HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY OF THE Museum of Comparative Zoology THE ESSEX NATURALIST: KEING THK louvnal 0f the (Essex Jfielti (Club. KDITEl) HV WILLIAM COLE, Honorary Secretary. VOLUME VIII. JANUARY— DECEMBER, 1894. ^'' Men that undertake only one district are much more likely to advance natural knowledge than those that grasp at more than they can possibly be, acquainted with. Every kingdom, every province, should have its oicn Mono- grapher." — Gilbert White of Selborne. " Seldom was ever any knowledge given to keep, but to impart ; the grace of this rich jewel is lost in concealment." — BiSHor JoSEl'H Hai.L. ['the autliors alone are responsible foi- the statements and opinions containett in titeir respective papers. \ PUBLISHED BY THE CLLB, BICKHURST HILL, ESSEX. E. DuRRANT & Co., 90, High Street, Chelmsfohd. 1894. " Blow, ye winds ! lift me with yoii ! I come to the wild. Fold closely, O Nature .' Thifie arms round thy child. To thee only God granted A heart ever new — To all always open. To all always true." Matthew Arnold : Switzerland." " Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary hunumity : children love them j quiet, contented, ordinary people love them as they grow ; luxurious and disorderly people rejoice ift them gathered ; they are the cottager's tf-easure ; and in the crowded tozun, mark, as with a little broken fragment of rainbow, the ruindows of the workers in whose hearts rests the covenant of peace" RUSKIN. '"'' To a person uninstructed in natural history, his country, or sea- side, stroll is a walk through a gallery filled with wonderful works of art, nine-te7tths of which have their faces turned to the wall. Teach him something of natural history, and you place in his hands a catalogue of those which are worth turning round." Professor Huxley : " Educational Value of Natural History Sciences." " /;; these days, -when enormous sums are annually spent witli universal consent ott almost every kind of educational object, it is strange hozu little is as yet thought of the potuerful influence in teaching that a well-arranged museum may affoj'd." Sir William Flower, F.R.S. : In a Letter to "The Times," August, 31st, 1891. INDEX TO VOLUME VIII. " Alate Temple of ihe Druids " on Navestock Common, 220 ; Visited b}- Club, 213. Albino Weasels near Colchester, 245. Algse and Folk-lore, 154. Algce, Marine, A Provisional List of Essex, I. Almanack, Old Sheet, Exhibited, 39. Annual Meeting, 50. Annual Report of Council for 1893, 26. Architecture, A Sketch of its Develop- ment in Essex, 165. Aspuiiotus infesting Black Currant, 49. Assets of Club, 51. Atirelia^ Pentamerous Symmetry in, 152. Badgers in Essex, 85. Balance-sheet 1893, 28. t Barking-Side, " Daub " from Gravel- pits at, Exhibited, 219; Romano- British Pottery from, 49. Barclay's, T. Ford, MSS. relating to the Epping Hunt, 31. . Bat, Serotine, in Essex, 162. Batters, E. A. L., Provisional List of the Marine Algae of Essex, i. Bedford's Oak, The, at Havering-atte- Bower, 153. Bees, Early Swarm of, 87. Benham, Charles E., AXgx and Folk-lore, 154 ; Inscribed Letters in a tree-trunk, 88 ; Periodicity, 157 ; Capture of a Sheat-fish (Si/uriis g/anis) in the Stour, 152. Billericay, Puffin at, 245, Birch Castle, Visit to, 204. Birch Hall, Visit to, 204. Boadicea's. Queen, Tomb, 248. Boulder-Clay, Relation of the Thames Valley Beds to, 155. Boulger, Prof. G. S., on the Man- agement of Epping Forest, 65 ; on the Epping Forest Museum, 47. British Association, Conference of Delegates of Local Societies at Ox- ford, 1894, 121. Brown, John (of Stanway), Pleistocene Mollusca collected by, 155, 160, 205. Bruton, D. J., The Bedford's Oak, Havtring-attc-Bower, 153. Buxton, E. N., on the Management of Epping P'orest, 63. Buzzard, Rough-legged, in Essex, 86. Caddington Hill, near Dunstable, Photograph of Pit at. Exhibited, showing Palaeolithic Floor, 39. Celtic Interment on Dunstable Downs^ 39- Chancellor, F., on the Management of Epping Forest, 69 ; Presidential Address, 1894, 165. Cheesemaking in Essex, 159. Chelmsford, Mammoth's Tusk at, 155 ; Visit of Club to, 216; Mammoth and Rhinoceros Jaws at, 219. Christy, Miller, Serotine Bat in Essex, 162 ; Presents Specimen to Club, 220; Leaden-pipe eaten bj- Rats, Exhibited, 219. "Clay-Ride" on Sandpit Plain, Epp- ing Forest, 56, 157. Coal under South-Eastern England, 142. Coal-boring in Essex, W. H.Dalton on Site for, 150. Coal-Measures beneath Essex, The Oui^stion of, 130. Colchestt-r, Visit to Rose Gardens at, 202 ; Albino Weasel near, 245. Cole, W., Exhibits Aspidiotus (scale- insect) on Currant, 49 ; Early Swarm IV INDEX TO VOLUME VIII. of Bees, 87 ; Exhibits examples of Dimorpiiism and Seasonal-dimor- phism in Insects, 49 ; on the ^Management of Epping Forest, 69, 70 ; Remarks on the Official Report of the Experts on Epping Forest, 120 ; Exhibits Jaw of Mammoth from Chelmsford, 219 ; Exhibits Me- lo'e proscarabceus from East Mersea, 52 ; on Epping Forest Museum, 45 ; on Local Museums, 124; Naphtlialine Cones for Preservation of Insects, etc., 49 ; Exhibits examples of Pleis- tocene Mollusca, collected by the late J. Brown, 205 ; on the Proposed Partition of the County of Essex, 211, 216 ; Observations on a Quorn Stone from Chingford, 49 ; Spring Foliage on Oaks at Midsummer, 154. Colne Fishery, The, 156 Cooke, Dr. M. C, Conducts at the Anuual Cryptogamic Meeting, 218 ; Additions to the list of Epping Forest Fungi, 244 ; Presents a set of .Ipcal Floras to the Library, 220. Copford Plains, Visit to, 204. Council, Annual Report of, for 1893, 26 ; Members of, for 1894, 51. Crepidida fornicata, Occurrence of, off the Coast of Essex, 36. Crouch, Walter, Exhibits old Sheet Almanack, 39 ; Exhibits specimens of :" daub " from Gravel Pits at Barking : Side, 219 ; John Brown, of Stanway, 155 ; Note on the occurrence of Crepidida fornicata^ L., off the Coast of Essex, 36; Exhibits a Divining Rod, 50 j on the Management of Epping Forest, 68 ; Exhibits a new Murex from Mauritius, 39 ; Exhibits Romano-British Pottery, etc., from Barking Side, 49. Cryptogamic Meeting, 2 18. " Culch," " Cultch," or " Cutch," 156, Curtis's " Flora Londinensis," Notes from, .247. Curtis Mill Green, Visit to, 217. DaltoN, W. H., on Site for Experi- mental Coal-boring in Essex, 150. Day, George, Notes on Essex Dialect and Folk-lore, 71. Daub ("Wattle and Daub"), from Gravel-pit at Barking Side, 219, " Defence of Navestock " (Prehistoric Camp), Visit to, 217. Dialect, Essex, Notes on, 71. Divining Rod Exhibited, 50- Donations to Fund of Central Museum, 29 ; of Specimens to same, 30. DvMOND, T. S., A Lunar Rainbow, 87 ; a Remarkable Meteor, 158. Dyne, Rev. W. T., on the Epping Forest Museum, 46. Earth Tremors,B. A. Committee on, 126. Eastern Boundary Stones of Waltham Forest, Visit to, 2I7- Echini \n Celtic Interment, 39. E Up has primigeniiis, Jaw of, from Chelmsford, Exhibited, 219 ; Tusk of, from Chelinsford, 155. Epping, Prehistoric Weapons, recently found near, 163 ; . Eppiiig Forest, Fairmead Lodge in, 158 ; Fungi, Additions to the List of, 244 ; Hornbeams in, 246 ; Memo- randum as to the Right of the Citizens to Hunt in, 31 ; Discussion - on the Management of, 52, 57; Report of the Experts on the Management of, 117 ; "Sandpit Plain " in, 56, 157 ; Vatiessa antiopa in, 88. Epping Forest Branch Museum, 30 ; Meeting in furtherance of, 44 " Granting application of the Club for Establishment of, 215, 2l8. Epping Hunt, Tiie, 31. Essex, A Sketch of the De%'elopmentof Architecture in, 165 ; Badgers in, 85 ; Cheesemaking in, 159 ; tlie Question of Workable Coal-Measures beneath, 1 30; Notes on Essex Dia- lect and Folk-lore, 71 ; Marine Algae, a Provisional List of, I ; Tlie Oak Tree in, 89 ; Otters in, 86 ; Rough-legged Buzzard in, 86. Essex Coast, Occurrence of Crepidula fhnicata, L., off, 36. INDEX TO VOLUME VUl. Essex Field Club, 14th Annual Meet- ing, 50 ; Meeting at Colchester, Copford and Birch, 202 ; Crypto- gamic Meeting, 218 ; Meeting to •consider Management of Epping Forest, 52 ; Meeting in Furtherance -of the Epping Forest Local Museum^ 44 ; Visit to the Navestock District, 213; Ordinary Meetings, 39, 48, 50, 57, 204, 210, 215, 218, 2.19 ; Meeting on the River Lea, from Hertford to Tottenham, 205. Essex, Proposed Partition of the County, 211, 216, 217. Euihemonia rtissula from Theydon Boist SO. Fairmead Lodge, Epping Forest, Note on, 158. " Flora Londinensis, " Curiis's. Notes from, 247. Flower, Major Lamorock, Notes on the River Lea, 206. Flower, Sir William, Letter on the F"orraation of the Epping Forest Museum, 45, 46. Folk-lore, Algci/ and, 154 ; Notes on Essex, 71. j ■" Fortification Wood," Navestock, 222 ; Visit to, 217. ' Fox, Remarkable Tale of a, 151. Fungi, Additions to tiie List of Epping Forest, 224. ' (jaktis vulgaris (the ''Toper") off j Clacton Coast, 152. I Geology of the I^ea Valley, 198. ] Geology, Value of Photography in, 42. i Geological Photographs, B. A. Com- mittee on, 128. Gibson, Bernard, on the .\Lanage- ment of Epping Forest, 68. Gold-fish, Tenacity of Life in, 87. Gould, F. Carruthers, on the Management of Epping Forest, 6&. Gould, L Chalkley, on the threatened Partition of the County - of Essex, 216 ; the Cry of the Wood- pigeon, 151. Harting, j. E., Izaak Walton's Association with the River Lea, 186 ; on Epping Forest Local Museum, 46 ; on the former existence of Salmon in the River Lea, 197. Havering-atte-Bower, Bedford's Oak at, 153. Holmes, T. V., Notes on the Con- ference of -Delegates of Local Societies at B. A. Meeting at Oxford (1894), 121 ; Geology of the Lea Valley, 198 ; on the Manage- ment of Epping Forest, 70 ; on the value of Photography as an aid in Geology, 42 ; Observations on a sup- posed Stone Ouorn found at Ching- foid, 49 ; on sections on the new- line from Romford to Upminster and on tlie Relation of the Thames Valley Beds to the Boulder Clay, 155. Holmes, T. V. and W. Whitakek, Reports on possibility of finding Coal under South-Eastern England, 142. Hope Collection of Essex Algae, Classi- fied List of, I. Hore, Rev. S. Coode, Conducts at Meeting in Navestock District, 213 ; on the Earthwork in " Fortification Wood," 222 ; Navestock in Olden Days : Stray Notes, Prehistoric, Saxon and Norman, 220. Hornbeams in Epping Forest, 246. Howell, Rev. W. C, reads paper en- titled " Short Notes on the Foxglove, chiefly Etymological and Local," 220. Hunt, The Epping, 31. Irving, Rev. Dr. A., on the question of Workable Coal Measures beneath Essex, 130. Izaak Walton's Association with the River Lea, 186. Layer, Henry, on Birch Castle, 204 ; Cheesemaking in Essex, 159 ; Galeiis vulgaris (the " Toper ") off Clacton, 152 ; reads paper on " Potash Making in Essex," 220 ; Spring Foliage on Oaks at Midsummer, 154. INDEX TO VOLUME VJII. Leaden Pipe Eaten by Rats, 219. Lea River, Izaac Walton's Association with, 186 ; Journey along from Hert- ford to Tottenham, 205 ; Former existence of Salmon in, 197. Lea Valley, Geology of, 198. LiNDLEY, Percy, on the Management of Epping Forest, 62. London, Citizens of, Right to Hunt in Epping Forest, 31. Lunar Rainbow, 87. Mammoth, Tusk found at Chelmsford, 155 ; Lower Jaw of, at Chelmsford, 219. Management of Epping Forest, 52, 57, 117. Meggy', F., Exhibits Lower Jaw of Rhi- noceros antiquitatis (^■=ztichorhinus') from Chelmsford, 219. Meldola, Prof. R., on the "Mate Temple of the Druids" on Navestock Common, 80, 213 ; on the Manage- ment of Epping Forest, 57 ; on the Epping Forest Museum, 47 ; Con- ducts at the Navestock Meeting, 213; on the Pre-historic Camp near Navestock, 217, 222 ; Photography as an aid in Physical and Natural Science, 39. Meloe proscarabceus from East Mersea, 52. Meteor, a Remarkable, 158. Mollusca, Pleistocene Non-Marine, from Walton-Naze, 160. Miirex, New Species from Mauritius Exhibited, 39. Museum, The E.F.C. Central, Prelimi- nary Report on, 29 ; Donations to, 29, 30 ; Visited by the Club, 220. Museum, The Epping Forest, 30 ; Meeting in Furtherance of, 44 ; Granting Application of the Club for the Establishment of, 215, 218 ; Letter from Sir W. Flower with regard to, 45,46. Museum Notes. Pleistocene Non- Marine Mollusca from Walton, 160. Museums, Conference on, at Oxford, 122. Navestock in Olden Days — Stray Notes, Prehistoric, Saxon, Norman^ 220 ; Visit to 213 ; Navestock Park, Visit to, 215. Oak, Bedford's, at Havering - atte - Bower, 153. Oak-Tree in Essex, The, 89. Oaks, Spring Foliage on, at Midsum- mer, 154. Oldham, Charles, Exhibits Forest Lepidoptera, 50 ; Spring LepidopUra, Otter Notes, 86. " Pakeolithic Floor" in Clay-pit near Caddington Hill, Dunstable, 39. Parliament Hill, "Queen Boadicea's Tomb," at, 248. Partition of the County of Essex, Pro- posed, 211 ; Discussion on, 216; Petition against, 217 ; Abandonment of the Project, 217. Pentamerous Symmetry in Aurelia, observed in Essex waters, 152. Periodicity (?), 157. Pettitt, John, Albino Weasel near Colchester, 245. Photography as an Aid in Physical and Natural Science, 39 ; Discussion on same, 42, 43. Pleistocene Mollusca collected by the late John Brown at Stanway, Exhi- bited, 205 ; ditto at Walton, 160. Pollution of Air in Towns, 127. " Potash Making in Essex," Discus- sion on Dr. Laver's paper on, 220. Pounder or Quorn for preparing Grain from Chingford, Exhibited, 48. Prehistoric Camp on Navestock Com- mon ("The Alate Temple"), 213; Camp in Fortification Wood, Nave- stock, 217, 222. Prehistoric Weapons recentl}' found near Epping, 163. Presidential Address, 1894, " A Sketch of the Development of Architecture in Essex," 165. Puffin at Billericay, 245. INDEX lO VOLUME VIII. Quoin (?) Stone from Chingfoid, 48. Rainbow, Lunar, 87. Rats, Leaden-pipe eaten by, 219. RhmOieros antiqiiitatis {=.tkhorliinHs)^ Lower Jaw of, from Chelmsford, Ex- hibited, 219. River Lea, Meeting on, from Hertford to Tottenham, 205. Romano-British Pottery from Barking Side, 49. Rooks, 245. Round, J. Horace, The Colne Fishery, 156. Round, James, ALP., receives the Club at Birch Hall, 204. Rose Gardens at Colchester, \'isit to, 2.02. Russell, Rev. A. F., on The Epping Forest Museum, 45. Salmon in the River Lea, Former Existence of, 197. <'SanJ-Pit Plain," Epping Forest, 157. Scotophilus Serotinus in Essex, 162. Sections along the new Railway from Romford to Upminster, 155. Sellar, D. p., receives the Club at Navestock Park, 215. Scroti ne Bat in Essex, 162. Sheat Fish (^Silurus giants'). Capture of, in the Stour River, 152. Shenstone, J. C, Conducts at Meet- ing at Copford and Birch, 202 ; The Oak Tree in Essex, 89 ; Silene conica, 153 ; Exhibits Specimen showing Re-growth of Wood-tissue in a Branch, 219. StUne contca, L., 153. Silurns glanis. Capture of, in the Stour, 152. Smith, Worihington G., Exhibits Photographs of Prehistoric Anti- quities and Geological Sections at Caddington, Dunstable, 39. Smith, W. G. S., on the Management of Epping Forest, 63. South-Eastern England, Coal under, 142. South Weald, Visit to, 218. Sparrow's Nest, A Travelling, 86. Spring Foliage on Oaks at Mid- summer, 154. Stewart, Prof. C, on the Epping Forest Museum, 46. Stukely's, Dr., " Alate Temple of the Druids," 213. Sunspots, Observations on, 50. Tale of a Fox, Remarkable, 151. Technical Instruction in Essex, Mem- bers of the Committee nominated by the Council, 27. Tenacity of Life in a Gold-fish, 87. Thames Valley Beds, Relation of to the Boulder-clay, 155. Theydon Bois, Euthemoniarussula from, 50. Toper (^Gakiis vulgaris') off Clacton, 152. Tree Trunk, Inscribed Letters in, 88. Unthank, H. W., Pentamerous Sym- metry in Aurelia, 152. Valley of the Lea, Geology of, 198. Vanessa antiopa in Epping Forest, 83. Varley, F. IL, Tenacity of Life in a Gold-fish, 87. Waller, W. C, The Epping Hunt. 31 ; Fairmead Lodge, Epping Forest. 