colony of the pretty yellow and speckled brown, day-flying geometer moth Pseudopanthera macularia. Harding accompanied by Bond went to the Strood Fair in Kent on the 26 August 1831, and then visited several nearby woods to hunt insects but found nothing special. The last collecting expedition with Harding that Bond records in his journal was a visit to the West Ham Marshes on the 14 August 1832, to search for caterpillars with the collector Mayfinch.

Figure 2. Sesia ichneumoniformis. A local species of chalk downland in Southern England. BM = Bristol Museum collection
.


Figure 3. Lygephila pastinum. A local species of woodlands and rough grassy areas in the southern half of England, with a few scattered records elsewhere. BM coll.



As a young man, Harding was shown a specimen of Papilio machaon that he was told was taken at Whittlesea Mere and he much desired to have that butterfly in his collection. Bond records in his journal dated 22 May 1826 that "Harding was at Whittlesea Mere, where he had taken the Swallowtail butterfly in great plenty". Harding (1883) does not mention the year in his account in the Entomologist, but states that many years ago he sent off on foot for Whittlesea Mere with really no idea how to reach there, all he knew that it was at an unknown distance north of London. Harding (1883) wrote" During those early days I was shown Papilio machaon and all my thoughts were to collect some. I was told the nearest place at which they were procurable was Whittlesea Mere and I started on the Saturday afternoon with a great box. When I got ten miles from the east of London, I began to enquire if I was right for Whittlesea Mere, and was surprised to find that no one could tell me ; and it was not until I overtook a waggoner that I learned that it was somewhere in the Isle of Ely. I rode his wagon all night, and in the morning he called me and said that he must turn off to Cambridge, and I must keep straight on; and it was afternoon when I reached Whittlesea. Great was my surprise to find a village; and as I could find no Swallowtails there, I began to enquire if any butterfly-catchers stayed there. They said there was one some time ago, but could not inform me where he lodged, and what was still more discomforting, they could not tell me where to find a bed. However, I was fortunate enough to find one at the Ferry House about two miles over the marshes, and felt very thankful after my long journey. The next morning I inquired of the children if they knew what a Swallowtail butterfly was, and I heard with joy that they not only knew it, but that there were lots about there. Alright, alright I thought this is the place for me ' There goes one on the other side of the river ' 'Where is it I cried,' ' there' said they, and it was the feelings of great disappointment that I beheld a common Tortoiseshell. No P. machaon did I see that day, but at dusk I took several things, among them two nonagrias. Not bad things, and if I had known what they were I should have taken more. When the man of the house came home he told me that he could tell me where the butterfly man stopped, and he would direct me in the morning. After breakfast he told me that I was to go to a place called Holme, then across seven fields to Yaxley. Off I went in good spirits and got there by noon, and found the house, and enquired if any fly catchers stopped there. Oh yes Mr Chant and Mr Bentley had stayed there. All right I thinks to myself and after dinner I went out and was overjoyed to see P. machaon flying gaily over the reeds, but I could not catch them as they were out of reach. However, the next day I had them in a turnip field, and it was a splendid sight to see them flitting over the turnip blossom. I stayed a fortnight and then walked home, nearly eighty miles, well content with my captures".

Figure 4. Papilio machaon britannicus. Whittlesea Mere, June 1830. S. J. Walker. OUMNH collections.



Harding first publication in a Journal was in the Zoologist (1844) regarding the finding of a long lived species of snail Helix hortensis. His first entomological piece in his own hand appeared in the Zoologist (1845) regarding the differences between the noctuids Miana aethiops and Miana (Oligia) strigilis, the latter which he had taken at the new method of sugaring in the gardens of Haggerston and Hoxton. Harding suggested that the moth known as Miana aethiops was a distinct species, it is now known to be a variety of Oligia strigilis.

Harding first visit to the coast of Kent was in 1842, when with the collector Hindley he took the steam boat to Margate where they had difficulty in landing due to a storm. They had proposed to walk from Margate to Dover to collect on the chalk cliffs, a distance of over 30 miles = 48 km. As they set out from Margate they crossed the Isle of Thanet in the gale, passing the village of Sandwich they arrived at nightfall at Deal, an old port and smugglers haunt. The next day they awoke to pouring rain but walked through to Dover over the chalk cliffs but realized due to the bad weather there was little they could do in the way of collecting, so they decided to return and make for Sandwich, covering another 30 miles that day. Harding and Hindley were certainly prodigious walkers. Crossing the sand dunes Harding found two specimens of a moth of the Arctiinae family resting on grass stems. Harding sent both of the specimens to Henry Doubleday of Epping in Essex, who thought they might be a variety of Eilema lurideola, however to make sure Doubleday sent one of the specimens to the German entomologist Herrich Schaffer who pronounced it to be a new species. In the Zoologist journal for 1847 Doubleday described the moth as Lithosia pygmaeola which today is placed in the genus Eilema (figs 5-7).

Harding returned to the Deal Sandhills in 1847 to look for E. pygmaeola in the company of Peter Bouchard. The two collectors found the moth to be very local on the sand dunes, occupying an area of about four hundred yards in extent. He noted they were very susceptible to weather conditions and did not fly on cold days. Although he got ova from a female, he could not discover the foodplant but Doubleday when describing this species was correct in assuming the larvae fed upon lichens. Harding in his account of his visit to the Deal Sandhills in the Zoologist, informed the readers that he had a few more specimens of E. pygmaeola that he needed for his cabinet and would be happy oblige a brother of the net wanting the same. A form of E. pygmaeola found on the shingle of Dungerness in Kent with deeper yellow wings has been referred to as the subspecies E. pygmaeola pallifrons Zeller, 1847.

The dune system between Deal and Sandwich in Kent was once the largest in South-east England. Today the sand dunes are limited to a narrow belt along the coast that are in places trampled by hoards of holiday makers. Most of the sand dunes were converted into golf courses. J.M. Chalmers-Hunt in his Butterflies and Moths of Kent, volume 1 (1961) pointed out this had the effect of partly conserving the rich flora and insects of the Deal sandhills. Many of the choice species were still to be found in the sandy golf course roughs, it would have been an entirely different scenario, if the sand dunes had become holiday homes or caravan sites, as so easily could have happened.

Figures 5-7. Eilema pygmaeola. Deal, Kent. 1. C.F. Johnson. July 1903. Bristol Museum Collections.



Rare immigrant Hawk moths at Deal.

