| PAGE | |
| PUTCHER FOR CATCHING SALMON | [36] |
| TIME-TABLE: TRAVELLING 200 YEARS AGO | [44] |
| FACSIMILE OF MISS ORMEROD’S HAND-WRITING | [89] |
| SURFACE CATERPILLARS | [101] |
| WOOD LEOPARD MOTH | [102] |
| PUSS MOTH | [103] |
| ANTLER MOTH AND CATERPILLARS | [105] |
| OX WARBLE FLY, OR BOT FLY | [110] |
| PIECE OF SKIN WITH 402 WARBLE-HOLES | [111] |
| PIECE OF WARBLED HIDE | [112] |
| BREATHING TUBES OF WARBLE MAGGOT, AND OUTSIDE PRICKLES | [112] |
| MAGPIE MOTH | [114] |
| HORSE BOT FLY, OR HORSE BEE | [117] |
| FACSIMILE NOTE RELATING TO THE KING AND QUEEN | [122] |
| WATER BEETLE | [124] |
| CHEESE AND BACON FLY | [125] |
| GREAT TORTOISE-SHELL BUTTERFLY | [129] |
| CHARLOCK WEEVIL | [130] |
| HESSIAN FLY | [131] |
| HESSIAN FLY MAGGOT ON YOUNG WHEAT AND ON BARLEY | [132] |
| HESSIAN FLY ATTACK ON BARLEY | [132] |
| GOUT FLY, OR RIBBON-FOOTED CORN FLY | [133] |
| FOREST FLY | [134] |
| GREAT OX GADFLY | [135] |
| BREEZE FLIES | [136] |
| SADDLE FLY ATTACK ON BARLEY | [137] |
| FOOT OF FOREST FLY | [139] |
| DEER FOREST FLY | [140], [141] |
| SHEEP SPIDER FLY | [141] |
| BEET CARRION BEETLE | [142] |
| CENTIPEDES AND A MILLEPEDE | [143] |
| AMERICAN BLIGHT OR WOOLLY APHIS | [144] |
| OAK-LEAF ROLLER MOTH | [145] |
| LOOPER CATERPILLARS; WINTER MOTH AND MOTTLED UMBER MOTH | [146] |
| CORN SAWFLY | [147] |
| RED-BEARDED BOTFLY | [150] |
| WATER MOTH AND CADDIS WORMS | [152] |
| LAPPET MOTH | [158] |
| HOUSE SPARROW | [160] |
| TREE SPARROW | [162] |
| ELM-BARK BEETLE | [170] |
| TUNNELS OF ASH-BARK BEETLE | [171] |
| GREATER ASH-BARK BEETLE | [172] |
| PIECE OF ASH-BARK WITH BEETLE GALLERIES | [173] |
| POCKET OR BLADDER PLUM | [176] |
| SILVER Y-MOTH | [178] |
| MEDITERRANEAN FLOUR MOTH | [180] |
| ANGOUMOIS MOTH, OR FLY WEEVIL | [188] |
| LESSER EARWIG | [189] |
| SNAIL-SLUG | [191] |
| FLATWORM, LAND PLANARIAN | [192] |
| SHOT-BORER BEETLES | [199] |
| STEM-EELWORMS | [209] |
| DIAMOND-BACK MOTHS | [211] |
| TOMATO ROOT-KNOB EELWORM | [213] |
| CURRANT AND GOOSEBERRY SCALE | [214] |
| MUSTARD BEETLE | [215] |
| GOOSEBERRY AND IVY RED SPIDER | [221] |
| GROUND BEETLES | [223] |
| TIMBERMAN BEETLE | [224] |
| SOUTH AMERICAN MIGRATORY LOCUST | [229] |
| PIGMY MANGOLD BEETLE | [230] |
| SPINACH MOTH | [231] |
| COCKCHAFER | [233] |
| LADY-BIRDS | [234] |
| LONG-HORNED CENTIPEDES | [235] |
| EYED LADY-BIRD | [237] |
| WHEAT MIDGE | [239] |
| NEST OF TREE WASP | [241] |
| PEAR LEAF BLISTER MITE | [249] |
| CURRANT GALL MITE | [251] |
| BREAD, PASTE, OR BOOT BEETLE | [253] |
| BOOT INJURED BY PASTE BEETLE MAGGOT | [254] |
| GRANARY WEEVIL | [262] |
| GROUSE FLY | [265] |
| RUST-RED FLOUR BEETLE | [266] |
| MOTTLED WILLOW WEEVIL | [267] |
| GOAT MOTH | [268] |
| PEA AND BEAN WEEVILS | [269] |
| BEAN BEETLES | [270] |
| “SPLINT,” OR SAP-WOOD BEETLE | [271] |
| SHEEP’S NOSTRIL FLY | [305] |
LIST OF FULL-PAGE PLATES
| PLATE | ||
| ELEANOR ANNE ORMEROD, LL.D. | [Frontispiece] | |
| PAGE | ||
| I. | SEDBURY PARK HOUSE AND GROUNDS | [6] |
| II. | GEORGE ORMEROD, ESQ., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., F.S.A. | [8] |
| III. | FAMILY GROUP—GEORGE ORMEROD AS A CHILD, AND HIS MOTHER, UNCLE, AND GRANDMOTHER | [10] |
| IV. | JOHN LATHAM, ESQ., M.D., F.R.S., PHYSICIAN | [12] |
| V. | RUINS OF TINTERN ABBEY, MONMOUTHSHIRE | [16] |
| VI. | NORMAN WORK FROM CHEPSTOW PARISH CHURCH | [18] |
| VII. | LEADEN FONT IN TIDENHAM CHURCH, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, AND CHURCH OF ST. MARY THE VIRGIN, TIDENHAM | [20] |
| VIII. | NORMAN CHAPEL, LLANCAUT, WYE CLIFFS | [22] |
| IX. | MAP OF THE BANKS OF THE WYE | [32] |
| X. | RUINED ANCHORITE’S CHAPEL OF ST. TECLA, AND SEVERN CLIFFS, SEDBURY PARK | [34] |
| XI. | ROMAN POTTERY, FOUND IN SEDBURY PARK, AND SAURIAN FROM LIAS, SEDBURY CLIFFS | [40] |
| XII. | ROYAL MAIL, OLD GENERAL POST OFFICE, LONDON | [42] |
| XIII. | OLD CHEPSTOW BRIDGE, WITH POST-CHAISE CROSSING IT | [45] |
| XIV. | A WEST OF ENGLAND ROYAL MAIL, en route | [46] |
| XV. | MAP OF DISTRICT OF THE CHARTIST RISING IN MONMOUTH | [50] |
| XVI. | CHEPSTOW CASTLE, MONMOUTHSHIRE | [52] |
| XVII. | CHEPSTOW WITH THE BRIDGE OVER THE WYE AND CHEPSTOW CASTLE ON THE RIVER BANK | [54] |
| XVIII. | ANTIQUE CARVED CHEST, AN HEIRLOOM | [58] |
| XIX. | TORRINGTON HOUSE, ST. ALBANS, HERTS. | [74] |
| XX. | MISS ORMEROD’S METEOROLOGICAL STATION | [80] |
| XXI. | HEDGEHOG OAK, SEDBURY PARK, AND AP ADAM OAK, SEDBURY PARK | [92] |