158; Sand Pit Plain, Epping Fore it, 157- Walton-Naze, Pleistocene Non-Marine MoUusca from, 160. Walton's, Izaak, Association with the River Lea, 186. Wardstaffe, The Tale or Tallying of, 224. Wasp's Nest (^Ves/>a vulgaris) from Chingford, Exhibited, 48. Weasel, Albino, near Colchester, 245. Webb, W. M., Pleistocene Non-Marine MoUusca from Walton-Naze, 160. Whitaker, W., and T, V. Holmes, Reports on Coal under South- Eastern England, 142. Whittingham, W. F., Vanessa antiopa in Epping Forest, 88. INDEX TO VOI.UMK VIII. Wilson, T. Kay, Exhibits Ouorn or Crushing Stone from Chingford, 48 ; Rooics, 245. WiNSTONK, B., Prehistoric Weapons recently found near Epping, 163. Wood-pigeon, The Cry of the, 151. Wood Tissue, Curious Re-growth of, inside a Branch, 219. Wright, Charles A., Exhibits speci- mens of rare Plants, 211. Yew-poisoning, Death of a Horse from. 86: Young, Sir F., on the Management of Epping Forest, 67. ILLUSTRATIONS. Natural Repair of Injuries in a Gold- fish, 87. Inscribed Letters in an Elm-tree, 88. The Great Oak at Hemstead, Essex, 93- Remains of the Oak at Hempstead, 94. \'iew of FairlopOak on Epping Forest, 95- Cuckoo, or Bedford Oak, Epping Forest, 97. The "Pulpit Oak" and "Poachers' Pocket," Epping Forest, 98. Oak at Theydon Garnon, 99. Oak at Dan bury, 100. Oak at Danbury Palace, lOO. Oak at Thoringion Hall, loi. Oak at Thorington Hall, 102. C)riginal Hatfield Broad Oak, 102. Oak at Barrington Hall, 103. Oak at Barrington Hall, 104. Oak at Great Yeldham, 105. Twinsted Oak, 105. Oak at Screens, 106. Oak at Writtle, 106. Oak at Writtle Park, 107. Oak at Warren Farm, Writtle, 107. Oak at Rivenhall Park, 108. King Stephen's Oak, Rivenhall, 108 Woodham Mortimer Oak, 109. Oak at " Bedford's," Havering, 109. Oak at Maldon Hall, no. Oak at Mundon Hall, near Maldon, no. Oak at Quendon Hall, in. Oak near Dairy Farm, Mistley Park, 112. Oak at Fingringhoe, 112. Oak at Lawford Hall, 113. Oak at Chignall St. James, 113. Geological Section between Ware ard Harwich, 145. Sections of Mouldings of the Different PerioJsof Gothic Architecture, 173, Fishing House on the River Lea, 187. Tottenham High Cross, 1805, 191. The Thatched House, 194. Birch Church and ^'illage, 202. Rye Common Pumping Station, St. Margaret's, Herts, 208. Bridge over the Lea near Rye House, 210. Junction Lock, near Fieldes Weir, 211. Kidd's Weir. 212. The " Alate Temple of tlie Druids " on Navestock Common, 214. iilUAL SOBSCSIPTION— Members. 4s. 6d. Non-Members, 9s. Post Free. NOS. 1-5,V0L.V11U Price 3s. [JAN.-MAY, 1894. I The Essex Naturalist: BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. EDITED BY WILLIAM COLE, Honorary Secretary, Contents. PAGE A Provisional List of the Marine Algae of Essex and the Adjacent Coast. By E. A. L. Batters, B.A., LI .B., F.L.S i The Essex Field Club. Annual Report of the Council for year ending December 31st, 1893 26 The Enpinff Hunt. Notes from a Memorandum as to the Right of the Citizens of London to Hunt in ts Vicinity, including Epping Forest. Abstracted by W. Chap.man Waller, M.A., F.S.A 31 On the Occurrence of Crepidula fornkata, L., off the Coast of Essex. By Walter Crouch, F.Z.S 36 The Essex Field Club. The 144th Ordinary Meeting, February 3rd, 1894 39 Photography as an Aid in Physical and Natural Science. By Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S 39 Meeting in Furtherance cf the Epping Forest Free Local Museum, April 28th, 1894 44 The Essex Field Club. The 145th Ordinary Meeting, February 24th, 1894, 48; The 14th Annual General Meeting, March 31st, 1894 50 The Mansgement of Epping Forest. Field Meeting in Epping Fore.st, April 28th, and Verbatim Report of Discussion 52 Notes on Essex Dialect and Folk-Lore, with some account of the Divining-Rod. By George Day, F.R.M.S 71 Notes— Original and Selected. (With Hvo Engravings) 85 {Title and Index to Vol. VH. tvill he published with next part.] The authors alone are responsible for the statements and opinions contained in their respective papers. PUBLISHED BY THE CLUB, BUCKHURST HILL, ESSEX. E. DURRANT & CO., 90, HIGH STREET, CHELMSFORD. Knt. Stationers' Hall.] Published June, 1894. Communications (7?i(/ Advertisements should be addressed : — The Editor of " THE ESSEX NATURALIST," 7, Knighton \'illas, Buckhurst Hill, Essex. THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. {^Founded January lot/i, 1880.) With which is incorporated "The Essex and Chelmsford Museum," established October 7th, 1828.] List of Council and Officers for 1894. :J3«troit : H.R.H. THE DUKE OF CONNAUGHT AND STRATHEARN, K.G. (Ranker of Epping Forest). JJrcsibcui : FREDERIC CHANCELLOR, J.P., F.R.I.B.A., F.R.M.S. (ex-officioj. ISice-JJrcsiiients : E. NORTH BUXTON, J.P., Ald. C.C, D.L. WALTER CROUCH, F.Z.S. RIGHT HON. LORD RAYLEIGH.D.C.L , LL.D., F.R.S. ^ZW- J. C. SHENSTONE. Lieut, of Essex). ^Jcvmivncnt '^icc-^Jresibcnts : j {Constituted under Rule IV.) Professor R. xMELDOLA, F.R.S., F.R.A.S., F.C.S., M.A.I. {President, lSSo—82.) Professor G. S. BOULGER, F.L.S., F.G.S. {President, 1SSJ—S4.) THOMAS VINCENT HOLMES, F.G.S., M.A.I. {President, iSSj—Sy.) EDWARD A. FITCH, J.P., C.C, F.L.S., F.E.S. {President, iSSS—gr.) HENRY LAYER, J. P., M.R.C.S., F.L.S., F.S.A. {President, iSq2.) (Dthcv ^tUmbcrs of (JTouucil : ANDREW JOHNSTON, JOHN AVERY, C.A. Rev. R. E. BARTLETT, M.A CHARLES E. BENHAM. MILLER CHRISTY, F.L.S. BRYAN CORCORAN. L. CRANMER-BYNG. GEORGE DAY, F.R.M.S. F. W. ELLIOTT. A. J. FURBANK. I. CHALKLEY GOULD. Rev. W. C. HOWELL, M.A. Chrm. C.C, J. P., D.L Rev. W. S. LACH-SZYRMA, M.A THOMAS J. MANxN. m J. H. PORTER. I JOHN SPILLER, F.I.C, F.CS. ^ J. C THRESH, D.Sc, M.B., D.P.H FREDK. H. VARLEY, F.R.A.S. T. HAY WILSON. Rev. W. L. WILSON, M.A. Tiircvisurcr : ALFRED LOCKYER, Edgcumbe House, Cambridge Park, Wanstead, E. (Sccrctari) anii (Editor: WILLIAM COLE, F.E.S., Buckhurst Hill, Essex. ^Issishxnt (Sccrctuvij : BENJAMIN G. COLE, Buckhur'st Hill, Essex. ^tbr.irinns : EDMUND DURRANT, I E. A. SIMONS, 90 High Street, Chelmsford. | Kyneton, Balfour Road, Ilford. ^jonoravg QTounscl : CHARLES BROWNE, M.A., F.S.A. gjonovanj (Solicitor : HENRY I. COBURN. ^ankrvis : NATIONAL BANK, OLD BROAD STREET, E.C ^Eab-xjuartcvs : 8, Knighton Villas, Buckhukst Hill, Essex. cltUistum ani ^ibrarg : New London Road, Chelmsford. THE ESSEX NATURALIST BEING THE Journal of tbe lEseey f iclb Club FOR 1894. A PROVISIONAL LIST OF THE MARINE ALG/E OF ESSEX, AND THE ADJACENT COAST. By E. A L. RATTERS, B.A., LL.B., F.L.S. 'TpHE low flat sea board of the county of Essex, deeply indented by ■^ shallow creeks, and extending for a distance of close on one ^ hundred miles,^ is fringed with desolate expanses of mud, alternating with stretches of shifting sand or loose shingle, where few, if any, natural rocks capable of affording a stable anchorage for Algce are to be seen, even at the times of lowest tides. Few sea-weeds, and these of the commoner kmds, were all that could be expected to grow on such a coast, and consequently botanists have bestowed little or no attention on the Marine Algje of the county. As was to be expected, therefore, the sources from which a list of the Marine Algre of Essex could be compiled are " few and far between." The Rev. John Ray, in his "Synopsis Methodica Stirpium Britannicarum," 1690, mentions a few Essex Algre, but it is not always easy to recognise from Ray's names the plants he intended to describe, and in many cases it was only by an examination of the collection of plants ("Herb. Sloane," vol. cxiv., in Brit. Mus.), made by Ray's contem. porary, the Rev. Adam Buddie, and which had been named from the third edition of the "Synopsis," that I was able to identify some of the species. A few — very few — Essex localities in Greville's " Algce Britannicse," Harvey's " Phycologia Britannica," and Grattann's I As the crow flies the distance is hardly more than forty miles, but by foUouiiit; the indenta- lioas of the coast this is considerably more thaii doubled. 2 THE MARINE ALG.« OF ESSEX. " British Marine Alg?e," added to the notes scattered through the volumes of The Essex Naturalist, complete the published records of the Marine Algce of the county. The present list is principally based on the important collection of " Seaweeds of Harwich and District," gathered by Mr. G. P. Hope, and presented by him to the Museum of the Essex Field Club, This valuable collection contains about 230 separate speci- mens belonging to 59 genera and 8r species. The specimens are well preserved and neatly mounted on cardboard, and in most cases are accompanied by drawings of magnified portions of the frond or fructification. It is well to note, however, that most of these draw- ings have been copied from Harvey's " Phycologia Britannica," and may, in some cases I fear, be a source of confusion : for instance, the drawing accompanying the specimen of Ceramium fiabelligerum is taken from Harvey's figures of Ceramium acanthonotum (" Phyc. Brit.," plate cxl., figs. 3 and 4), the species to which Mr. Hope supposed his plant to belong. Where the drawings have been made from the plants themselves they are useful in identifying the species, besides being ornamental, and add greatly to the interest of the collection. In addition to the Hope collection, I have examined a collection of Marine Algas from Felixstowe,-' made by Mr, (1. Massee, who very kindly placed them at my disposal. I have also examined the Herbarium of the British Museum for Essex localities, but without much success. I have to thank Mr. T. H. Buffham for kindly furni- shing me with the Essex localities from his collection, and Mr, W. Cole for placing his Essex specimens at my disposal, A careful search through my own Herbarium and note-books has resulted in adding between twenty and thirty species, not included in any of the other collections, to the list of Essex Marine Alga:;. So far as is known at present, the marine flora of Essex consists of 152 species, included in 93 genera, and is marked as much by the absence of many species common and abundant elsewhere as by the presence of a few which are very rarely met with on the shores of our islands. As examples of the latter class, Edocarpus erectus, Phyliitis filiformis, Scinaia fiircellata, and Gj'citeloupia filicina may be mentioned, while as examples of the former Calothrix coiife?-vicola, 2 The records of localities of Essex Marine Algae are so scanty, and Essex specimens in public Herbaria so few, that I have thought il advisable to include in this list species which grow a short distance beyond the boundaries of the county of Essex, more especially those found at Felixstowe, which is at least within the jurisdiction of -the Harwich Harbour Board. This, I think, is allow- able in dealing with a marine flora of a county where most of the Alga; found are water-borne. THE MARINE ALC.E OF ESSEX. 3 Disinan'stia actileata, Dictyosiphon foenicu/aceiis, D. hippiiroides, Asperococcus eckinatics, Sphacelaria cirrhosa^ Chordaria JJagelliforiuis, Leathesia diffof/nis, Launnaria digitaia, Saccorhiza bulbosa^ Pelvetia canallculata, Chantransia seciDidata, Gelidiiim crinale, Gigarti?ia inamillosa, Callophyllis laciniata, Lonientaria clave llosa, Niiophyllum f)unctafum, Ceramiiim echionotiiffi, C. acanthonotum, C. ciliaium, ai:d Polysiphonia fastigiata, all of them common species, are "conspicuous by their absence" from the flora of Essex. For a moment we might be tempted to think that some at least of these species had been passed by as too common to deserve notice, but when on comparing the Essex marine flora with that of the neighbouring counties of SulTfolk and Norfolk we find very many of the same species also missing there, one hardly knows what to think. Dictyosiphon foeniculaceus, D. hippuroides, Leailiesia diffor/iiis, Laminaria digifafa, Saccorhiza luillwsa^ Gigartina mamillosa, Co-ainiinn acanthonotUDi, C. echioiiotum, and C. ciliaium have not been recorded from the coasts of either Suffolk or Norfolk, while Pelvetia canaliciilata has been " once found by Mr. Wigg ' on the coast of Norfolk, according to I'aget,-' and the only Norfolk locality for Polysiphouia fastigiata rests on the very doubtful authority of the Rev. G. Munford.'' It is not easy to account for the absence of these species, some of which, eg, Laiiiiiiaria digitata'' and Saccorhiza Inilbosa, are too large to escape the observation of even the most careless collector. Most probably the absence of fixed rocks large enough to form a safe anchorage for their roots accounts for the absence of the large sea-weeds, but one would surely have thought that Pelvetia canaliciilata and Gigartina inaniillosa could have subsisted wherever Fucus vesiculosiis and Chondriis crispus were to be found. The absence, too, of Sphacelaria cirrhosa, Polysiplionia fastigiata, and Callophyllis laciniata appears to me most extraordinary. Of course the large amount of sweet water poured into their estuaries by the Thames, Blackwater, Stour, and Orwell must to a great extent modify the marine flora of the county. There can be no doubt, however, that a careful search would result in the discovery of many of the missing species, and also of a large number of brackish water species not yet recorded from Essex. The marine flora of Essex is southern in its character, as is shown 3 " Sketch of the Natural History of Yarmouth," 1834. 