Harding had a number encounters with immigrant hawk moths of the Sphingidae family at Deal in Kent. He found 3 larvae of Hyles gallii (fig 8) feeding upon Yellow Bedstraw Galium verum, in the dunes near Deal in August 1856, all of which produced adults. In July 1859 he took an adult of H. gallii hovering over flowers in the late afternoon and that season found ten larvae in the dunes. From these he was able to breed a fine lot in 1860. In August 1858 two full grown larvae of Acherontia atropos were bought to Harding at the Noah's Ark Inn and that month he found a fine specimen of Agrius convolvuli (fig 9) resting on a post at Walmer. There was a small influx of A. convolvuli in August 1859 and Harding reported "ten specimens fell to his share". By 1865 Harding was a resident at Park Cottage in Upper Deal and that year he recorded that A. atropos (fig 10) was common in the district. Harding took two A. convolvuli in his garden in October 1868 visiting Flowers of Peru Mirabilis jalapa, together with a specimen of H. gallii. He also recorded a specimen of Hippotion celerio had been taken at Dover that year, a very rare visitor to Britain.

Figure 8. Hyles gallii. Deal. BM coll.



Figure 9. Agrius convolvuli. BM coll.



Figure 10. Acherontia atropos. BM coll.



The Quest for Rare Spring Moths.

In the 19th century it is not generally realized that there were far more nocturnal moth collectors in Britain than there were diurnal butterfly collectors. This was the age of discovery and when new accessible localities for rare moths were discovered, they became much frequented by those who would seek to secure them for their collections. When two previously rare moths, Odontosia carmelita (fig 11) of the Notodontidae family and Aleucis distinctata (fig 12) of the Geometridae family were discovered in the Kentish Woodlands, it became entomological news and time to take out the lantern and head for the woods. Those that seek only brightly coloured things that flew under the summer's sun, would stay behind closed doors, but not the much more adventurous nocturnal moth collector.

When specimens of O. carmelita were taken at West Wickham Woods in Kent, Harding reported in the Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer for the 13 May 1858, that " everybody is on the look out, natives, gamekeepers and children and in some cases the latter have been successful but every insect taken by them is called carmelita." No doubt the locals were searching the tree trunks when the moth could occasionally found at rest during the daytime. Harding continues " The London Entomologists have mustered there in some numbers I have seen upwards of forty at times. Many have been lucky in their captures and it will soon become a common insect as numbers have been bred from eggs". However, in spite of those words, carmelita was still much sought after with Harding reporting in the Intelligencer, the 1 June 1858 " I have received upwards of forty letters requesting the eggs of carmelita I have answered those with an enclosed stamp but I am not willing to put to the three or four shillings expense, so those that have received no reply must consider this the cause". In the same journal, Harding informed his readers on the 16 April 1859, " Up to the 12th I have bred specimens of carmelita from eggs secured last year. I must state I have none for exchange". With the introduction of high powered mercury vapourer moth traps, O. carmelita flying early in season during April, where the larva foodplant birch occurs, was found to have a much wider distribution in Britain and it no long considered to be the rarity that it was to 19th century collectors.

Figure 11. Odontosia carmelita. West Wickham, Kent. Dale coll. OUMNH.



Figure 12. Aleucis distinctata. New Forest. Ex Charles Bartlett coll. BM Collection.



It must be said that A. distinctata of the family Geometridae is a drab looking moth. However, this did not matter to the London collectors and others, it was the rarity and the thrill of the chase that mattered and as far as the moth they called Aleucis pictaria, Curtis 1833, a synonym of Aleucis distinctata Herrich-Schäffer 1839 was concerned, Dartford Heath in Kent was the place to go, but the outcome of their searches did not always have the much desired results. Harding set the ball rolling in the Intelligencer on the 12 April 1856, stating that he had taken a fine specimen of pictaria at Dartford Heath. He communicated his further success in the journal, writing on the 3 May 1858 " I have captured some fine specimens of this much desired insect. The eagerness to capture it is no means abated among the London Entomologists ; lanterns in some numbers were seen night after night, the holders on some occasions not seeing a specimen ". Later on the 16 April 1859 he reported " There is much desire to capture the rare species pictaria judging by the number of parties who have visited the locality. In one night myself and a friend took fifteen, all in fine condition. One on the well known heath fence. The fence at Baldwins is now given up as the locality. I have not heard of another taken there this season. To search the heath and take them there at rest or on the wing is the new rage and many have been taken by this means. Can another brother of the net give me a hint to the foodplant." Harding comment concerning the foodplant of A. distinctata, which is blackthorn Prunus spinosa is surprising, for in 1883 he wrote of this species in his earlier collecting days" Although a man searched Dartford Heath fence a fortnight without success, a few yards from him they swarmed on blackthorn."

To celebrate this forgotten entomologist who spent his life collecting insects, usually in the most beautiful of surroundings, the following are my interpretations of some of Harding's special collecting days. The species and localities are all factual and are taken from Harding's notes published in the entomological Journals, mainly from his communications to The Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer.

Collecting in the Deal sandhills July 1856.

In the middle of the 19th century the Deal Sandhills were still a peaceful and pristine area. The sand dunes were no shifting masses but fixed banks kept in place by a network of turf, sea buckthorn, dwarf willow. Marram Grass had stabilized the more recent dunes by the sea and here were scattered plants of prickly Sea Holly Eryngium variifolium. In hollows between the older sandhills there were dune slacks, containing rich damp grassland that in May and June had a carpet of flowering orchids. Scattered among the dunes were bulrush ringed pools.

The old Noah's Ark Inn at Deal had a large garden with stables, and here Harding resided during his summer sojourns at the Kentish coast. The old port of Deal had been notorious in the 18th century for its smuggler gangs, and one of their haunts had been the Noah's Ark Inn, where they used to stable their horses. By the time Harding visited Deal, there was a large military presence in the town, although small scale smuggling continued, most of the Deal boatman now used their boats known as luggers in hauling and salvage work.

Harding awoke just after sunrise. While having a leisurely breakfast he noticed a small box on his table with a note from the landlord William Langley that simply said, ' Mr Harding'. He carefully opened the box, and inside he saw a half dead specimen of the large Hawk-moth, A. convolvuli which had been roughly handled and was not worth keeping. The news had soon spread among the local community that the bug hunter was in town and various specimens were often brought into the Ark. Harding was soon walking along the nearby beach on a glorious June morning. The sea sparkled with burnished gold, as the morning sun reflected upon its surface. Two twin masked Deal luggers were making for the shore, having spent the night salvaging the cargo from another wrecked merchant ship that was slowly sinking on the treacherous Goodwin Sands, lying several miles off the coast in the English Channel.