| XXII. | MISS ORMEROD’S MEDALS, RECEIVED 1870 TO 1900 | [98] |
| XXIII. | FOOT OF FOREST FLY—SIDE VIEW | [138] |
| XXIV. | FOOT OF FOREST FLY—SEEN FROM ABOVE | [138] |
| XXV. | RUINS OF CHEPSTOW CASTLE, MONMOUTHSHIRE | [174] |
| XXVI. | RAILWAY BRIDGE OVER THE WYE, NEAR CHEPSTOW | [208] |
| XXVII. | MISS GEORGIANA ELIZABETH ORMEROD | [284] |
| XXVIII. | ORMEROD HOUSE, LANCASHIRE | [300] |
| XXIX. | ELEANOR ANNE ORMEROD, LL.D., F.R.MET.SOC. | [312] |
| XXX. | MISS ORMEROD’S FATHER, AT FIVE YEARS OLD, AND MISS ORMEROD IN CHILDHOOD | [324] |
CHAPTER I
BIRTH, CHILDHOOD AND EDUCATION
I was born at Sedbury Park, in West Gloucestershire, on a sunny Sunday morning (the 11th of May, 1828), being the youngest of the ten children of George and Sarah Ormerod, of Sedbury Park, Gloucestershire, and Tyldesley, Lancashire. As a long time had elapsed since the birth of the last of the other children (my two sisters and seven brothers), my arrival could hardly have been a family comfort. Nursery arrangements, which had been broken up, had to be re-established. I have been told that I started on what was to be my long life journey, with a face pale as a sheet, a quantity of black hair, and a constitution that refused anything tendered excepting a concoction of a kind of rusk made only at Monmouth. The very earliest event of which I have a clear remembrance was being knocked down on the nursery stairs when I was three years old by a cousin of my own age. The damage was small, but the indignity great, and, moreover, the young man stole the lump of sugar which was meant to console me, so the grievance made an impression. A year later a real shock happened to my small mind. Whilst my sister, Georgiana, five years my senior, was warming herself in the nursery, her frock caught fire. She flew down the room, threw herself on the sheepskin rug at the door, and rolled till the fire was put out. But she was so badly burnt that the injuries required dressing, and this event also made a great impression on me. Other reminiscences of pleasure and of pain come back, in thinking over those long past days, but none of such special and wonderful interest as that of being held up to see King William IV. Little as I was, I had been taken to one of the theatres, and my father carried me along one of the galleries, and raised me in his arms that I might look through the glass window at the back of one of the boxes and see His Majesty. I do not in the least believe that I saw the right man. However, it is something to remember that about the year 1835, if I had not been so frightened, I might have seen the King.
In regard to any special likings of my earliest years it seems to me, from what I can remember or have been told, that there were signs even then of the chief tastes which have accompanied me through life—an intense love of flowers; a fondness for insect investigation; and a fondness also for writing. In my babyhood, even before I could speak, the sight of a bunch of flowers was the signal for both arms being held out to beg for the coveted treasure, and the taste was utilised when I was a little older, in checking a somewhat incomprehensible failure of health during the spring visit of the family to London. Some one suggested trying the effect of a supply of flower roots and seeds for me to exercise my love of gardening on, and the experiment was successful. I can remember my delight at the sight of the boxes of common garden plants—pansies, daisies, and the like; and I suppose some feeling of the restored comfort has remained through all these years to give a charm (not peculiarly exciting in itself) to the smell of bast mats and other appurtenances of the outside of Covent Garden market.
My first insect observation I remember perfectly. It was typical of many others since. I was quite right, absolutely and demonstrably right, but I was above my audience and fared accordingly. One day while the family were engaged watching the letting out of a pond, or some similar matter, I was perched on a chair, and given to watch, to keep me quiet at home, a tumbler of water with about half a dozen great water grubs in it. One of them had been much injured and his companions proceeded quite to demolish him. I was exceedingly interested, and when the family came home gave them the results of my observations, which were entirely disbelieved. Arguing was not permitted, so I said nothing (as far as I remember); but I had made my first step in Entomology.