4 Botany, in White's " History and Directory of Norfolk," 1864. 5 The Fucus ,iii,'itati/s mtnuontl by Goodenoii2;h an-J Wood wan! (Linn. Trans, iii , p. 155 as occurring at Harwich before 1795 was probably a form of L. saccarlthia. 4 THE MARINE ALG.'E OF ESSEX. by the presence of such distinctly southern forms as Grateloupia fiiicina, Scinaia furcellata, Cutteria multifida, and Taonia atomaria, while there is no admixture of characteristic northern species/' so far as we know. A list of those species which may, with some degree of proba- bility, be expected to occur on the Essex coast, is given at the end of this paper. SCHIZOPHYCE^, Cohn. MIXOPHYCEyE, Stizenb. Chroococcaceae, Rab. (ILCEOCAPSA, Nag. Gloeocapsa crepidinum, Thur., " Notes Alg.," i., p. i. In shallow rock-pools, and also on posts at or a little above high-water mark. Southend, July, 1890, Mrs. T. H. Bufifham, Clacton, Jan., 1893, E. A. B. APHANOCAPSA, Nag. Aphanocapsa marina, Hansg , in "Foslie Contrib.," i., p. 169. In shallow rock-pools, and on posts at high-water mark, usually mixed with species of Ca/othn'x and other small algte. Clacton, Jan., 1893, E. A. B. Rare. Chamsesiphonaceae, Borzi, DERMOCARPA, Crouan. Dermocarpa prasina, Bornet, "Notes Alg.," p. 73. On the fronds of Rhodoclwrton roihii. Clacton, Jan., 1893, E. A B. Not uncommon. HYELLA, Bornet et Flahault. Hyella caespitosa. Born, et Flah., in Morot, "Journal de Botan.," ii., 1888, p. 162. Growing in the substance of old shells. Clacton, Jan., 1893, E, A. B. Rare. KORMOGONE^E, Thur. HOMOCYSTE.E, Born, et Thur. Lyngbyeae, Kiitz. SPIRULINA, Turp. Spirulina subsalsa, CErsted, " Beretning om en Excursion til 6 Noithern species do not, except very rarely, come further south than the north of Norfolk, •where: Ptiiota />lu>nosa has been reported, but on rather doubtful authority, from Cromer. Of course the older records of the occurrence of " J'tilota /i/iimosa" on the coast of Devonshire, etc., refers to ' ' Plumaria eifgans,' which was formerly regarded as.simply a form of Ptilota plumosd. THE MARINE ALfl.E OF ESSEX. 5 Trindelen," etc., p. 17, tab. vii., fig. 4. On the muddy banks of the Stour, near Harwich; June, 1S85, E. A. B. OSCILLx\TORIA, Vaucher. Oscillatoria corallinae, Gom., in Morot, "Journ. Bot," iv., p. 356. On the muddy banks of the Stour, near Harwich ; June, 1885, E. A. B. LYNGBYA, C, Ag. Lyngbya semi-plena, J. Ag , "Alg. Mar. Med.," p. 11. On rocks and posts near high-water mark. Southend, July, 1890, Mrs. Buffham. L. aestuarii, Liebman, "Bemerkninger og Tillag til den danske Algeflora," Kroger's "Tidskrift," 1841, p. 492. On the muddy banks of the Stour and Orwell; June, 1885, E. A. B. Not uncommon. SYMPLOCA, Kutz. Symploca hydnoides, Kiitz., "Spec. Algar.," p. 272. Rocks at and above high-water mark. Felixstowe, June, 1885, E. A. B. This species is also found on the muddy banks of the Stour and Orwell. Vaginarieae, Gomont. MICROCOLEUS, Desmaz. Microcoleus chthonoplastes, Thur., "Ess. de Classif. des Nostoc. Ann. des Sc. nat., 6 ser., Bot.," i., p. 378. On the muddy banks of the Stour, and in the shallow pools of the salt marsh between Felixstowe Railway-station and the River. HE TEROC YSTE. E, Hansg. Rivulariaceae, Rabenh. CALOTHRIX, Ag. Calothrix scopulorum, Ag., "Syst. Alg.," p. 70. On posts near high-water mark. Clacton, Jan., 1893, E. A. B. This species is usually found growing in company with species of Enteromorphcc, Chcetomorplue, and other small alg«. C. pulvinata, Ag., "Syst. Alg.," p. 71. "On stakes near the shore, Osey Island," E. M. Holmes, Essex Naturalist, vol. ii., p. 249. C. confervicola, Ag., "Syst. Alg.," p. 7°- Epiphytic on various small algae, specially Cera?nium rubrum. Although this species has not been recorded from the county of Essex, it is almost THE MARINE ALG.I-: OF ESSEX. certain to occur there, and I have seen specimens from the adjacent county of Suffolk, but without the exact locahty being given. ISACTIS, Thur. Isactis plana, Thur., " Essai de Classif. Nost.," p. ii. "On old oyster shells in the Blackwater Estuary," E. M. Holmes, Essex Naturalist, vol. ii., p. 2^9. RIVULARIA, Ag. Rivularia atra, Roth.. "Car. Bot.," iii., p. 340. On rocks near high-water mark. Felixstowe, June, 1885, E. A. B, Rare. Sirosiphoniacese, Rabenh. MASTIGOCOLEUS, Lagerh. Mastigocoleus testarum, Lag., " Notarisia," 1886, i., p. 65, tab. I. In old oyster shells from the Blackwater, near Maldon. E. A. B. Nostoceae, Kiitz. ANAB.*:NA, Bory. Anabsena variabilis, Kiitz, " Phyc. General," p. 210. On the muddy shores of the Stour, near Harwich, June, 1885, E.A. B. The specimens of this species distributed in Mr. Holmes's valuable " Alga3 Britannicje Rariores Exsiccat^e '' are from the above locality. CHLOKOSPERME.^, Harv. Protococcacese, Menegh. CHl.OROCHYTRIUM, Cohn. Chlorochytrium inclusum, Kjellm., " N. I. Algfl.," p. 392, tab. 31, figs. 8-17. Parasitic in the fronds of Dilsea edidis. Har- wich, Jan., 1883, G. P. H. I detected a few fronds of this curious parasite in the fronds of some specimens of Dilsea cdulis collected by Mr. Hope at Harwich. Ulvaceae (Ag.), Rke. MONOSTROMA, Thur. Monostroma laceratum, Thur., "Note sur Syn. Ulv.," p. 32. Brackish pools, near Maldon ; E. A. B. ENTEROMORPHA, Link. Enteromorpha ramulosa, Hook, " Brit. Flor,," ii., p. 315. ^ THE MARINE AEG/E OF ESSEX. 7 On posts near high-water mark. Clacton, Jan., 1893, E. A. B. Not uncommon. E. erecta, J. Ag., '' Alg. Syst.," iii., p. 152. Wivenhoe, E. (i. Varenne. E. clathrata, Ag., "Icon. Alg. eur.,'' No. xvii. Wivenhoe and Maldon, E. G. Varenne ; Walton Ferry, (i. P. Hope : Clacton, E. A. B. E. canaliculata, Batt., " List Mar. Alg. Ber.," p. 31. On posts. Clacton, Jan., 1893, E. A. B. E. percursa, Harv., " Phyc. Brit.," pi. ccclii. Maldon, ^Viven- hoe, and Mistley, E. G. Varenne ; Clacton, E. A. B. E. compressa, L., "Spec. Plant.," ii., p. 1,163. Walton, E. G. Varenne ; estuary of the Orwell and Stour, E. M. Holmes ; Walton Creek, G. P. Hope ; Clacton, E. A. B. E. intestinalis, L., "Spec. Plant.,' ii., p. 1,163. Blackwater River and Maldon, E. G. ^\arenne and E. M. Holmes ; estuary of the Orwell and Stour, E. M. Holmes ; Harwich and Felixstowe, G. P. Hope. E. linza, J. Ag., "Till. Alg. Syst.," p. 134. Harwich, G. P. Hope. E. tubulosa, Kutz, "Tab. Phyc," vi., p. 11. Estuary of the Orwell and Stour, E. M. Holmes. V/de Essex Naturalist, vol. iv., p. 171. E. minima, Nag., in Kutz, " Spec. Alg.," p. 482. On posts near high-water mark. Clacton, Jan., 1893, E. A. B. ULVA, L. Ulva lactuca, L., "Spec. Plant.," ii., p. 1,163=6'. latissima, Harv., " Phyc. Brit." Maldon and Harwich, E. G. Varenne ; estuary of the Blackwater, E. M. Holmes ; Clacton, E. A. B. ; Felix- stowe, Walton Ferry, and Harwich, G. P. Hope. Chsetophoraceae, Wittr. EPICLADIA, Rke. Epicladia flustrse, Rke., " Algenfl. der Westl. Ostsee," p. 86. Felixstowe, June, 1885, and Clacton, Jan., 1893, E. A. B. Confervaceae, Lagerh. UROSPORA, Aresch. Urospora penicilliformis, Aresch., " Obs. Phyc.,' ii., p. 4. Clacton, Jan., 1893, E. A. B. * THE MARINE ALG.'E OF ESSEX. U. flacca, Holm, et Batt., "Ann. Botan.," v., p. ']^ = Lyngbya flacca, Harv., "Phyc. Brit." On muddy cement stone rocks. Felix- stowe, May, 1884, G. P. Hope; Clacton, Jan., 1893, E. A. B. ; Southend, July, 1890, Mrs. T. H. Buff ham. The specimens gathered by Mrs. Buffham at Southend bore microzoospores, as also did those gathered by myself at Clacton. Cladophoraceee. CH^.TOMORPHA, Kiitz. Chaetomorpha serea, KiUz, " Spec. Alg.," p. 379. In shallow pools near high-water mark. Felixstowe, June, 1885, E. A. B. Rare. C melagonium, Kutz, "Phyc. Germ.," p. 204. Felixstowe, G. P. Hope, C. linum, Southend, 1844, E. G. Varenne. C. litorea, Holm, et Batt., " Ann. Bot.," vol. v., p. 74. Walton, 1873, E. G. Varenne. C. tortuosa, Kiitz, "Spec. Alg.,'' p. 373. Clacton, Jan., 1893, E. A. B. Rare. RHIZOCLONIUM, Kiitz. Rhizoclonium riparium, Harv., " Phyc. Brit.," pi. 238. Estuary of the Stour and Orwell, June, 1885, E. A. B. CLADOPHORA, Kiitz. Cladophora rupestris, Kiitz, " Phyc. Gener.," p. 270. Southend, 184^, \'arenne ; on cement stone rock, Felixstowe and Harwich, Hope; between Dovercourt and FTarwich, Holmes; Clacton, E. A. B. C. hutchinsiae, Kiitz, "Phyc. Germ.," p. 210. Harwich and Felixstowe, Hope. C. utriculosa, Kiitz, " Phyc. Gen.," p. 269, f. /atevirefis, Hauck., " Meeres-alg.," p. 455. Walton, 1845, Varenne; brackish water, Adderton Fleet, branch of the Horse-shoe creek, FelixstowCj Dovercourt, Hope ; estuary of the Blackwater, Holmes. C glaucescens, Harv., "Phyc. Brit.," pi. 196. Harwich and Felixstowe, Hope. The specimens of this species in Mr. Hope's collection are not at all typical, the whole plant being larger and coarser than is usual in this species. The main stems are from 130-170 m. and the ultimate ramuli about 50m. in diameter; in other THE MARINE ALG/E OF ESSEX. 9 respects the specimens agree fairly well with typical CI. glaucescens. This variation from the ordinary form may be accounted for by the locality where Mr. Hope gathered his specimens, for he notes that they were gathered in a '* sluice at high-water covered with 8 feet of salt water, at low water covered with fresh water." C. fracta, Kiitz, '' Phyc. Gener.," p. 263. In ditches of brackish water between Felixstowe Railway-station and the River. Not uncommon ; in many places plentiful. June, 1885, E. A. B. C. albida, Kiitz, " Phyc. Germ.," p. 240, f. refracfa, Thur., in Le JoL, " Liste Alg. Mar. Cherb.," p. 60. Felixstowe, Hope ; between Harwich and Dovercourt, E. M. Holmes. C. uncialis, Harv., "Phyc. Brit.,'" pi. 207. Felixstowe and Harwich, G. Hope. Bryopsidaceae, Thur. BRYGPSIS, Lam. Bryopsis plumosa, Ag., " Spec. Alg.," i., p. 448. " In a rock pool near the end of Southend Pier," W. H. Grattann, "British Marine Alga3,'' p. 21; Harwich, Felixstowe, ''in pools formed in cement stone with sandy bottom," G. P. H. Vaucheriaceae, Damort. VAUCHERIA, D. C. Vaucheria sphaerospora, Nordst., Algol. Smasaker, in "Bot. Not.,'" 1S79, t. 2. Maldon, "one mile on both sides of the bridge," Prof. Otto Nordstedt. [See E. M. Holmes, Essex Naturalist, vol. i., p. 151.] FUCOIBE.E, J. Ag. Punctariaceae. PUNCTARIA, Grev. Punctaria plantaginea, Grev., "Alg. Brit.," p. 53, t. 9. Harwich, 1876, Varenne. Ectocarpaceae. ECTOCARPUS, Lyngb. Ectocarpus erectus, Kiitz, "Tab. Phyc," vol. v. On wood- work, in company with species of Eniero?norpha, Calothnx^ and other small algae. Clacton, Jan- 1893, E. A. B. Rare. lO THE MARINP: ALG/K of ESSEX. E. crouani, Thur., in Le Jol., " Liste," p. 75. Between Har- wich and Dovercourt, E. M. Holmes. E. confervoides, Le Jol., " Alg. Mar. Cherb.,'" p. 75. Walton Creek, June, 1883, G. Hope; between Harwich and Dovercourt, E. M. Holmes ; Clacton, E. A. B. E. confervoides, Le Jol., B. snlmiatiis, Hauck., " Meeres-alg.," p. 331. Harwich, E. M. Holmes. E. siliculosus, Lyngb., " Hydr. Dan.," p. 131. Harwich, CI. P. Hope ; Eelixstowe, E. A. B. E. granulosus, Ag., "Spec. Alg.,"' ii., p. 45. Harwich and Dovercourt, 9/3/ 1884, G. P. Hope. E. tomentosus, Lyngb., "Hydr. Dan.," p. 132, tab. 44A. Harwich and AValton Creek, G. P. Hope. PYLAIELLA, Bory. Pylaiella litoralis, Kjellm., " Ectoc.,"' p. ^i)—Ectocarpus litoralis, " Phyc. Brit." Walton, 1845, E. Varenne ; Fort Pier, Harwich, G. P. Hope; between Harwich and Dovercourt, E, M. Holmes ; Clacton and Felixstowe, E. A. B. Elachistacese, Rke. ELACHISTA, Duby. Elachista fucicola, Aresch., "Alg. Pugill.,"' p. 235. Maldon, [ 1867, Varenne; Clacton, Jan., 1893, E. A. B. Sphacelariaceae, J. Ag. SPHACELARL'X, Lyngb. Sphacelaria plumigera, Holmes, "Grevillea," vol. xi., p. 145. Felixstowe. Harwich, Dovercourt, and elsewhere on the Essex coast, G. P. Hope. STVPOCAULON, Kiitz. Stypocaulon scoparium, Kiitz, "Phyc. Gen.," p. 293. Walton, 1845. E. Varenne. CLADOSTEPHUS, Ag. Cladostephus verticillatus, Ag., " Syn. Alg. Scan,," p. xxvi, Walton, 1845, Varenne ; Felixstowe, Hope. C. spongiosus, Ag., " Syst. Alg.," p. 168. Felixstowe, G. P. Hope ; Harwich, E. M. Holmes. THIC :\IARl\t: AI.CK OF ESSEX. II Myrionemaceae, Thur. MYRIONEMA, (Irev. Myrionema strangulans, Cirev., "Crypt. Fl.," No. 300. Epiphytic on Eiiicroi>iorpha conipressa. Clacton, Jan., 1893. E. A. B. ASCOCVCLUS, Mag. Ascocyclus reptans, Rke., "Algenfl. cler Westl. Ostsee," p. 44. Epiphytic on Fucus serratus. Felixstowe, June, 1893, ^^• Massee. Ralfsiaceae, Fail. RALFSIA, Berk. Ralfsia verrucosa, Aresch., " Phyc. Scan.,"" p 140. Felix- stowe, G. P. Hope ; Southend, July, 1890, Mrs. T. H. Buffham. R. clavata, Crouan, '' florule du Finist,'" p. 166. Estuary of the Orwell and Stour, E. IVI. Holmes. Seytosiphoneae, Thur. PHVLLFFIS, Ki'itz. Phyllitis filiformis, Batt., "Journ Linn. See. Bot.,"' xviii., p. 456, p. 18. On woodwork near high-water mark. Clacton, Jan., 1S93, E. A. B. This species is