Passing Sandown Castle that had been built on a chalk outcrop on the orders of Henry VIII, Harding noticed that the castle was on borrowed time, the sea had eroded the soft chalk and was lapping at the stonework. Soon the castle would be uninhabitable and the small garrison would abandon it. After a mile or so the shingle beach merged into one of sand, with dunes stretching away to the chalk cliffs of Ramsgate on the horizon. Harding kept close to the foreshore, making for one area of sand dunes that were covered in Marram Grass, where patches of Sea Holly grew. It was at this spot several years previously that Harding discovered a moth of the Tortricidae family that was new to the British list that had been determined as Argyrolepia maritimana Guenee, 1845, a synonym of Argyrolepia margarotana Duponchel, 1836, that is now placed in the genus Aethes. Harding had been examining the stems of Sea Holly when he noticed small holes that he correctly assumed were made by a small moth larvae and in collecting the stems, he was rewarded by the discovery of A. margarotana (fig 13). Today he hoped to find freshly emerged specimens of the adult moth and in spite of much diligent searching he was only able to secure two that he found resting on the prickly lower leaves. A. margarotana has not been seen in Britain for many years and is presumed to be extinct. On a nearby sandhills Harding swept the Marram Grass with his net, hoping for specimens of the scarce coastal moth Aphomia zelleri (fig 14) of the Pyralidae family, and even after two hours of hard work, he had only managed to box a few perfect specimens. He wrongly assumed that the larvae of this small moth fed within the stems of the Marram Grass, it is now known that they feed on moss from a vertical tube in the sand.

Harding returned to the foreshore of Sandwich Bay and rested on a bank above the beach, looking out to sea he watched a party of hovering terns close to the shore that began diving into the water hunting a shoal of small fish. It was time to resume his insect hunting, he began by beating the Marram Grass and other vegetation just beyond the foreshore, where a line of rotting seaweed marked the latest high tide. By the method he was able to disturb a few of the coastal sand dune noctuids, Mythimna litoralis (fig 15) and Sideridis turbida (fig 16). Later he turned and slowly walked back to Deal, where a well earned supper awaited him. Afterwards the evening would be spent setting his captures.

Figure 13. Aethes margarotana. Essex. Dale coll, OUMNH. An extinct British species.



Figure 14. Aphomia zelleri. Suffolk, June 19, 1939. BM coll. A rare species of sand dunes in a few coastal localities, in Norfolk, Suffolk and East Kent.



Figure 15. Mythimna litoralis. Kent. BM coll.



Figure 16. Sideridis turbida. St Anne's on Sea, Lancashire, June 1914, T. Baxter. BM Coll.



Collecting in the Deal Sandhills, in June 1865.

Harding left his cottage in Upper Deal where he was now living on a permanent basis, and when he reached the dunes behind Sandwich Bay he followed a narrow path that wound its way inland among the sand hills where rabbits abounded in their hundreds, and as he passed many disappeared into their burrows that honeycombed the old sand dunes. Between two ridges of sand he entered a narrow dune slack with damp grassland. Here flying low over the short turf, bright with pink, purple and white marsh orchids were many Euphydryas aurinia (fig 17). Among them feeding on Red Clover Trifolium pratense were the beautiful metallic green, Adscita statices (fig 18), a sight he recorded in the Entomologist (1883) " that would gladdened the heart of many a young collector". Hovering above the low growing mats of yellow Bird's Foot Trefoil Lotus corniculatus were several specimens of Hemaris tityus (fig 19). Just before leaving this area, Harding took a fine example of the beautiful pink and yellow Geometer Idaea muricata resting on a sprig of dwarf willow, a moth he knew that usually would be on the wing at dusk and just before dawn, he had not taken here before. Walking back towards Deal, Harding disturbed from a grass sward growing on a piece of rough sandy ground, many specimens of the Geometer Idaea ochrata (fig 20). The British population of I. ochrata belongs to a distinct endemic subspecies, cantiata Prout, 1913, and is confined to the coast of south-east England.

Figure 17. Euphydryas aurinia. Canterbury. Kent 1881, Ex H.S. Sellon coll. OUMNH. This butterfly is now sadly extinct in Kent.



Figure 18. Adscita statices. BM coll.



Figure 19. Hemaris tityus. BM coll.



Figure 20. Idaea ochrata cantiata. Margate, Kent. BM coll.



Baiting with Sugar. Darenth Wood, Kent, May 1856.

The Quaker entomologists, Edward Doubleday (1811-1849) and his brother Henry Doubleday (1808- 1875) were partners in their grocery business at Epping in Essex. They noticed that moths were being attracted to empty sugar barrels in the yard behind their large brick house. By 1841 Henry Doubleday had perfected the method of brushing a mixture with sugar upon the trunks of trees to attract moths. This revolutionized moth collecting and many species that were once thought to be rare, were attracted to the bait in numbers. Harding (1883) wrote of the discovery of sugaring for moths " There was a great desire among working entomologists to know how it was made, but the secret was retained by a few. All kinds of scents were tried, but were not found to be much use. A man with the name of *Courtney made some up, and sold it at one shilling and sixpence per pint. This discovery caused many rare things to become common." Harding soon had perfected his own recipe for sugaring and soon learned when and where to apply his bait to effect the desired results. *The Collector Courtney was mentioned by J.W. Bond in his entomological journal.

In May 1856 Harding was staying at the Fox and Hounds Inn, for a weekend's collecting at Darenth in North Kent. On the Saturday evening after supper he left the Inn for a night's moth hunting in nearby Darenth wood, a famous collecting locality that was much frequented by collectors from London. He knew that sugaring for moths at this time of year often did not produce the best results but there were a number of choice species on the wing that he hoped to capture. He left by the back gate of the Inn and followed the path across the field to the old gamekeeper's gate. Continuing along the path that led through the woodland, he noticed that in the west, the sun was slowly disappearing behind gathering clouds. The weather conditions were ideal, being pleasantly warm with a breeze. As he strolled up the path the air was scented with sweet smelling bluebells, and the nightingales were bursting into a crescendo of song from deep cover, although he rarely saw them, their singing was a delight to the ear. The path now twisted uphill to the outer margins of the wood. At the woodland edge there was a line of conveniently spaced old oak trees, suitable for his bait of sugar, which he applied in about a foot long strip that was a few inches wide. He knew from experience, that the more you used the same trees for a sugar mixture, the better the attraction to the nocturnal moths.

