Flora and Fauna of Regency England ~ September

by Ann Lethbridge

Here are some of the not so favourite creatures you will find in the Regency at this time of year.


September is a time for wasps, August too. Never my favourite insect it becomes a real nuisance if you want to eat out of doors. They also eat any fruit that is ripe on the trees.



Another not favourite is the earwig. It is an old wives tale that earwigs go in ears, isn't it?

Earwigs are predisposed to hiding in warm humid crevices and may indeed occasionally crawl into the human ear canal (much like any other small organism). yuch.

I defy the Saint Helena earwig at three inches long to climb in anyone's ear. I only mention it because Saint Helena was Napoleon's home during the Regency.

And to creep myself out.

Oh now I'm itchy. But we can't have just all the pretty stuff, can we.

So one last creature in the ych category for September.

Snails. They breed in September and our Diarist says:

The gardener ought to consider that this and the succeeding month are the breeding months of earth-worms and snails, and, therefore, that one of those reptiles destroyed now, is as good as a dozen killed in spring.

Now if you can bear to walk amid the flora and fauna after that --- Happy Rambles.