not uncommon at Clacton. It usually grows in company with Eiiteromorpha amiprcssa, Calothrix scopu/onoii, and other small algre, forming a fleecy mass on posts, etc., near high-water mark. The Essex plant is somewhat larger than the original specimens from Berwick, but it agrees well with them in all other respects. SCVTOSH'HON, Ag. Scytosiphon lomentarius, Endl., '"(ien. Plant., '" Suppl. iii., p. 25; sec. Bornet, ''Alg. Schonsb.,'" p. 249. Breakwater, Harwich, Ci. P. Hope. Chordaceae, Rke. CHORDA, Stackhouse. Chorda filum, Stackh., " Ner. Brit.,"" Introd. p. xxiv. Harwich Harbour, C. P. Hope. 12 THE MARINE ALG^ OF ESSEX. Laminariacese, Ag. LAMINARIA, Lamour. Laminaria saccharina, Lamour, "Ess./' p. 22. Harwich, G. P. Hope ; Blackwater estuary, E. M. Holmes ; Clacton, E. M. Holmes and E. A. B. ; Felixstowe, G. Massee. A curious form of this species is found at Clacton, and was plentifully strewn on the beach in January, 1893. The frond, instead of being more or less rugose and bullated in the centre with undulate or curled margins, is perfectly flat and even, like that of L. digitafa, and the fructifica- tion forms an uninterrupted band down the centre of it. I have not seen similar specimens from the South of England, but have gathered the same variety near Berwick. Prof J. G. Agardh, to whom I sent Berwick specimens, thought the plant might belong to a new species, but it seems to me preferable to regard it, at least for the present, as a variety of L. saccharina. The Clacton plants grow to a length of several feet, but are seldom more than two inches wide, several specimens in my possession being hardly more than one inch wide, although when entire they were two or three feet long, and bear mature sori. No other species of Laminaria has been re- ported to occur on the Essex coast, and the species of the genus are too conspicuous objects to be overlooked by collectors. Cutleriaceae, Thur. CUTLERIA, Grev. Cutleria multifida, Czrev., " Alg. Brit.," p. 60. Asexual form on cement stone rock, Felixstowe ; sexual form washed ashore, Harwich, G. P. Hope. The sexual and asexual plants of this genus are so different in outward form that they have usually been regarded by botanists as belonging to two separate and totally independent genera, the former being named Cutleria multifida, the latter Aglaozonia reptans. As a result of M. Falkenberg's researches into the development of the Cutleriaccc, it has been proved that the oospore of these algas does not at once reproduce a Cutleria, but a hetero- morphous thallus in no way distinguishable from an Aglaozonia. The Zonaria parvula of Harvey's " Phycologia Britannica," and the Aglaozonia reptans of more modern works on British seaweeds, is nothing more than the asexual form of Cutleria multifida. The true Zonaria parvula of Greville, however, appears to be a really inde- pendent species, which produces tetraspores very much like those of Dictvota. THE MARINE ALG^ OF ESSEX. 1 3 Fucaceae, J. Ag. FUCUS, L. Fucus ceranoides, L., "Spec. Plant.," p. 1,158. Blackwater Estuary, E. M. Holmes. F. vesiculosus, L., "Spec. Plant.," p. 1,158. Walton, 1867, E. G. Varenne ; Harwich and Dovercourt, E. M. Holmes ; Felix- stowe, G. Massee. There is a specimen of this species in Mr. Hope's collection, but without locality. F. vesiculosus, L., f. spiralis (L., "Spec. Plant.," p. 1,159). Blackwater estuary and Orwell and Stour estuary, E. M. Holmes. The Rev. Adam Buddie, who died in 17 15, gathered this plant near ''' Fambridge Ferry in Essex," as is proved by a specimen preserved in his Herbarium (" Herb. Sloane," vol. 114, in the British Museum). F. vesiculosus, L., f. hattica, J. Ag., "Spec. Alg ," i., p. 210 {=iF. vesiculosus, var. siibecostatus, Essex Naturalist, ii., p. 248). Blackwater Estuary, E. M. Holmes. F. platycarpus, Thur., in Ann., " Sc. Nat., 3- serie, 1851," vol. xvi., p. 9, pi. 2. Between Harwich and Dovercourt, E. M. H. There are specimens of this species, gathered some two hundred years ago by the Rev. Adam Buddie " near Fambridge Ferry in Essex," preserved in the Herbarium of the British Museum (" Herb. Sloane," vol. 114, p. 6). The absence of air-vessels in these speci- mens seems to have attracted the attention of Buddie, who referred them to ^' Fucus sive quercus marina latifo/ia humilis sine vesic?/lis" Doody, not to "Fucus sive a/ga marina latifolia vulgatissima," Ray = Fucus vesiculosus. There can be very little doubt that the species is still plentiful on the Essex coast as elsewhere in Britain, and has only escaped observation owing to the great resemblance it I~)ears to some varieties of Fucus vesiculosus, for which it has. no doubt, often been mistaken. F. serratus, L. "Spec. Plant.," p. 1,158. Walton, 1867, Harwich, 1876, E. G. Varenne; Harwich, G. P. Hope; Dover- court, E. M. Holmes ; Clacton, E. A. B. ASCOPHYLLUM, Stackh. Ascophyllum nodosum, Le Jol., " Liste," p. 96. Harwich, G. P. Hope ; Blackwater Estuary and Dovercourt, E. M. Holmes : Clacton, E. A. B. A. nodosum, Le Job, f. scorpioides, Hauck., " Meeres-alg," p. 289. Blackwater Estuary, E. M. Holmes, 14 THE MARINE ALG/E OF ESSEX. HIMANTHALIA, Lyngb. Himanthalia lorea, Lyngb., " Hydr. Dan.," p. 36, tab. 8. Walton, 1867, E. G. Varenne ; Harwich, Felixstowe, (7. P. Hope. HALIDRYS, Lyngb. Halidrys siliquosa, Lyngb., " Hydr. Dan.," p. 37, tab. 8. Felixstowe, (i. P. Hope. It is interesting to note that Ray mentions the occurrence of this species (the '' Fuais angusfifolivs^ vesiculis longis silujuarum (cmulis, narrow-leaved wrack, with pod- like bladders," of his " Synopsis Methodica Stirpium Britannicarum," which first appeared in 1690) at Harwich, near which it is still to be found after a lapse of 200 years. Dictyotaceae, Thur. DICTYOTA, Lamour. Dictyota dichotoma, Lamour, in '' Journ. de Bot.," 1809, t. ii. ^Valton, 1867, E. Cr. ^\arenne ; Felixstowe, (1. P. Hope. TAONLA, J. Ag. Taenia atomaria, J, Ag., "Spec. Alg.," i, p. loi. Felix- stowe, G. P. Hope. PADINA, Adans. Padina pavonia, Gaillon, "Diet. d'Hist. Nat.," liii., p. 371. I give this species as an Essex plant on the authority of Ray. Li the third edition of his "Synopsis," p. 43, n. 14, speaking of this plant — Fiicus maritiinus Gallo pavonis pennas refe7-ens — he says it is found " prope Harwicum." In the Buddie Herbarium there is also a specimen with the note " a me collect, prope Harwicum." I presume that Harwich is the town meant, as on page 4 of the first edition the following sentence : " In littore Essexiano non procul Harvico" where there can be no doubt that Harwich is intended, occurs. There is no reason why Padina should not grow on the Essex coast, where many other southern species are to be met with. RHODOPHYCE^. /. BANGIOIDE.F, Rosen V. Porphyraceae (Kutz.), Thur. PORPHYRA. Porphyra laciniata, Ag., " Syst. Algar ," p. 190. Maldon, 1867, E. G. Yarenne : Harwich, G. P. Hope : Felixstowe, (!. Massee : Clacton, E. A. B, THE MARINE ALG.-E OF ESSEX. 1 5 P. vulgaris, Ag., "Aufz." p. i8. Southend, 1844, E. G. Varenne. P. leucosticta, Thur., in Le JoL, " Liste des Alg. Mar. de Cherbourg," p. joo. Near Harwich, E. M. Holmes. BANGIA, Lyngh. Bangia fusco-purpurea, Lyngb., " Hydr. Dan.," p. 63. Har- wich, May, 1883 ; on posts, FeHxstowe, June, 1893, G. Massee. //. FLORIDE.-F.. Chsetangiaceae, Schmitz. SCINAIA, Bivona. Scinaia furcellata, Bivona, in "I'lridc," Palermo, 1822. Cast ashore at Felixstowe after a gale, G. P. Hope. The specimens of this rare British alga in Mr. Hope's collection are in good condition, and do not appear to be the least water-worn ; they are attached to fragments of shells, and it is most probable that they were cast ashore from deep water near the place where they were picked up. Gelidiacese, Schmitz. HARVEYELLA, Schmitz and Rke. Harveyella mirabilis, Rke., "Algenfl. der Wesdichen Ostsee," p. 28. Parasitic on Rhodomela siifiisca at Clacton, January, 1893, E. A. B. Gigartinaceae, Schmitz. CHONDRUS, Stackh. Chondrus crispus, Stackh., "Ner, Brit.," p. xxiv. Southend, 1864, E. Vi. Varenne (and W. H. Grattann, vide " Brit. Mar. Alg.," p. 21). Blackwater Estuary, Harwich, Felixstowe, Dovercourt, Clacton, and elsewhere on the Essex coast : Hope, Holmes, Massee. PHVLLOPHORA. Grev. Phyllophora rubens, Grev., "Alg. Brit.," p. 135. Felixstowe, Jan.. 1883, G. P. Hope ; Clacton, Jan., 1893, E. A. B, P. membranifolia, J. Ag., " Alg. Medit.," p. 93. Harwich, Felixstowe, Dovercourt (9/3 84), G. P. Hope; Clacton, E. A. B. 1 6 THE MARINE ALGyE OF ESSEX. GYMNOGONGRUS, Mart. Gymnogongrus griffithsiae, Mart, " Flor. Brasil.," p. 27. Felixstowe and Dovercourt, G. P. Hope. G. norvegicus, J. Ag., " Spec. Alg.," ii., p. 320. Felixstowe, G P. Hope and E. A B. AHNFELTIA, Fr. Ahnfeltia plicata, Fr., " Fl. Scand.," p. 310. The first record of this as an Essex plant is in Ray's "Synopsis," ed. ii., p. 4, where the following passage is to be found : " Alga exigua dichotoma arenacei coloris. Small sandy or amber-coloured wrack. In littore Essexiano non procul Harvico collegit D. Newton prope Walton vicum." Several specimens preserved in the Buddie and Petiver collections ("Herb. Sloane," vols. 114 and 150, Brit. Mus.) prove that Ahnfeltia plicata is the species referred to. The plant still grows in the same neighbourhood, for there is a specimen with the note, " On round flints at Felixstowe," in the Hope collection. The plant is also to be met with at Southend and Clacton. (In a recent paper (" Flora oder Allg. Bot. Zeitung," 1893, heft 5, pp. 368-418) Prof. Schmitz asserts that what have been considered asexual reproductive organs (nemathecia) of Gyinuogongnis griffif/isicc, G. norvegicus, Phyllophora rubens and Ahnfeltia plicata are really parasitic Floridece. Of these parasites the following occur in Essex. ACTINOCOCCUS, Schmitz. Actinococcus aggregatus, Schmitz, I.e., p. 385. On G. griffithsicE. Felixstowe, G. P. Hope. Actinococcus peltaeformis, Schmitz, I.e., p. 387. On G. twrvegicifs. Felixstowe, E. A. B. COLACOLEPIS, Schmitz. Colacolepis incrustans, Schmitz, I.e., p. 417. On Phyllo- phora rubens. Clacton, E. A. B. STERROCOLAX, Schmitz. Sterrocolax decipiens, Schmitz, I.e.. p. 397. On Ahnfeltia plicata. Felixstowe, G. P. Hope.) THE MARINE ALG.E OF ESSEX. I / Rhodophyllidaceae, Schniitz. CYSTOCLONIUM, Kutz. Cystoclonium purpurasceus, Kiitz, " Phyc. Gen.," p. 404. Felixstowe, Feb., 1881, G.P.Hope; near Harwich, June, 1890 E. M. Holmes ; Clacton, Feb. 27th, 1893, E. A. B. CATENELLA, Grev. Catenella opuntia, Grev., "Alg. Brit," p. 166, tab. 17. "In the Blackwater at Maldon, Essex, Mr. E. Foster, junior," Greville, "Alg. Brit.," p. 167. Sphaerococcaceae, Schmitz GRACn^ARIA, Grev. Gracilaria conferv-oides, Grev., " Alg. Brit.," p. 123. This plant was collected by the Rev. Adam Buddie in Essex more than two hundred years ago, as is proved by specimens preserved in the British Museum ("Herb. Sloane," vol. 114, p. 16, Nos. i and 2), which have the following note attached to them : " Fucus purpur- ascens parvus caule et ramulis seu foliolis teretibus, Ray, 3, 50, 50. A me prope Harwich coll." It still grows there. Walton and Har- wich, E. (r. Varenne ; Estuary of the Orwell and Stour, E. M. Holmes ; Felixstowe, G. P. Hope ; Clacton, E. A. B. CALLIBLEPHARIS, Kiitz. Calliblepharis ciliata, Kiitz, " Phycol. Gen.," p. 404 = Rhodymenia ciliata, Grev. Walton, 1845, E. G. Varenne; on cement stone rock, Felixstowe and Harwich, G. P. Hope ; between Harwich and Dovercourt, E. M. Holmes; Clacton, HA. B. In the Buddie Herbarium ("Herb. Sloane," vol. 114, p. 26; there is a specimen of this species, with the following note : " Fucus humilis membranaceus acaulos elegantissimus ruber capillis longis fimbriatus. A me prope Harwich collect." This specimen must have been col- lected before 17 15 (the date of Buddie's death). Rhodymeniaceae, Schmitz. RHODYMENIA, (Irev. Rhodymenia palmata, Grev., "Alg. Brit.," p. 88. Harwich, 1876, E. G. Varenne; Felixstowe, Fort Breakwater, G. P. Hope and G. Massee ; Clacton, E. A. B. C lO THE MARINE ALG/K OF ESSEX. PLOCAMIUM, Lyngb. Plocamium coccineum, Lyngb., " Hydroph. Dan.," p. 39. {Fucoides rubens varie disseciion, Ray, "Synopsis," ed. 3, p. 37,' i). " Observed by Mr. Dale^ in Maldon River over against Tolesbury, Essex," Ray. Walton, 1845, E. G. Varenne ; Harwich and Felix- stowe, G. P. Hope and G. Massee ; Clacton, E. A. B. Both the broad and narrow varieties of this species are to be found on the coast of Essex. Delesseriaceae, Schmitz. NITOPHYLLUM, (Irev. Nitophyllum laceratum,** Grev., "Alg. Brit.," p. 83. Walton, 1867, E. G. Varenne; Felixstowe, G. P. Hope and G. Massee; Clacton, E. A. B. DELESSERIA, Lamour. Delesseria alata, Lamour, " Ess.," p. 36. There is a speci- men of this species in the Buddie Herbarium (" Herb. Sloane," vol. 114, p. 12, No. 3) with this inscription : " Fucus purpureus tenuiter divisus non geniculatus. This was found on the coast of Mersea Island in Essex." The other Essex localities are Harwich, G. P. Hope ; Felixstowe, G. Massee ; Clacton, E. A. B. D. hypoglossum, Lamour, " Ess.," p. 36. Felixstowe and Harwich, G. P. Hope and G. Massee. D. sinuosa, Lamour, "Ess," p. 124. Felixstowe, G. P. Hope. HYDROLAPATHUM, Stackh. Hydrolapathum sanguineum, Stackh., " Tentam.," p. 67. Harwich, G. P. Hope. Rhodomelaceae, Schmitz. BOSTRYCHIA, Montg. Bostrychia scopioides, Montg., "Cuba. Bot. Crypt.," p. 39. "Shore of Blackwater at Maldon, Mr. E, Forster, '' Junior," 7 The Mr. Dale here spoken of is probably the .Samuel Dale who died in 1739 (,vide Britten and Boulger's " Biographical Index," p. 44). 8 This species was described by Gmelin (" Hist. Fuc," p. 179) in 1768, from a specimen gathered at Harwich (" Locus, Harvici supra lapides "). 9 Edward Forster's Herbarium was purchased by Robert Brown and presented to the British Museum. I have, therefore, been able to examine the original specimen mentioned by Greville. It bears the inscription " Blackwater, nearly opposite Maldon, 1793." There is also another , Essex specimen of this species in the Herbarium of the British Museum ; it was gathered in the same locality by Mr. Bicheno, probably early in the present century. THE MARINE ALG^F. OF ESSEX. 