It was now dusk and Harding lit his long clay pipe and sat on an old oak stump to wait. He looked at the sky, perfect he thought, the moon was hidden behind the clouds, it would be a dark night with the threat of rain later ; he knew by trial and error that moths are not very active on the colder clear moonlit nights, especially those with a cool easterly wind blowing. As he waited for the first round of the baited trees, the peace was broken by the hoots of a nearby tawny owl that was answered by another further along the edge of the wood. Small pipistrelle bats were already hunting insects out in the field. He hoped that they would not take all the moths and leave some to visit his bait. There was always the mounting excitement when sugaring. It was time to inspect the baited trees, the night had quickly closed in and he lit the oil lantern.

On the first tree, he found nothing but two large black slugs that had climbed up to enjoy his feast, at the second tree things looked a little more promising, several Euplexia lucipara, a fairly common but local noctuid, were greedily feeding. On another tree he took a nice specimen of the geometer, Horisme vitalbata, another local species, the larva foodplant being Traveller's Joy Clematis vitalba. There was nothing much else at his bait except for a few common moths that he did not need, he knew this was often the way during the first inspection of the sugared trees, but it had been a promising start and he hoped things would get better and there would be some choice Noctuids. It was time to relax, there were ghostly shrieks coming from the far side of the field from a small copse, a female fox was calling for her mate. Harding showed no fear of being in the wood alone at night, he knew this famous collecting ground well, the only people that usually frequented the wood at night were other moth hunters. On a previous occasion he had met the gamekeeper while he was at his sugar patches. The gamekeeper gun in hand was on the lookout for poachers who sometimes stole his pheasants, he soon recognized Harding, who was on friendly terms with the guardian of the wood.

On the second visit to his bait, Harding found that at his sugar patch on the second tree there was a specimen of the noctuid, the Lacanobia contigua (fig 21), a fairly uncommon moth, as he boxed it feeding among several of the ubiquitous Ochropleura plecta, he admired the rich pattern of its forewings, this species sometimes had a lovely greenish hue that is quickly lost in dead specimens. On the next tree he found what he had hoped for the rare Egira conspicillaris (figures 22-24), three perfect specimens were feeding shoulder to shoulder with many other common moths, wings quivering and eyes shining in the lamplight. Other good noctuids were here too, among them Acronicta leporina. There was also a good many of Scoliopteryx libatrix (fig 25) with its lovely orange forewing markings. These moths had over-wintered as an adult, and many he noticed were now worn. A further four specimens of E. conspicillaris were found by Harding visiting his sweet feast. This was an exceptional occurrence for it was a much sought after species and it was not often found. It had started to rain, and there was the rumble of thunder, it was time to make his way back to the Inn, where he would work into the early hours setting his specimens. E. conspicillaris is on the wing early, flying in April and May, it was last seen in its Kentish haunts in 1881. Today it is confined to the counties bordering the River Seven in Western England. The larva have never been found in the wild in Britain but when the moth has been reared in captivity, it has fed on a number of different trees and shrubs.

Figure 21. Lacanobia contigua. BM coll.



Figures 22-24. Egira conspicillaris. Taunton, Somerset. J. V. Blatchford. Ray Barnett coll, BM coll.



Figure 25. Scoliopteryx libatrix. BM coll.



Moth hunting at Kingsdown, July 1859.

In the late evening, Harding arrived on foot at Kingsdown from Deal. He walked along the edge of the beach, passing the lifeboat station. On the fine shingle he searched creeping masses of yellow flowering Bird's-foot trefoil Lotus corniculatus and the purple Sea Pea Lathyrus japonicus for specimens of a small moth he knew as Anerastia farrella, and took several. Anerastia farrella Curtis, 1850 is synonym of Pima boisduvaliella Guenee, 1845 (fig 26), is a local species inhabiting sand-dunes and shingle beaches in the south-east of England. Further above the beach he came to a chalk undercliff covered in scrub, the best site for sugaring in this area. By the old path stood a disused fisherman's cottage with a line of old posts. When the cottage was built the beach here was much wider, but had narrowed due to the ever encroaching sea.

He applied his sugar to the posts at dusk, and unhurried went further along the beach to inspect the dense clumps of Viper bugloss Echium vulgare. He lit his pipe and oil lantern and waited patiently, he was looking for a very special moth of the Noctuidae family Thysanoplusia orichalcea that he had first found here eight years previously, in 1851, and subsequently on very few occasions. It was a much desired moth and other collectors had heard of its capture near Deal and had come in search of it but were unsuccessful in their quest. Harding was hoping to take further specimens of the rarity at the request of Henry Doubleday of Epping, who had asked him if it was possible to procure examples for his cabinet. In an instant a moth appeared, feeding slowly at the blue flowers, it was however not the species he hoped for but the common allied species Autographa gamma, and this was soon joined by several others. Shortly afterwards he was successful in taking two specimens of T. orichalcea.  He admired the moth's beauty with its reddish brown forewings, much of which were covered in a metallic gold. T. orichalcea is regarded as a very rare immigrant to Britain that has been recorded less than a hundred times. Between 1851 and 1860 there seems to have been a small transitory population established near Kingsdown where Harding took his specimens. Harding was also able to breed this species on one occasion.

It was time to inspect the baited posts, it was a hot and balmy night, and the moths were jostling to get to the feast. Most were Noctuids, the common Apamea monoglypha were so numerous that he saw to his dismay that, they were knocking other species to the ground. In spite of this, there were some choice Noctuids at his bait. He boxed a fine Standfussiana lucernea, a few specimens of Amphipoea fucosa (fig 27), Peridroma saucia and a perfect example of the uncommon Hecatera dysodea (fig 28). As he walked to the last post, beneath it sat the biggest toad he had ever seen. Many of the moths were tipsy from the added rum, which made them easy to box. Those that fell to the ground were soon gobbled up by the toad. It was time to take a rest and sort out some his moths, while he was thus engaged, he was surprised to hear a strange huffing and puffing coming from the direction of his sugar posts.

As he again approached the baited posts, the strange noises stopped, all he could hear was the incoming waves as they broke upon the beach. Then he saw the culprits, two hedgehogs were scuttling off into the darkness, they had like the toad, been feeding on those moths that had fallen from the sugar. Adding to the night's bounty, he now took fine examples of the large noctuids Xylena exsoleta and Xestia sexstrigata, together with Agrotis vestigialis.  With boxes full, and well satisfied, he headed in the direction of Deal, its street lights flickering in the distance. He would write to his friend Doubleday on the morrow, he would be more than pleased with his success in taking a pair of T. orichalcea for his cabinet. Harding did not realize it or would not believe the suggestion that some of his captures on those Kingsdown posts, such as P. saucia and X. exsoleta were newly arrived immigrants from France.

Figure 26. Pima boisduvaliella of the family Pyralidae. J.W. Metcalfe, Suffolk. BM.




Figure 27. Amphipoea fucosa. Lytham St Annes, Lancashire. T. Baxter. BM.



Figure 28. Hecatera dysodea. Wicken Fen, 20 July 1907. Once thought to be extinct in Britain, this species has re-established itself, almost certainly from immigrants from mainland Europe.



Captures between Deal and Dover, in June 1859.

Reaching Kingsdown from Deal, Harding took the old track that led through a narrow strip of undercliff. Looking out to the sea, Harding saw there was a number of fishing boats with their sails billowing in the wind. On the banks among the vegetation the beautiful day-flying Callimorpha dominula was plentiful. Here the larvae utilized a range of foodplant but he mainly found them on the bramble and nettles growing on the banks. Many adults were sitting about in the vegetation, as the sun had yet to appear from a cloudy sky. Here he found several Aspitates ochrearia (fig 30) resting on grass stems. He raked the herbage with a stick and was rewarded by a specimen of a rare moth from the Crambidae family, Sitochroa palealis (fig 31). He knew that S. palealis occasionally was on the wing in sunny weather but usually they flew from dusk onward and that this was a distinctly a coastal species. An old man appeared from around the corner of the cliff with his dog. He had come from one of the cottages above the beach at St Margarets Bay, walking regularly the round trip of ten miles to buy his necessities from the shops at Deal. He told Harding to be careful, there had been a cliff fall further on.

Figure 29. The undercliff between St Margarets Bay and Kingsdown in the latter part of the 19th century.



Figure 30. Aspitates ochrearia. A local moth of the coastal counties in the south of England and Wales.



Figure 31. Sitochroa palealis. Greenhithe, Kent. July 15, 1901. A local resident along the coastal areas of the south, where the larvae feed upon umbellifers, particularly wild carrot Daucus carota.



Harding continued his journey and the picturesque St Margarets Bay soon appeared. Reaching the bay he rested as the sun broke forth from a hazy sky. He sat on a bank above the single beach for quite some time until it was midday, he liked watching the sea, the lobster fisherman out in the bay were pulling in their pots. He decided to move on, passing the coastguard station, he took the long track to the cliffs above. Out on the South Foreland, the grass was sparkling with males of Lysandra bellargus and around some scrubby brambles bushes, he eventually found the butterfly he knew as the Polyommatus aegon, a synonym of Plebejus argus. He admired the males royal blue wings with their white margins and marginal silver spots of the underside that seem to glint in the sun. The population of P. argus on the Dover cliffs belonged to the distinct subspecies cretaceus Tutt 1909, which sadly became extinct in Britain. Now going steadily downhill, Harding came to a large grassy hollow, where Melitaea cinxia was plentiful. There was some unusual variation in this population, and the year before Harding had taken specimens that had the orange brown ground colour of the upperwings replaced by white (figs 32-33).

With his boxes nearly full, Harding took a few of the pretty Setina irrorella (fig 34) of the Arctiinae family, they were quite active in the afternoon sunshine. A specimen of the scarce Evergestis extimalis (fig 35) of the Crambidae family was disturbed and caught, he walked further and looked down on the old port of Dover, his destination, as he wanted to pay an old friend a visit, like him an Entomologist who had spent many pleasant days along the white cliffs of Dover. There was no need to hurry, it was time to sit and eat his late lunch, for his return journey to Deal he had arranged for a man with a gig, a light two-wheeled carriage pulled by a horse.

Figures 32-33. Pale aberrations of the extinct Kentish population of Melitaea cinxia. Folkstone. Kent. Ex Samuel Stevens coll. Dale collection, OUMNH.



Figure 34. Setina irrorella. North Downs Kent. BM coll.



Figure 35. Evergestis extimalis. Tuddenham, Suffolk, June 1910. J.W. Metcalfe. BM coll. A coastal species of southern England and the Breckland of East Anglia.



Rare migrants at Deal, in August 1859.

Harding left the Noah's Ark Inn in Peter Street and walked to the town's seafront. He saw that the storm of the previous night lay far out in the English Channel, the sea was an inky blue and it was shimmering with the morning sunlight. He walked westwards pass the two impressive 16th century castles built by Henry VIII. At the nearby Royal Navy barracks he could hear the shouts of the sergeants as they drilled the marines. Soon they faded into the background as the few cottages of Kingsdown appeared.

He went to look at the outer grassy areas of the sandy beach at Kingsdown, which were covered in the tall blue spikes of the Viper's Bugloss Echium vulgare. On one stem he found a newly emerged specimen of a highly distinctive and handsome moth, Cynaeda dentalis (figs 36-37) of the Crambidae family, a local species that is confined to a few coastal sites in southern England. Searching the Bugloss he also found two full grown caterpillars of this species. The aptly named Hummingbird hawk- moths Macroglossum stellatarum (fig 38) were already busy feeding at the bugloss flowers, it was good year for them, he had found many of the larva on the bedstraws growing in the dunes. How he enjoyed watching these hawk-moths, swinging to and fro as if on a pendulum, while their long proboscis probed the long pink stamens of the tubular flowers for the rich pollen. He smiled as he thought of the local people at Deal, who told him they had seen strange small birds visiting the flowers in their gardens.

Figures 36-37. Cynaeda dentalis. Deal, Kent J.W. Metcalfe. BM coll.



Figure 38. Macroglossum stellatarum. BM coll.