1 9 Greville, '' Alg. Brit," p. 105. " On the lower part of stems of Spartina stricta, Wivenhoe, 1873," E. (i, Varenne. Cast ashore at Felixstowe, G. P. Hope; Estuary of the Blackwater, 1888, E. M. Holmes. RHODOMELA. Rhodomela subfusca, Ag., "Spec. Alg.," i., p. 378. Dover- court, Harwich, and Felixstowe, G. P. Hope ; Clacton, E. A. B. LAURENCIA, Lamour. Laurencia caespitosa, Lamour, "Ess.," p. 43 = /. hybrida, Lenor. Felixstowe and Landguard Pier, Harwich, G. P. Hope ; Blackwater Estuary, E. M. Holmes. CHONDRIA, Harv. Chondria dasyphylla, Ag., "Spec. Alg.," p. 350. Black- water Estuary, E. M. Holmes ; Harwich, G. P. Hope ; Felixstowe, E. A. B. POLYSIPHONIA, Grev. Polysiphonia urceolata, Grev., " Fl. Edin.," p. 309. Harwich Pier, G. P. Hope; Felixstowe, G. Massee. P. elongata, Harv., in Hook., " Brit. Fl.," ii., p. -i^n. Black- water Estuary, E. M. Holmes. P. atro-rubescens, Grev., " Fl. Edin.," p. 308. "Essex Coast," E. G. Varenne. P. nigrescens, Grev., Harv. in Hook., "Brit. Fl.," ii., p. 332. Felixstowe, Harwich, River Deben, Fort Breakwater, G. P. Hope. P. afHnis, Moore, in " Ord. Surv., Londonderry," Appendix, p. II., sec. Harvey. River Deben, (i. P. Hope. BRONGNLA.RTELLA (Bory.), Schmitz. Brongniartella byssoides, Bory. = Po/ysip/ionia dyssoiJes, " Phyc. Brit.," pi. 2S4. Walton, 1845, ^^^- ^'- ^'-'^renne ; Felixstowe, G. P. Hope. DASYA, Ag. Dasya coccinea, Ag., "Spec. Algar.," ii., p. 119. Felixstowe and Harwich, G. P. Hope ; Clacton, E. A. B. . 20 THE MARINE ALG/E OK ESSEX. Ceramiacese. SPERMOTHAMNION, Aresch. Spermothamnion turner!, Aresch., " Phyc. Scand.," p. 113. Var variabik, J. Ag., " Spec. Algar," ii., p. 24. On the stems of FurceUaria fastigiata, Laniour. Clacton, E. A. B. There are some loose specimens of this species in Mr. Hope's collection, but no locality is mentioned. GRIFFITHSIA, Ag. Griffithsia setacea, Ag., " Syn. Algar. Scand.," p. xxviii. Walton, 1867, E. (i. Varenne ; Felixstowe and Harwich, (i. P. Hope, E. M. Holmes, and (i. Massee; Clacton, E. A. B. This species is very abundant at Felixstowe in some seasons. In June, 1893, Mr. Massee informs me, it was "by far the most abundant weed on the coast." G. corallina, Ag., " Syn.," p. 28. Dovercourt, August, 1882, T. H. Buffham. HALURUS, Kutz. Halurus equisetifolius, Kiitz., " Phycol. General.," p. 374. Felixstowe and Harwich, (r. P. Hope. PLEONOSPORIUM, Nag. Pleonosporium borreri, Nag., " Sitzungsb. d. k. bayer. Akad. d. \\'issensch. zu Miinschen," 1861, p. 342. Felixstowe Pier (young plants), (i. P. Hope. RHODOCHORTON, Nag. Rhodochorton rothii, Nag., " Sitzungsb. d. k. bayer. Akad. d. Wissensch. zu Miinschen," 1861, ii., p. 358. Dovercourt Pier, "forming a carpet on the steps below low-water mark," (i. P. Hope : Clacton, E. A. B. R. fioridulum. Nag., " Sitzungsber. d. k. bayer. Akad. d. AVissensch. zu Miinschen," 1861, ii,, p. 358. " Below low-water mark, forming carpet to stone steps of Dovercourt Breakwater, June, 1883," G. P. Hope. CAELITHAMNION, Lyngb. Callithamnion polyspermum, Ag., "Spec. Alg.," ii., p. 169. Harwich, July, 1882, G. P. Hope. C. roseum, Ag., "Spec. Alg.," ii., p. 164. Southend, July, 1890, Mrs. T. H. Buffham. THK MARINE AI.C.K OK KSSEX. 21 C. corymbosum, Ag., "Spec. Alg.," ii., p. 165. "Floating over the Deben bar from sea, Sept., 1882," (). P. Hope. PLUMARIA, Schmitz. Plumaria elegans, Schmitz., in " Flora," 1889, heft. 5. On cement stone rock, Felixstowe and Harwich, (1. P. Hope and G. Massee. ANTITHAMNION, Nag. Antithamnion plumula, Thur., ap. Le Jolis, " Liste des Alg. Mar. de Cherbourg," p. 112. Estuary of the Orwell and Stour, E. IM. Holmes. CERAMIUM, Lyngb. Ceramium tenuissimum, J. Ag., "Spec. Alg.," ii., p. 120. Near Harwich, F. ^l. Holmes. C. deslongchampsii, Chauv., " Alg. Norm.," No. 83. " Below low-water mark Dovercourt stone pier," and Harwich, G. P. Hope ; Southend, July, 1890, Mrs. T. H. Bufifham. C. diaphanum, Roth., "Catal.," iii., p. 154. Cement stone rock, Felixstowe and Harwich, ( 1. P. Hope ; Dovercourt, E. A. B. C. rubrum, Ag., "Syn.," p. 60. Maldon, 1844, Walton, 1867, Harwich, 1888, E. G. Varenne ; Felixstowe, G. P. Hope and G. Massee ; Clacton, E. A. B. C. flabelligerum, J. Ag., " .\dvers.,"' p. 27. Fort Breakwater, Harwich, G. P. Hope ; Felixstowe, E. A. B. Not uncommon. Grateloupiacese. (iRATELOUPIA, Ag. Grateloupia filicina, Ag., "Spec. Algar,,' i., p. 223. Cement rock at half tide, Felixstowe, G. P. Hope. Dumontiaceae, Schmitz. DUMONTIA, Lamour. Dumontia filiformis, (irev., "Alg. Brit.," p. 165, t. 17. Blackwater Estuary, E. M. Holmes. DILSEA, Stack. Dilsea edulis, Schmitz., in "Flora," 1889, p. 453. Harwich, G. P. Hope. 2 2 THE MARINE ALG.E OF ESSEX. Nemastomacese. FASTICUARIA, Stackh. Fastigiaria furcellata, Stackh., " Tentam.," p. <^\—Furcet- laria fastigiata. Walton, 1845, E. Cr. Varenne ; Felixstowe, G. P. Hope ; between Harwich and Dovercourt, E. M. Holmes ; Clacton, E. A. B. Rhizophyllidaceae, Schmitz. POLYIDES. Polyides rotundus, Grev., "Alg. Brit," p. 70. Walton, 1845, E. G. Varenne ; Harwich, G. P. Hope ; Blackwater Estuary, E. M. Holmes ; Clacton, E. A. B. Squamariaceae, Schmitz. CRUORIELLA, Crn. Cruoriella dubyi, Schmitz, "Flora," 1889, p. ^^^=^Feyssonel/ia du/>vi, Crn. Blackwater Estuary, E. M. Holmes. HH.DENBRANDTIA, Nardo. Hildenbrandtia prototypus, Nardo, in " Isis," 1834, p. 675. Van rosea, Hauck., " Meeres-alg.," p. 39. Blackwater Estuary and Orwell and Stour Estuary, E. M. Holmes ; Southend, Mrs. T. H. Buffham ; Clacton and Felixstowe, E. A. B. Corallinaceae. MELOBESIA, Lamour. Melobesia membranacea, Lamour, "Polyp. Flex.," p. 315. On the leaves oi Zosfcra, in the Blackwater Estuary, E. M. Holmes; Clacton, E. A. B. M. corticiformis, Ki'itz, "Spec. Alg.," p. 696. Between Har- wich and Dovercourt, E. M. Hohiies ; Clacton, E. A. B. On Fastigiaria. M. corallineae, Crouan, " Florule du Finist.," p. 150. On Corallines. Between Harwich and Dovercourt, E. M. Holmes Felixstowe, G. P. Hope. 1 JTHOPHYLLUM, Phihppi. Lithophyllum lenormandi, Rosan., " Rech., " p. 85. "On pebbles." Blackwater Estuary, E. M. Holmes. CORALLINA, Lamour. Corallina officinalis, L., "Fauna Suecica," No, 2,234. Wal- ton, 1867, E. G. Varenne ; Felixstowe and Dovercourt, G. P. Hope; between Harwich and Dovercourt, E. M. Holmes ; Felixstowe, G Massee ; Clacton, E. A. B. THE MARINE ALG.Ii OF ESSEX. 23 There is a specimen from Felixstowe in Mr. Hope's collection that has been named CoraUiita squamata by that gentleman, but as the attachment is wanting and the specimen otherwise far from typical of C. squamata^ I prefer to regard it as a variety of C. officinalis, although possibly it may really be a form of C. squamata. C. rubens, L., " Syst. Nat.,'' ed. xii., i., p. 1,304. Harwich, 1876, E. G. Varenne ; Dovercourt, (i. P. Hope. C. corniculata, L, "Syst. Nat.," ed. xii., i., p. 1,304. Dover- court, G. P. Hope. SPECIES LIKELY TO OCCUR ON ESSEX SHORES. The following species may be expected to occur on the coast of Essex. Those which, having been found on the shores of the neigh- bouring counties of Suffolk, Norfolk, or Kent, are most likely to be met with in Essex are distinguished by an asterisk (*). MYXOPHYCEx*:. * Dermocarpa schousboei, Bornet. Oscillatoria tiigroviridis, Thw., and other species of Oscillatoria. * Lyngbya majtiscula, Harv. Hydrocokum lyngbyaceum^ Kiitz * Calothrix confervicola, C. Ag. *C. co/isociata, Born, et Flah. C. ivruginea, Thur. C. Crustacea^ Thur. C.fasciculata, Agardh. Rivularia biasokttiana, Menegh. Microchoite grisea, Thur. * AnabcEua toruiosa, Lagerh. Nodularia spumigena, Mert. CHLOROSPERME.E Pringsheimia scutata, Rke. Monosfroina ivittrockii^ Born. M. iatissiinum, Wittr. *M. grevillii, J- Ag. M. blyttii, Wittr. * Percursaria percursa, Rosen v. EjiteroDiorpha hopkirkii, M'Calla. E. ralfsii, Harv. E. crinifa, J. Ag. *E. Jtiicrococca, Kiitz. 24 THK MARINE AI.G/E OF ESSEX. Entoderina iviftrockii, ^Ville * Chiciomorpha torliiosa, Kiitz. C. iinpkxa, Kiitz. * Chidophora Jiexuosa, Griff. *C. hirta, Kiitz. *C. expansa, Kiitz. *C.flavesce)ts, Kiitz. * Vaucheria thuretii, Woron. Codiuin toineutflsuDi, Stackh. * Desmarestia viridis, Lamour. * D. aaikafa, Lamour. *Z>. ligulata, l>amour. Dictyosiphon fcr/iiai/aceus, Clrev. Z>. hippuroides, Kiitz. Litosiphon pusillus, Harv. * Myriotrichia c/aV(c/orinis, Harv, M.filiformis, Harv. * Asperocoaus ethi>iafus, Grev Ecfocarpus feniii/ialis, Kiitz *E. fasciculafiis, Harv. * Arthrocladia vi/Iosa, Duby. * Elachista scutulata, Duby. E. /laccida, Aresch. * Sphacelaria cirrhosa, Ag. Stihphora rhizodes, J Ag. * Chordaria Jla}^e/ii/orni/s, Ag . Mesogla'a ven/iicuhita, Le Jo'. * Castagnea viresceiis, Thur. C. zostenc, Thur. Leathesia dijforinis, Aresch. Phyllitis zosterifolia, Rke. P. fascia^ Kiitz. Chorda iomentosa, Lyngb. * Sporochjius pedunculatus, Ag. Pelvetia canaliculata. Dene et Thur * Bifurcaria tuberculata, Stackh. * Cystoseira fibrosa, Ag. * Tilopteris /nerfe/isii, Kiitz. Dictyopteris polypodioidcs, La m ( )i i r THE MARINE ALG/E OF ESSEX. 25 FLORIDE.E. *Chantransia daviesii, Thiir. C. virgatula^ Thur. *C. secundata, Thur. * iVarcaria ivigghii^ Endlicher. *Crelidiutn corneitiii, I, amour. *G crina/e, J. Ag. G. lati/oliufn, Born, et Thur. Qigarfina mamillosa, J. Ag. * Callophyiis laciniata, Kiitz. * Rhodophyllis bifida, Ki'itz. * Callihkpharis jubata, Kiitz. * Rhodymenia palinetfa, (irev. * Lonientaria articulata, Lyngb. * L. davellosa, (laill. * Chylocladia kaliforiitis, Hook C. ova /is, Hook. * Nitophylluvi puiictatuiit, ( Irev * Delesseria ruscifoiia, Laniour. * Bonuemaisonia asparagoides, Ag. Laurencia obtusa, Lamour. * L. pinnatifida, Lamour. * Haiopithys pinastroides, K iitz. Polysiphonia violacea, AV^yatt. *P. fibrillosa, (Irev. P. fastigiata, ( irev. P. brodiffii Grev. P. fniticulosa, Spreng. * Monospora pedicellata, SoHer. Callithamnion hookeri, Ag. Ceramium strictum, Harv. C. echionotum, J. Ag. C. acaiithoiiotum, Carm. C. ciliatum, Ducluz. *Halarachnion ligulatum, Ag. Petrocelis crueufa, J. Ag. Cruoria pellita, Lyngb. Melobesia pustulata, Lamour. Lithothamiiion poiyiiiorp/iu/ii, .\resch. 26 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. Annual Report of the Council for the Year Ended December 31ST, 1893. [Read and adopted at the Annual Meeting held at Buckhurst Hill, March 31st, 18Q4.] Although the past year has been an unusually active one both on the part of the Club and its officers, and no fewer than fifteen meetings were held, the various works in progress are not yet sufficiently advanced to admit of a complete report, and full details of the roll of membership, the state of the Museum and Library, must be reserved for special reports, which will be placed before the members as soon as possible. On the present occasion the Council proposes giving a sketch only of the several schemes in progress, for the information of the members. JMembers. — The roll of members cannot be yet made up, owing partly to the fact that a considerable number of the members of the old Chelmsford Museum Society, admitted as members under the resolutions for amalgamation, not having yet complied with the terms of that resolution relating to the payment of sub- scriptions, and partly also to a number of members being two years and upwards in arrear. Under the Rules the Council has power to deal with such cases ; the matter is now under consideration, and a report from the Treasurer will be laid before the Club in due course. It is estimated that the effective strength of the Club is about 400, and the Council need not point out that this number is inadequate to provide a sufficient annual income. It is the duty of every member wishing well to the Club to do all in his or her power to increase the roll. The position of the Club, and the important works it is carrying on, justify the expectation that a permanent roll of 600 members should be the minimum, and the Council is confident that a little missionary effort on the part of each member would soon realise this expec- taticn. A Sub-Committee is about to be formed to assist in this work. Financial. — The financial position of the Club may, upon the whole, be regarded as fairly satisfactory. The General Account still shows a deficiency of income as compared with expenditure, but the adverse balance is being steadily reduced, a diminution of ;^20 having been effected during the year. The Life Composition Account remains unchanged. The final payment for printing part 2, vol. iv., of the old " Proceedings " leaves the Publishing Account with a balance on the wrong side of some £i\o. It is much to be regretted that so few copies were applied for. Had the Council anticipated so poor a response, the work would probably have been abandoned, or compressed within much narrower limits. A list of donations paid to the Museum Fund (Chelmsford) up to the present date (March 31st, 1894) i^ given below. PuiiLiCATiONS.