Above Kingsdown the white cliffs of Dover rose to a height of 350 feet. Just beyond the village he saw what he thought was a Pieris rapae flying slowly along the footpath, but something in its appearance made him catch it, to examined it further, and to his great delight he saw at once it was a perfect specimen of the very rare Pontia daplidice (fig 39), an immigrant to Britain. At the end of the month Harding would take another perfect example very close to the same spot. He now took a short diversion inland along a narrow path to large field full of clover that was being grown by the farmer as a luxurious feed for his cattle. Entering the field by the aged wooden gate, he saw what he had hoped for, flying at speed among the white and red flowers of the clover were many of the butterfly he called Sulphur Yellows, Colias edusa, which we know today as the Clouded Yellow, Colias croceus. He waited patiently for them to land, rather than chasing them as they zigged- zagged across the field, and a nice series was soon obtained. Entering the furthest field, he found that among the C. croceus, there were a few of the rarer Colias Hyale (fig 40) and after some near misses, he added two to his collection. As he was leaving by the gate he caught the white form helice of the female C. croceus.

Figure 39. Pontia daplidice with the data label. H.J. Harding near Folkestone. Dale coll. OUMNH.



Figure 40. Colias Hyale. Dover, Kent. Dale coll. OUMNH.



Returning to the coast, Harding took the upper path, where he knew that certain uncultivated fields were a mixture of short turf and a longer sward with abundant wild flowers. In one field hundreds of the turquoise males of Lysandra coridon were flying low over the grass in their relentless search for the females. There were plenty of female L. coridon egg- laying on the mats of yellow flowering Horseshoe Vetch Hippocrepis comosa. Harding gave little thought to underside or other aberrations of this species, the craze for them had not yet began.

Further on he looked down from the cliffs into St Margaret's Bay with its neat row of cottages by the beach. He was drawn to the view across the bay, to the towering cliffs of the South Foreland above Dover. As he was enjoying the view, he remembered that it was at this spot the previous year that he had seen a large yellow butterfly flapping slowly towards him and feeding at a knapweed flower. Harding had been surprised to see it was the Swallowtail, Papilio Machaon (fig 41). He had edged closer with his green gauze Clap net and in one slow movement, the prize was his. Harding had met with the Swallowtail many years previously in the fenland of Whittlesea Mere. He knew that on rare occasions the adult butterflies had been taken in Kent. Even to such a knowledgeable field collector as Harding, he did not suspect that this swallowtail or its descendants had flown over from the coast of France that on clear days were visible from the white cliffs where Harding now stood. He knew of the current blown over theory of how some rare British butterflies that were supposedly flying along the French coast were suddenly blown out to sea and made a landfall on the opposite coast of Britain. Even those that expounded the blown over theory, such as Harding's friend Edward Newman who noted that butterflies like Issoria lathonia and P. daplidice that were not seen in Britain every year must arrive from mainland Europe. There was little mention at this time that butterflies, perhaps assisted by the wind but in firm control of their motion could fly the distance between Britain and Continental Europe, although many years previously, John Curtis has suggested this was the probable cause of certain rare butterflies appearing in this country.

Figure 41 Papilio Machaon gorganus Ramesgate, Kent, 1945. OUMNH.



Harding did not believe in the blown other theory and he said so in a letter to the Intelligencer, reminding his fellow entomologists that I. lathonia and P. daplidice had been caught inland by the Aurelians in the early 18th century. He stated "when a rare butterfly or moth was caught on the coast, the skeptics would say it was not British and must have been blown across and that it was an alien, a foreigner, where would it all end". Perhaps he thought such views were definitely not good for business. So he gave little thought to the origins of his female swallowtail he had just taken. As far as he would concerned he had captured the specimen on the Dover cliffs and it was British, and he knew it was a great prize, and worth its weight many times in gold.

After passing the cottages at St Margaret's Bay, he proceeded along a narrow path that led out on to the grassland above the mighty cliffs of South Foreland that had a lighthouse perched on top. He met the keeper, John Knox, and they passed the time of day. Just beyond the lighthouse in a long grassy field, Harding disturbed and caught a few of the scarce moth, the pretty Aspitates gilvaria (fig 42). He ambled down into the village above St Margaret's Bay and had a late lunch with a flagon of ale.

Figure 42. Aspitates gilvaria. BM Coll.



Foreigners or British natives.

They was much debate in the Entomological journals during the middle of the 19th century, whether species such as I. lathonia, N. antiopa and P. daplidice were resident British species or had originated from mainland Europe. The editor of the Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer H.T. Stainton (1859) regarded I. lathonia, N. antiopa and P. daplidice as causal visitors and stated that because a single example of Lampides boeticus has been recently taken on the Sussex downs, should such stragglers be added to the British list, and in the case of singleton species of moths, he suggested such a list would eventually be comparable with that of Continental Europe. Harding and others dismissed the idea that certain rare lepidoptera were not British residents. Harding in a letter to Intelligencer (1860), as a reply to Stainton, mentioned the weak flight of P. daplidice when he had captured it on the Kent coast and the very old historical records of that species from that county and those of I. lathonia from Cambridgeshire, he ended his letter " I think it would be well to let this blown over theory drop, or it may get blown over". By the latter part of the 19th century it was generally agreed that a number of rare British butterflies and moths were immigrants and that these migratory species produced a second generation from eggs laid by the previous arrivals during the spring and early summer. It was realized that the distance from France across the channel to Britain is not a problem for migratory butterflies and those emerging in France, would arrive on the coast of Britain the same day in perfect condition.

One can sympathize with Harding and his theory that P. daplidice was a resident butterfly. After the capture of two specimens of P. daplidice in 1859 at Kingsdown in August, he noticed that the butterfly appeared to have a rather slow and weak flight as it moved from flower to flower and that he doubted it strayed very far from its breeding grounds. There is a specimen of P. daplidice (fig 39) in the Dale collection that was captured by Harding near Folkestone in Kent. There have only been a few years when there has been a large influx of P. daplidice recorded in Britain, most notably in 1945, when many hundreds made the journey from France to Cornwall, a distance of over 130 miles = 211 km. Today, P. daplidice very rarely moves northwards to Britain, in the last sixty years very few have been recorded, and none in recent years. Another example of this trend is Colias hyale, once a regular visitor to our shores, it is now considered one of our rarest immigrant butterflies. It is known that on rare occasions I. lathonia, P. daplidice and more recently, L. boeticus have bred in the UK, but because they enjoy a warmer climate they have never managed to establish themselves here on a permanent basis.