— The Essex Naturalist for the year compiises 200 pages, and the volume is, it is submitted, fully up to the preceding ones in its valuable characteristic — namely, the local bearing of the papers and reports published. Several important papers are already promised for volume viii., but the Editor again solicits help from the main body of the members and their scientific friends. He receives a good deal of friendly criticism, which is healthy and is appreciated, but in many cases a little aid in his difficult task would be more encouraging. Dr. Laver's work on the " Mammals, Reptiles, and Fishes of Essex " not being read}- for the press, has been delayed in publication ; but the prospectus THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 27 will be issued in the early summer, and, taken in conjunction with Mr. Miller Christy's " Birds of Essex," the work will afford a complete and valuable guide to the vertebrate fauna of the county, and should "be welcomed not only by our Essex members, but by naturalists in London and elsewhere. This book will form volume iii. of the "Special Memoir" seiies, and the " Bibliotheca Essexiensis : a Bibliographical Catalogue of Books, Pamphlets, Maps, etc., relating to the County of Essex," now in preparation for the press, will form volume iv. Full particulars of this last important work, which the Council has resolved to publish, will be given later. Meetings, and Papers Contrii3UTED. — As stated above, no fewer than fifteen meetings were held during 1893, five being Ordinary Meetings and ten Field Meetings, with or without Ordinary Meetings in the evenings. The places visited were Stratford, Chelmsford, Broomfield, Ilford, Chingfordand Sewardstone, Danbury and Maldon, Barking Side and VVanstead, the River Stour and Ded- ham, Castle Hedingham, the Deneholes at Gra3's, Boyle's Court and Brentwood, High Beech, Epping Forest, and Loughton. The Council has especially to thank Mr. Walter Crouch, who acted as Secretary for Field Meetings during the season It is much to be wished that Mr. Crouch would continue to act in this capacity during the coming season. The especial thanks of the Club are due to Mr. Miller Christy, Mr. Charles Smoothy, Mr. L. Hatton, Mr. and Mrs. Pemberton-Barnes, Mr. and Mrs. Bevington, and Mr. and Mrs. Lescher, for hospitalities afforded to the Club ; and the Council als^ begs to thank the following gentlemen for aid given at the various meeting;:— Mr. Chancellor, Prof. Poulton, Col. C. Swinhoe, Mr. Ashmole, Mr. H. W. Monckton, Mr. C. E. Benham, Mr. Chas. A.Wright, Mr. Stannard, Mr. Rowland Cobbold, Mr. A. C. Freeman, Rev. H. A. Lake, Captain Whitmore, Mr. J. E. Harting, Dr. ^L C. Cooke, Dr. Wnarton, Mr. H. Groves, Mr. J. T. Cunningham, and Mr. John Spiller. It is unnecessary to refer to the various papers read at the meetings. They are alluded to in the full reports in our Journal ; and all of them, together with papers sent direct to the Editor, and a large number of " notes," have been published in vol. vii. of The Essex Naturalist. Technical Instruction. — The members nominated by the Council to serve upon the Technical Instruction Committee of the Essex County Council, under Sect. i. (2) of the Technical Instruction Act, 1889, and the resolution of the County Council of March 15th, 1892, are the same as last year, with the e.xception that Mr. G. J. Symons retired, owing to difficulty in attending the meetings. Prot. Charles Stewart, President of the Linnean Society, and one of the hon. members of the Club, was nominated to fill the vacancy, and has been accepted by the County Council. The nominated members are now as follows : — Sir H. E. Roscoe, F.R.S., Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., Mr. J. C. Shenstone, Mr. J. Spiller, F.I.C., etc., Mr. F. Chancellor, J. P., F.R.I.B.A., and Prof. Charles Stewart, President L S., etc. The assistance, scientific and otherwise, given by these gentlemen to the cause of technical instruction has been most valuable, and the Council has reason to believe that it is highly appreciated. Library. — The Library has continued to receive the usual magazines and journals, either in exchange or by purchase, and some valuable donations of books have been made. The Librarians propo?e to present a full report on 28 c3 CO a CO o CO THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. SC'iOOO'^^S^W^ =*^ -e = 1^! nOi: . >!=2 y* Oy. 5; 05 r «'' -^ t 1 a. 3 SK %^ ;; xa.C9.~i-K^-/:y:p,feSC^j 33 • KM H < las Us* K,._- a, c^ — C-2 c u 555x THE ESSEX F1EI,1> CLUI!. 29 the stale of the Library, as soon as possible after the books are arranged in the room at Chelmsford, which is now nearly ready for their reception. But the Council cannot allow Mr. Wire's connection with the Library to cease without thanking him for his labours as Librarian during his term of office. Few of the members know of the amount of persistent work required in such an office, and Mr. Wire deserves the cordial thanks of the Club for the active interest he has taken in the Library for many years past. Museum. — The agreement for immediate amalgamation of the old Chelmsford Museum with the Club having been confirmed at the last annual meeting, on April 15th, 1893, the Curator was enabled to take possession of the premises and its contents in August last, and Mr. Henry Mothersole was appointed by the Council to act as Assistant, at a salary of £2(i per annum, giving his services for twenty hours in each week. The Curator found the Museum in such a state of chaos, and so much cleaning, repairs to cases, and fitting up of the room for the library, etc., required to be done, that this work has occupied the whole period, and real museum-work could not be commenced. A considerable number of cases, boxes, etc., have already been purchased, but the sums paid in to the Treasurer on behalf of the Museum Fund (about ;^i6o) will be quite insufficient, after deducting the amount spent in printing and advertising, to properly fit the Museum as an exhibition for the general public, and as a store-house of local specimens for the student. The Council makes a strong appeal for further funds. The Curator's estimate for fitting up the rooms at Chelmsford as a home for the Museum, pending the erection of proper premises, was £2^0, and certainly this sum, at least, will be required. The contributions hitherto received (31st March, 1894) of members arnd others for fitting up the rojms at ChelmsforJ, under the arrangements announced in the last Annual Report (E. N., vol. vii., pp. 70 — 71), are as follows : — Donations paid to Museum Fund {Chelmsfoia^ to 2>^st William Melles (deed.), Sfwards/one T. J. Mann, Sawbridgeti'orth . Benjamin Winstone, Epping . Rev. R. E. Barllett, Chelmsford . William Cole, Bucklmrst Hill Prof. G. S. Boulger, Netting Hill . Rev. E. S. Dewick, Hyde Park John Hi Ilia r. South Hackney . Alfred Lockyer, Wan'Jead Gen. B. R. Branfill, Billericay B. G. Cole, Bnckhurst Hill . Prof. Raphael Meldola, Brunswick Square (fiist moiety) Rev. L. N. Prance, Stapleford Taumey H. S. Tabor, Booking J. C. Shenstone, Colchester (first don ) S. A. Courtauld, Halstead T. V. Holmes, Greenwich Charles Oldham. Woodford . R. B. Boswell, Chmgford J. A. Clark, Hackney T. F. Mott, Leicester Ma rcli, I 894 £ s. d. • 50 ^5 10 10 10 10 5 5 5 5 5 5 ■ 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 I I 10 6 10 /163 6 30 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. Provided sufficient funds are supplied, the temporary fitting up and arrange- ment of the contents of the Museum will soon be completed, and the Curator is convinced that collections of great interest and considerable scientific importance will rapidly be gathered together. Already some collections of value have been received, and the thanks of the Council are especially due to the following gentlemen for the donations indicated. Mr. Hope's contributions are of great interest — the Marine Algce have already been catalogued by Mr. Batters, and the Crag fossils will be examined and arranged by an expert as soon as possible : Principal Donations to the Museum since last Report : Mr. E. A. Fitch. — Large number of specimens of Galls, in illustration of his paper on the " Galls of Essex," in vol. ii. of the " Transactions " of the Club. Mr. C. Oldham. — Specimens of Lepidoptera from Epping Forest. Mr, Chalkley Gould. — Collection of specimens of Woods of the Forest treSSt Mr W. Cole. — Collection of Galls from the Forest district, preserved by the late J. L. English, Also numerous specimens of Essex Plants and Mollusca. Mr G. P. Hope. — The whole of his collection of Red-Crag Fossils, con- sisting of several thousand specimens — mostly collected by himself. Also his Herbarium of Marine Algae from the Harwich district. This collection has been examined and catalogued bj' Mr. Batters (see ante.^ p. i.). Also some Mammalian fossils from Walton-Naze, and Bronze Celts from Havering. Dr. Laver. — As representative of the defunct Colchester Natural History Society, and from himself personally. About 50 cases of birds and animals, mostly from Essex. Mr. T. Hay Wilson. — Specimens of fragments of glacial rocks from the gravels of the Forest, in illustration of his paper in The Essex Naturalist, vol. vii., p. 75. The Council most strongly urges every member, and, indeed, everyone in- tei-ested in local museums, to aid the Curator by the donation of specimens and the systematic gathering of local forms in their own neighbourhoods. A circular, with directions and information for those proposing to collect, will shortly be issued, and it is hoped that the response to the appeal will be enthusiastic, and, above all, that the efforts of local collectors will be sustained and methodical. The Curator will gladly give all the information in his power to those willing to work in this direction, and in no way can an accurate knowledge of some branches of natural history be acquired than in collecting with judgment and with a definite object in view. In this way not only will the collector be bene- fited, but the Museum will acquire authentic Essex collections, which in the .aggregate will soon be of great interest and importance. As mentioned above with respect to the Library, as soon as the collections at present in hand are catalogued, the Curator will present to the members a detailed report on the Museum, with an account of the work done and to be accomplished. Epping Forest Branch Museum. — This project, which has so long been in the minds of members of the Club, has now been energetically taken up by a local Committee, under the direct sanction of the Council, and there appears to be every probability that it will be carried out to a successful issue. In actively promoting this scheme, the Council and Curator have been actuated not only with the desire of establishing a local collection of more than usual educational importance, but also in the interests of the Club, and the interests of our metro- THE EPPING HUNT. 31 politan districts members, that the removal of our main collections to the centre of the county may not weaken the sympathy of such members in the Club's work. The branch Museum at Chingford, if carried into being, will be wel- comed by all intelligent visitors to the Forest, and the Council asks for the active support of the metropolitan members to an institution mainly promoted in their interests. The Council has unanimously recommended Mr. Chancellor's re-election as President for the ensuing year. In conclusion, the Council may justly congratulate the members on the position the Club has attained, and the extensive and useful programme of work to be carried out during the ne.xt few years. The Club only requires an in- creased membership, and a somewhat greater interest to be taken in its work and progress by the inhabitants of the county generally, to become a really impor- tant local institution. THE EPPING HUNT. NOTES FROM A " MEMORANDUM AS TO THE RIGHT OF THE CITIZENS OF LONDON TO HUNT IN ITS VICINITY, INCLUDING EPPING FOREST." npHE enlightened liberality of the representatives of the late -*■ Mr. Henry Ford Barclay has placed at the disposition of the Council of the Esse.x Field Club a number of MSS. and printed docu- ments and pamphlets of various kinds, which came into that gentle- man's possession when a member of the Epping Forest Commission of 187 1, and also as a Verderer of the Forest. The records of the Commission are enshrined in four great folio volumes of a thousand pages each, a copy of which is accessible in the Guildhall Library. And four volumes containing manuscript copies of a mass of docu- ments put in evidence at the time, have recently found their way to the Public Record Office, and are included among the Departmental Records of H.M. Office of Works — a series only accessible, it may be added, under special permit. But the "■Memorandum as to the right of the Citizens of London to hunt in its vicinity, including Epping Forest" recently sent to me for examination by the Editor of The Essex Natur.vlist, is not, so far as I know, included in either set. Whether it is or is not, a short account of it will, I think, prove a not unwelcome addition to the notes on the Forest which, from time to time, find a place in these pages. The Memorandum in question is rather in the nature of the famous chapter entitled : " Of snakes in Iceland " ; for, while 32 THE liJ'PINCJ HUNT. professing to give information as to the rights of the citizens over Epping Forest, it practically furnishes only a confirmation of Mr. Fisher's statement, that no documentary evidence could be found to support the right of hunting in the Forest traditionally held to belong to the Corporation of London, and to have been yearly exercised on the occasion of the Epping Hunt.' The Memorandum contains extracts from various ancient documents, with translations appended. The earliest is an undated letter, in Saxon, addressed by the Conqueror to Gosfrigth, the Sheriff, and to all the citizens of London, bidding them to take neither hart nor hind, nor game of any sort, on the lands of Lanfranc, the Archbishop, that belonged to his manor of Hergan (Harrow), unless by his command or with his leave.2 This is followed by an extract from a charter of Henry L, who, in iioi, confirmed to the citizens of London their sporting rights, as enjoyed by their predecessors, in Chiltre (Chiltern), and Middlesex, and Surrey. Rather more than half a century later on, in 1154, Henry H. confirmed his grandfather's con- firmation ; and subsequently, Richard L, John, and Henry HI. followed the example of their predecessors. The printed Hundred Rolls of 1275 are next cited, and there we find a jury of inquisition stating that the citizens might run, with their dogs, at hares, foxes, rabbits, and wild cats {/nurilegos) as far as the bridge of Stanes, and to the gate of the park of Enfield, and to Stratford- le-Bow, and to Waltham Holy Cross— a liberty im- peded, however, by the Earl of Cornwall's warren at Lsleworih, and that of William de Say at Edmonton ; by what authority the jurors find themselves unable to say.'' A marginal note, in Mr. Barclay's hand, tells us that it was suggested, on one side, that there was, in the bridge of Stanes, an allusion to the Staneway near Colchester To this the other side retorted that such a contention was absurd, and that Staines in Middlesex was evidently meant. In view of the warren at Isleworth, and of the remoteness of Colchester, the latter view seems indisputably correct. Also, as against the City's claim it was urged that deer were not mentioned, and that the boundaries given were eminently calculated to keep the citizens out of the Forest. The City, it is needless to say, interpreted the documents differently, and showed a course of chase right through the Forest 1 W. R. Fisher : " The Forest of Essex, " p. 202. 2 Dugdale's " Monasticon,'' I, Part 3, No. xxxix. 3 Hundred Rolls (1812); pp. 403-423. THE EPPING HUNT. 33 from Stratford to Waltham Holy Cross ; claiming, at the same time, that Matilda, wife of Henry I., built the bridge at Stratford " with the object of facilitating the access of the citizens of London to the great Forest of Essex, for the enjoyment of their usual recreation ot hunting there." This imaginative little gambol forms a tail-piece to the grave citations from public records. The City's own records are next laid under contribution, and the earliest references to its rights of chase appear to occur during the latter half of the fifteenth century.^ An extract from its Journal (vi., fo. 2ioa) sets forth a dispute between the City and the Abbot of Stratford, who had forbidden " the Common Hunt " {cnnimioii Venatori) to hunt upon his lands there. A little later on, the Abbot appeared personally and excused himself ; and one John Danyelle, the actual offender, "threw himself upon and submitted himself to the g[race]. . . ." In 1465, two citizens lately " indicted for venison," taken by them in the Forest of Waltham, were to be de- fended at law at the City's expense.' The entries, so far as the Forest is concerned, here come to an end. The next in date is one of 150 1, when the Common Hunt is directed " to burn wood in seething of his hounds' meat at More- gate""; and the next is from a Journal of 13 Henry VHL, which gives the oath taken by a recently-elected "Common Hunt," but, though it mentions Surrey, Middlesex, and Chiltern, it is silent as to Essex. Suadry details with regard to the officer known as the Common Hunt are found in an extract dated 1558,' when two men were appointed in his room ; both had " meate and drynke " in the Lord Mayor's house, 4s. wages, and one livery gown out of the Chamber, for so long as they held office. It was also ordered :hat, putting away some of their worst hounds, they should thence- orth keep but four couples of harriers and four couples of otter- lounds -the latter they were "to provide with spede." Subsequent entries in various books relate to the feeding and housing of the lounds, and, during Elizabeth's reign, " a kennell of spaniels " was idded, with a couple of hawks. In 1598 we find the Mayor and :)ther members of the Corporation hunting " at Havering and other )laces in the Forest of Waltham.'"^ And here, again, a marginal 4 38 Henry VI. (a.d. 1460). 5 There are earlier entries on the Forest Rolls of the presentment of citizens for killing deer 1 Waltham Forest— f.o-., Forest Roll— Chapter House : Box 2, No. 3, m. 20 [17 Edward II. ]. 6 '■ Repertorj'," i , fo. 70. 7 " Repertory," xiv., fo. 3. S "Repertor)-," xxiv., fo 278B. D 34 THE EPPING HUNT. note in the MS. tells us that, as against this, it was objected that the hunting was only in a wood belonging to the City, and not over the Forest at large ; and that no claim on behalf of the Corporation was ever made at any Justice Seat, when charters of privilege were wont to be put in, enrolled, and allowed. At the beginning of the seventeenth century Mr. Common Hunt, as he is civically styled, was in a bad way. First he gets an allow- ance of ^20 "in regard of the charge he hath bene at in remedying the annoyance of the stinking smelles at the dogg house, and towards his relief, his house being now visited with the plague." Then the dog-house is found " verie old and reuinous and not fit for habitation." But not much was done, for a year later Mr. Common Hunt complains "that it doth rayne into the rooms of the Dogge house throughout, and that the same will, in short time, fall downe." However, some repairs must have been finally executed, since, in 1687, the house and stable were still standing, though found to be " irreparable " ; and the rebuilding them is estimated to cost ;^Soo, "after the rate of second-rate building, the house containing 20 ft. by 49 ft." Passing over a few other notices, we come to one, dated 1746, when complaint was made that Mr. Common Hunt did not keep a pack of hounds for the use of the City ; and, a few days afterwards, a committee was appointed " to enquire into the nature of his ofifice," etc. The report, dated a month or two later, stated, among other things to be gleaned from the extracts already given, that the remuneration attaching to the ofifice included " a house and garden at the Dog Bar, with a proper kennel . . . with coppers," etc., and a salary and allowances amounting in all to something like ^180 a year. It appeared that a gentleman huntsman provided, on occasion, a pack of hounds, and was paid ^"j per annum in con- sideration thereof, as had, it was alleged, been for some time customary. Mr. Common Hunt exhibited a great disinclination to being obliged to keep a pack at his own expense, " the profifits of his ofifice being not sufificient to defray the charge thereof, and the purchase of his place lost [s/c-] him two thousand guineas." In spite of this a hard-hearted committee reported " that a pack of hounds ought to be kept, in order to support this City's antient right of hunting " ; and the report, moreover, " was well liked of and agreed to " by the Court. More than half a century later on, counsel's opinion was sought on the question of abolishing the ofifice of Common Hunt. The THE EPPING HUNT. 35 opinion given stated that it was quite within the competence of the Corporation to aboh'sh the office, and, indeed, to resign any or all their franchises ; but the inexpediency of such a course was strongly urged, mainly, it seems, on the ground that it would destroy an evidence of the dignity and pre-eminence " of the City of London in times of the remotest antiquity," and a parallel was instituted between the office of Grand Falconer and that under consideration. The Corporation, notwithstanding all this, did finally on July 21st, 1807, pass a resolution abolishing the office of Com.mon Hunt, but the extracts before us afford no information as to what solace was ^iven to the then holder of the office. Though the Huntsman ceased to exist, the hunting continued. For, in the Minutes of Evidence taken before the Select Committee,'-' uid ordered to be printed in 1863, Lieut.-Colonel George Palmer, he then surviving Verderer, said that the Lord Mayor and Aldermen lad, to his knowledge, exercised for fifty years the right of hunting and cilling a stag once a year ; and Mr. Alderman Copeland elsewhere Question 1,131) spoke of having attended the Easter hunts from 1808 downwards. With this last entry the Memorandum ends. Perhaps the brief iccount of its contents already given may incite someone interested n the subject of the Epping Hunt to pursue the subject, and to see low much further back it can be traced. For it clearly was already an istablished custom in 1808 ; and, if so, mention of it must surely occur n old newspapers or elsewhere. So early as February 12th, 1705, fohn Wroth, then lord of the manor of Loughton, and a Justice of he Peace, is reported ^" to have committed the Lord Mayor's Foot- luntsman to the custody of a constable for hunting the City's hounds n the Forest. Mr. Common Hunt was thereupon ordered to repair Mr. Wroth and tender bail. Mr. Wroth, who expressed a desire 'to try the City's right of hunting," bound the huntsman and others )ver to answer at the next Quarter Sessions for unlawfully hunting n the Forest. It was then thought advisable to bring an action gainst the constable for assault and imprisonment, but it does not .ppear that anything further was done in the matter. The records )f Quarter Sessions, if still in existence, might throw some addi- ional hght on it. William Chapman Waller. 9 Royal Forests of Essex : 798, p 25. 10 " Repertory Rawlinson " No. 1 10, fj. 73B (City Records, as quoted in the Metiioranduiii). 3^ ON THE OCCURRENCE OF CREPIDULA FORNICATA, L., OFF THE COAST OF ESSEX. By WALTER CROUCH, F.Z.S. {Vice-President). [Ri-ad, 24th February, /i?9y.] ^ jF the family CalyptrcTeidce, so far as I am aware, only one genus and species has hitherto been recorded as occurring in Great Britain ; /. i?., Calyptrcea sinensis, of Linnaeus. This marine mollusc is, I believe, mainly confined to the Southern coast and Channel Islands. I have taken live specimens off the coast of South Devon, and also near Weymouth, Dorset, where it is fairly common, and generally found attached to stones. On the 6lh of September, 1891, when staying at Brightlingsea, in Essex, I ferried over one morning to Stone Point, St. Osyth, there awaiting some friends who were staying at East Mersea, and had agreed to bring the boat over to the " hard" to fetch me ; but the sea was very rough, rolling in from the German Ocean with a S.W. wind, making the estuary of the Rivers Colne and Blackwater choppy and dangerous. They dared not venture, nor would any boatman take me af^ross, so I turned my attention to the shore and surroundings. The previous day I had found Paludestrina venfrosa by the thousand in the brackish water of the ditch of the Martello Tower on the Point. In getting marine species I was not very successful, but I took a quantity of Truncatella truncatnla, Lacuna crassior, and a few Anoniia ephippium. The former were all on the underside of large stones, and had never before been recorded in Essex. My surprise was great when on turning over a broken bit of oyster-shell (not a native), on the Zosiera which abounds here and is rolled in like ropes by the sea, to find attached a dead shell of Crepidula fornicata, a shell common on the east coast of North Anierica. I remained searching for a long time, picking up and examining every bit of oyster-shell I could see, but could not find another. From later inquiries I ascertained that at some time young American oysters had been laid down here to fatten, but whether from the east or west coast I could not discover. That fact, how- ever, sufficiently accounted for a non-European shell being found there, and I concluded that it had been brought over attached to the oyster. I was aware that French and Portuguese oysters had often CREPIDULA KORNICATA, L., OFF THE COAST OF ESSEX 37 been laid down, but never before this that American ones were also employed for this purpose. Having a meeting of the Essex Field Club next day at St. Osyth, and along the sea-wall, I exhibited the shell, and subse- quently made a note of it in The Essex Naturalist (Vol. v., p. 260, Dec, 1891.) I thought no more about this occurrence until the 4th of March, 1893, when I received a small parcel of marine forms from the Crouch river, taken by John Bacon whilst engaged in the oyster fishery on board a Burnham smack. Amongst the contents, fish, nudibranchs, etc., I found a living example of the same Crepidula, which he mentioned in his letter as a "Crow oyster on a Stone." It maybe well to add that Burnham, close to which these were taken, is about sixteen miles in a straight line from Stone Point, and by sea round the coast of the Dengie Hundred and up the river, over twenty miles. I wrote back at once to Bacon to ask if this was the first shell of the kind he had seen, and requested him to look out for more ; to which he replied : " I can remember these for fifteen to twenty years ; although I have known them so long they are very scarce. I have caught them in different parts of the Crouch and Roach rivers. I do not know, nor do I think, that any American oysters or spat has ever been laid down in either of our rivers." Later on he told me that he had heard they were fairly common in the Blackwater ; but neither my friend Mr. Fitch, F.L.S., who knows the river well, nor myself, has ever caught it whilst dredg- ing, though we have taken over fifty species of moUusca in that river. On the 15th of April, Bacon sent me another live specimen, and one to Mr. Fitch ; both of these were from oysters at the Ferry layings (Cricksea). My specimen died during the night, but I took it up the next day to the Natural History Museum to show Mr. Edgar A. Smith ; and we there took out the animal and put it in spirit. The shell of this is very concave, and rich in colour inside, the septum pure enamel-white ; and we then compared it with shells from North America in the Museum, which were practically identical. When visiiing Maldon, later on, Mr. Fitch gave me the other shell. It is larger, flatter, and the inside colour more mottled ; and the oyster on which it was found is not a native, but a French one 38 CREPIDULA FORNICATA, L., OFF THE COAST OF ESSEX. laid down when about a year old. I have lately (December 14th, 1893) received another shell from Burnham-on-Crouch. All these shells present considerable variability in shape, size, and colouring, much as the American specimens do, as they adapt themselves to the shape of the object on which they adhere. I have compared the radula of one of these with the drawing by Troschel, to which it corresponds. I may add that I received with the last shell a quantity of jelly- like spawn, which is said to be that of the mollusc in question. It is certainly curious to find living specimens of a North American species on our shores. They have, no doubt, been introduced with oysters, have found conditions favourable for existence in our layings ; and may even have propagated their species, although we have at present no certain evidence of this. On reading some notes upon this subject at a meeting of the Malacological Society of London {vide Proc. Mala. Soc, Vol. i., p. 19), on the 14th July last, I was informed by Mr. H. Wallis Kew that some dead shells had been found on the Lincolnshire coast, in 1887-8, by Mr. Arthur Smith of Great Grimsby, who had recorded them in the [Yorkshire] " Naturalist " for 1888, p. 275. Mr. Smith's note is as follows : — " While searching for specimens on Grimsby Beach, I found a shell which I did not recognise as being British, nor had I found or seen such a shell before. This was in November, 1887. Some weeks after I found another. I sent one to the Natural History Museum at South Kensington. It was kindly returned to me as Crepidula foriiicata, a native of the east coast of North America, and I was told that it had possibly been thrown, out of some ship with ballast, and then washed ashore ; but as I continued to find speci- mens I could scarcely think this to be the case. After making inquiries I have learnt that they are brought from America with the American oysters, which are deposited at Cleethorpes for the use of visitors to this seaside resort in the summer season. As yet I have not found living specimens, although a friend assures me they are often adhering the shells of the oysters when first brought here." The occurrence of this species is again mentioned by Mr. Kew in his "Shells of the Lincolnshire Coast" ("Naturalist," 1889, pp. 358, 359), and I have since had the opportunity, through his kindness, of seeing the shells which were taken in the Humber.