Harding's capture of Papilio Machaon during 1858 was certainly subspecies gorganus. The previous year there was a small influx of this species from France. Harding reported that soon after his success, two other specimens of P. Machaon were taken on the cliffs above Dover and later in August he found five larvae feeding on cultivated fennel. Chalmers-Hunt in Butterflies and Moths of Kent, vol 1 (1961) stated that there a good indication that P. Machaon was temporarily established in Deal area between 1857 & 1869 and Harding's records of this species during 1858 were of this transitory colony. The butterfly was also established for a short while in Kent, in the Hythe and Sandwich area between 1918 & 1926 and 1940 & 1949 (Chalmers-Hunt, 1961). Certainly because of its proximately to France, Kent has many records of P. Machaon gorganus.

When in 2013, adults of P. Machaon gorganus was seen along the coasts of Kent, Sussex, Hants and Dorset, and a number of larva were recorded there was widespread speculation by many that because of global warming, this subspecies was here to stay. However, just a single individual was recorded the following year, the pupae had not survived the British winter. This species has a long history as a transitory resident in Britain. As long ago as the early part of the 19th century P. Machaon gorganus was established at Glanvilles Wootton in Dorset, being recorded there by J. C. Dale between 1808 & 1816. Several P. Machaon gorganus individuals were seen in Southern Britain in 2017 and six caterpillars were found feeding on Fennel in a garden at Whitstable Kent on the 25 June 2017. In spite of global warming, not a single rare migrant or a new butterfly species has yet been able to establish itself in Britain.

Figure 43. Pontia daplidice. Dover. R. Hinde of York. "Old specimen" on label. Dale coll. OUMNH.



Figure 44. An unusual aberration of Papilio Machaon gorganus? The colour seems to be natural and may have not darkened with age. E. Cooke 1891, Reigate Surrey. Ex Pitchard coll. Dale coll. OUMNH.



Harding during his sojourn at Deal in the summer of 1859, certainly saw evidence of butterfly and moth migrations, although he never stated that he had seen that coming from the sea. He recorded that on the coast at Deal, there was a great flight of Pieris brassicae in July 1859. Previously on the 16th June of that year, on hot and still day, the whole beach at Deal was covered in the noctuid known as the Turnip Moth Agrotis segetum, and at 10 am a great flight of them began, passing him in a cloud over the herbage skirting the sea, at about 1 pm they came thicker and faster and just half an hour later they had gone. He mentioned that he wondered were they were going to and woe to the farmer's turnip fields where they alighted.

Harding at Rannoch, Scotland in 1857.

Harding communicated to the Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer (1857) that the London entomologists could now calm their fears that Brachionycha nubeculosa (fig 45) was a genuine British insect. He had taken further specimens of this moth of the Noctuidae family that a collector named Cooper in April 1854 had found resting upon the trunks of Birch trees at Rannoch. No doubt this information provided a flood of letters to Harding's residence at Kinloch Rannoch from collectors wishing to add this new British species to their collection. Collectors were also very keen to add the beautiful Endromis versicolora (fig 46) of the Endromidae family to their collections, previously it was known as a rarity in south-eastern England but it had already become rare there, due to the changes of its woodland habitat. Richard Weaver had discovered E versicolora in Scotland at Rannoch in June 1845 when he found a cluster of larvae on an alder bush. During Harding's visit in 1857, he remarked in the Intelligencer " I have taken 2 fine specimens of the Kentish Glory or should it be now called the Scottish Glory". He was able later to collect the larvae and he reared a fine series the following spring.

Figure 45. Brachionycha nubeculosa. BM coll.



Figure 46. Endromis versicolora. Dale coll. OUMNH.



On the 8 June 1857 Harding left the small farm croft where he had lodgings in the village of Kinloch Rannoch. He was making for the isolated mountain which dominated the horizon east of the village, the cone shaped Schiehallion, known locally as the 'Fairy Hill of the Caledonian'. The approach was along a rough road that at first went through fine birch woodland. He hoped that on the slopes of the mountain he would fine some rare and special northern day flying moths. He had postponed a visit the previous day, because the mountain was wrapped in thick mist, but today the weather was fine with scattered sunny spells and isolated showers. As the track went steadily upwards the woodland was left behind and was replaced by heather moorland. At the Braes of Foss he headed uphill by a swift flowing burn to the east of the old deer stalkers path and left this at about 650 meters and made for a wide open gully on Schiehallion, where the heather was replaced by dwarf shrubs crowberry Empetrum nigrum and bearberry Arctostaphyllos uva-ursi. Here visiting the flowers of the bearberry he took two Coranarta cordigera a rare moth that is restricted to a few localities in the Central Highlands of Scotland. Higher up, a few of the very local Glacies coracina (fig 48) were flying around the foodplant crowberry. He left the gully and began the long climb to the summit ridge. In a grassy hollow just below the ridge he encountered a few specimens of Macaria carbonaria (fig 49) and the equally uncommon Anarta melanopa (fig 50), the latter were hard to capture as they were flying at some speed over montane shrubs. He climbed on until he reached the summit. The panoramic views were spectacular, in the west lay dark Loch Rannoch, stretching away for ten miles to the horizon. In the east was Loch Tummel and beyond he could just make out the high Cairngorms. It was time to retrace his steps down the long broad backed ridge and return to the hotel, where after a late supper of rough oat bread, cheese and ale he would set his valuable treasures he had collected on the mountain late into the night.

Figure 47. Schiehallion from River Tummel by Andrew2606. Wikimedia Commons.



Figure 48. Glacies coracina, Bristol Museum Coll.



Figure 49. Macaria carbonaria. Bristol Museum Coll.



Figure 50. Anarta melanopa. Bristol Museum Coll.



* All the specimens in this article were photographed by the author at the OUMNH Oxford University Museum of Natural History and BM Bristol Museum.

References.

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Stainton, H. T., 1859 Foreigners. The Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer 7-8: 25-26.

Stainton, H. T., 1860 An Entomological Trial. The Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer : 7-8 104.

UK Beetle Recording Website. Accessed December 2018.

[Adam Cotton]

Fantastic article. You surpass yourself with each new historical post.

The thought of Harding walking 80 miles back home after collecting P. machaon is incredible.

Adam.

[nomad]

Thank you Adam. Entomologists, in Harding's circumstances at that time, certainly were remarkable walkers, and his account does show what a passionate entomologist he was. Many working-class London collectors from the East End thought nothing of walking in a day, the 35 mile round trip to collect at the famous Darenth Wood in Kent. They certainly were a remarkable lot.

[nomad]

Henry J. Harding, Peter Bouchard, Benjamin Standish and Richard Weaver, who have lately figured in articles on the forum, all came from humble backgrounds, and became professional collectors in the 19th century. Spending many days in the field collecting uncommon and rare insects to sell to their customers, they soon became expert entomologists and added much to our knowledge of the distribution of British insects. In the beginning of the 19th century, it is not generally known that collectors with a love of entomology started to appear from Britain's working class, especially those employed as Spitalfield weavers in London. Perhaps as a relief from the long hours and drudgery of their work, a group of passionate entomologists took to the fields and fresh air in pursuit of insects. Among these were William James Bond, Daniel Bydder and many others. In Manchester there formed in 1829 the Banksian Society, the first Manchester natural history society, which included those interested in entomology, many of who were employed in the city's textile factories.

John Obadiah Westwood the secretary of the entomological Society of London, who later became a curator and the first Hope professor at Oxford University Museum of Natural History, wrote in The Entomologist's Text Book: An Introduction to the Natural History (1838) " The delightful sensations with which the pent-up entomologist inhales the breeze upon Shooter's Hill or Wimbledon Common, when on the way to the well known spots, Darenth and Coombe Woods, are real enjoyments. The best practical collector whom I have ever heard of is Daniel Bydder, a spitalfields labourer, by whom some of the most interesting of our English insects were first discovered. And, in like manner Joseph Standish, a Brixton cobbler, from the pure love of entomology, taught himself to draw and paint insects ; and having followed up this pursuit, during the leisure of many years, at length acquired the art of giving to his figures of moths a beautiful downy appearance, so like nature, that we have known a volume to sell for several pounds " Westwood continued " can it be denied that if, among the lower classes, the collecting of objects of nature, and such like pursuits, were more general, the vice of drunkenness and the reign of the gin palaces would be over. While this sounds patronizing to us today, it does show how gentlemen like Westwood perceived London's lower classes. With bad housing and sanitary conditions, low wages, long working hours, the ever threat of illness and poverty, it is little wonder many drowned and forgot their sorrows in the taverns.

Benjamin and Joseph Standish of London were lucky enough to have a trade, both cobblers, they were able to start a natural history business selling specimens and equipment. Benjamin also becoming an early part-time professional collector for James Charles Dale and others. Benjamin later with a good head for business became a property owner and for many years had sufficient means to build up a large personal collection. Richard Weaver the Birmingham boot maker, is easily the most famous of these professionals, mainly due to the fact that he has a non-native British butterfly named after him, the Weaver's Fritillary Boloria dia that he claimed to have captured in Britain. The author P. B. M. Allan (1965), in The Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation, vol 77, page 182, regarded Weaver as perhaps Britain's finest field collector. Peter Bouchard the hearth rug maker and Henry J. Harding, whose occupation is unknown both came from the same area of London, former friends who unfortunately came into conflict over money, both spent their lives collecting and selling insects. Then as Westwood records, there were men such as the Spitalfields weaver Daniel Bydder, working in the East End silk factories, who was hired by the Norfolk Landowner and wealthy entomologist Simon Wilkin early in the 19th century to collect in the New Forest, discovering a number of special insects there. Bydder, a friend of both Bouchard and Harding, in their younger days, is recorded by Bond in his entomological as collecting with him and others in the London area. Bydder certainly became an entomologist through his father George, but there seems to be no details of his later life and he seems to have sunk back into obscurity. The recent find of Bond's entomological journal is surely one of the most important recent discoveries among entomological documents in Britain, for it records a period in entomological history that is little known, and forgotten by most historians. Bond was able to leave the silk factories and begin an opticians shop, which not only sold spectacles, but was an outlet for his microscopic slides of which Bond was a pioneer. Many of Bond's early microscopic slides contained parts of his insect specimens.

Perhaps the public's conception of a 19th century entomologist, often as they appear on television is the quaint eccentric clergyman. The classic book Brendon Chase (1944) by Denys Watkins-Pitchford, where a group of young boys run away to live in an English forest was serialized for television in 1981. In Brendon Chase the Reverend Whiting is always on the look out for the Purple Emperor, the butterfly of his dreams.  Denys Watkins-Pitchford himself collected butterflies, and then turned himself to breeding, reintroducing Apatura iris to his beloved chase in Northamptonshire where it has become extinct, and where many now go to photograph it. Many country clergyman with much free time, were able to enjoy the pursuits of natural history, which included entomology.

Salmon (2000) in ground-breaking tome the Aurelian Legacy, documents many of these 19th century gentlemen lepidopterists, which includes a number of clergyman, others were of private means, or successful business men, solicitors, school masters, or military men. It is notable that in Salmon's hall of fame of British lepidopterists of those that were active in the 19th century, the vast majority of entomologists were either men of wealth or were gentlemen, coming came from middle and upper classes. Richard Weaver is a notable exception and so is Charles Stuart Gregson, a one time Liverpool ship painter. Salmon of course had to be selective, as his book covered a number of other subjects and was not just biography of lepidopterists, therefore he included the more famous entomologists, some of which are well known for their published works. An interest in Entomology is one of the few pursuits which did transcend the rigid class system of 19th century Britain.

The professional collectors provided an essential service to many collectors, few had the time and inclination to travel the length and breadth of Britain to add to their collection of British insects, and relied on men such as these to help fill in the gaps in their collections. J.B. Hodgkinson (1858) wrote of the professional entomologists in the Entomologist's weekly Intelligencer volume 5, page 95 " They are the true and best friends of the Science who support their purse, not with mere sympathy, for sympathy without relief, like mustard is without beef, men of the Weaverian school, though I am aware that all cannot afford to do so. There are several such men now; I may instance our Bouchard and our Harding, to say nothing of the important services of the one who first, and unceasingly, followed it up, as a source of profit, the late Richard Weaver. if such men were encouraged we should see more Irish and more Scotch forms of nature, and thus enabled to see how they differ from English specimens. We have few men of metal that go to the more remote regions of our isles, and such as we have should be encouraged ; they are the right sort, and when they go out we should encourage them with something more substantial than a continental pill, by saying (for instance). In Germany Nubeculosa is worth a shilling, and I will give no more for a Scotch. English collectors will cease to go, and thus leave a great blank in future discovery ; but if the prize is worth hunting for, it will bring more trade". James B. Hodgkinson (1823-1897) was a factory owner and a prominent entomologist from Preston.