^ I I may add that Mr. H. Wallis Kew, F.Z.S., is the author of a very interesting book published recently, on "The Dispersal of Sliells." 39 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. The 144TH Ordinary Meeting, Saturday, February 3rJ, 1894. The 144th Ordinary Meeting of the Club was held in the Lecture-room of the Grosvenor House, Walthamstow (by the kind permission of the CommiUee of the Walthamstow School of Science and Art) at 6.30 p.m., Mr. T. V. Holmes, F.G.S , Vice-President, in the chair. Mr. J. H. Dowsing, M.I.C.E., was elected a member. The Secretary announced some very important gifts to the Museum (which are enumerated in the Report of the Council, page 30), and the cordial thanks of the Club were accorded for these interesting and valuable donations. Mr. W. Cole exhibited on behalf of Mr. Wonhington G. Smith, a photograph of a section in a clay-pit at Caddington Hill, near Dunstable, showing a layer of old flint implements (a " Palaeolithic Floor ") at a height above O.D. of about 590 feet. Also a photograph of a drawing by Mr. Smith of a Celtic interment in a round tumulus on Dunstable Downs, with skeletons of a woman and child, I surrounded by a double or triple row of fossil Echini, which must have been I collected in Celtic times and put in the grave round the bodies, as shown in the I drawing. These observations of Mr. Smith's will be given in his forthcoming I book, entitled " Man : The Primeval Savage — His Haunts and Relics from the ] Hill-tops of Bedfordshire to Blackwall. ' Mr. Walter Crouch exhibited the interesting old Sheet Almanack mentioned in his paper on " Astronomy in Wanstead " {vide EsSEX NATURALIST, vii., p. 160). In this is shown the alteration of style in 1752, when eleven days, from the 3rd to the 13th September were omitted from the Calendar, so that "j'e Month contains but 19 days." Mr. Crouch also exhibited two specimens of a new Murcx {Ocinebrd) from the Mauritius, which had recently been figured and described, with other new forms from that locality, by Mr. G. B. Sowerby, F.L.S., etc., under the specific name of M. crouchi, in a paper read before the Malacological Society on the loth No- vember, 1893 {vide Proc. Mala. Soc, vol. i., p. 41). At present only four shells of this small but prettily sculptured species are known : the type, and one of a bright red colour, var. rtifescens, in the collection of Mr. Crouch, and two in the British Museum collection. PHOTOGRAPHY AS AN AW IN PHYSICAL AND NATURAL SCIENCE. [Abslract.'] Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S. {Vice-President), then delivered a lecture on the above subject. The lecture was illustrated by a large number of photographic slides shown by the oxy-hydrogen lantern, many of them having been lent to Prof. Meldola by the Secretaries of the British Association Committees established for collecting, and encouraging the production of, Geological and Meteoro- logical Photographs.^ Prof. Meldola emphasised the historical fact that science had advanced con- currently with the invention of methods for extending the perceptibility of the senses, instancing the balance, the telescope, the microscope, and the spectroscope I The Editor gladly acknowledges his indebtedness to the excellent report of the lecture in " Photography " for the basis of the following abstract. 4'0 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. to show what enormous strides in the study of nature had been made directly a new weapon had been placed in the hands of scientific workers. The object of the present lecture was to show how the photographic plate had within the knowledge of the present generation become an indispensable adjunct to science. The lecturer said that the first successful photographs on silver salts were taken by Dague: re ^ who began his researches independently, but afterwards entered into partnership with Joseph Nicephore Niepce, of Chalons ; the latter had previously been taking photographs on metal plates coated with bitumen, a method which endures to this day in photo-mechanical work. Fox-Talbot had also been working independently in England with silver salts upon paper, and his process was made public in this countrj' about the same time that Daguerre's method was made known in France, both of which events occurred in 1839. After the publication of the discoveries of Daguerre and Fox-Talbot, the chemical and optical departments of photography became united. The camera obscura \z said to have been invented by Porta in the sixteenth or seventeenth Century, but perhaps it was known to Roger Bacon in the thirteenth century. As he intended to speak upon the scientific uses of photography, he would fit-st point out that the camera image, being formed by a lens, is not much limited in size, either in the way of enlargement or reduction. For instance, a lady had just placed in his hands the smallest Johnson's Dictionary in the world ; the reading of it had to be done through a magnifying glass. As the little volume was indirectly issued as an advertisement, he would not push it any further. This reduction by means of photography was largely utilised during the siege of Paris by the establishment of the pigeon post ; documents and newspapers were photographed on a greatly reduced scale upon collodion films, which were then stripped off the glass, placed in quills, and carried attached to the tail feathers of the birds. When the destination was reached, these missives were pro- jected on to a screen and enlarged, by means of the optical lantern, and anything required from them was taken down by shorthand reporters in the room. Mr. Meldola said that photography might be used for purposes of fraud, such, for instance, as the representation of ghosts in the so-called " spirit photographs," and he exhibited some pictures on the screen, photographed by one of his students, in vviiich the person acting as ghost had been in position during but a portion 2 In a report of the lecture published in " Photography," I am credited with the statement that Daguerre was the first to introduce silver salts into photography, and this statement is made the subject of an editorial criticism. The writer of the note has, however, fallen into some error or must have misunderstood my remark. That I was aware that Schulze had previously experi- mented with silver compounds appears from the following extract from my book on "The Chemistry of Photogmphy," which was published in 1889, the lectures forming the subject of the work having been delivered in 1888: — " 'J'he first distinct statement as to the darkening of a silver compound being the result of the influence of light was made by a German physician, J. H. Schulze, who in 1727 observed that when a solution of silver in nitric acid was poured on to chalk the precipitate darkened on the side exposed to light," etc. (p. 36). Again, in a Friday evening discourse delivered at the Royal Institution on May i6th, iSpo, I said; — " If the word 'photography' be interpreted literally as writing or inscribing by light, without any refcreftcc to the auhsequcnt pe'manence 0/ the inscription, \\\^n the person who first intentionally caused a design to be imprinted by light upon a photo-sensiiive compound must- be regarded as the first photographer. According to Dr, Eder, of Vienna, we must place this experiment to the credit of Johann Heinrich Schulze, the son of a German tailor, who was born in the Duchy of Magdeburg, in Prussia, in 1687, and who died in 1744, after a life of extra- ordinary activity as a linguist, theologian, physician, and philosopher. In the year 1727, when experimenting on the subject of phosphorescence, .Schulze observed that by pouring nitric acid, in which some silver had previously been dissolved, on to chalk, the undissolved earthy residue had acquired the property of darkening on exposure to light. This effect was shown to be due to light, and not to heat. By pasting words cut out in paper on the side of the bottle containing ihe precipitate, Schulze obtained copies of the letters on the silvered chalk. The German philosopher certainly produced what might be called a temporary photograiii.' Proc. Roy. Inst., vol. xiii., p 134. I have nothing to add to these extracts ; they are amply sufficient to show thai I was acquainted with the work of Schulze — R.M. THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 4 1 of the whole exposure, so that solid objects were seen through the figure in the resuhing print. In astronomical photography, Professor Meldola stated, dry plates are par- ticularly useful, and they are now being employed for an international survey of the heavens. He here exhibited two fine slides by Mr. Isaac Roberts, a pioneer in such work. The one photograph represeited a nebula in the constellation of the Little Dog, and the other the Great Nebula in Orion. In these, he pointed out, were also great numbers of stars, and among them some invisible to the human eye, except by the aid of photography. Photography has also revealed the fact that some objects, hitherto classed as stars, and mapped as such, are in reality small nebulas. These photographs had been taken with a reflector, and not with a lens, with an exposure of four hours, and by using most delicate appliances to enable the telescope to follow accurately the apparent motions of the heavenly bodies without vibration. The exposure given in taking each of the nebulas was four hours. An American astronomer onre spent many years in drawing the Great Nebula in Orion. He next exhibited another photograph, by Mr. Roberts, of a beautiful nebula in Andromeda, which also was taken with a reflector. Photography might also be used for securing records of natural phenomena. He projected on the screen two slides, representing the river at Wakefield in its ordinary condition, and during the flood of 1892. These, and some other slides, belonged to a committee of the British Association, which is collecting photo- graphs of meteorological phenomena ; the slides had been lent to him by Mr. Symons. He exhibited also frost and snow scenes, and said that recently some beautiful photographs of snow crystals have been taken on the Continent. Whe.i dealing with cloud photography he described Mr. Clayden's work, and projected specimens on the screen. He also exhibited a striking photograph of the Malvern Hills, the crests only projecting above the mist, which latter seemed rolling onwards like a great sea. Photographs of lightning flashes were then exhibiteJ, one by Mr. Frank Hughes, showing that flashes are not always single, and that several flashes may occur from different parts of a cloud at the same time. He said that lightning flashes are sometimes double, and that separate images are sometimes obtained by moving the camera while the electrical discharge takes place. Another Committee of the British Association is now using photography in making an ethnographic survey by Mr. Francis Galton's method, to a Id to the stock of information about race characteristic Photography is also used in aid of archaeologv, and sometimes to give evidence relating to disputed points. P'or instance, various prehistoric temples are supposed to be "oriented," so that the chief altar directly faces the rising sun on the longest day — the summer solst'cc. The lecturer exhibited a slide of the rising sun at Stonehenge on the longest day of the year, taken from what is assumed to have been the most sacred part. The sun then appeared on the apex of a huge stone, called the Friar's Heel, and chanced on that particular morning to be surrounded by a halo, so as to make a striking picture, seen through the "bridge," if so it may be called, formed by two perpendicular stones in the foreground, between them supporting one huge stone on the top. The lecturer next spoke of the way in which photography is being utilised by the Geological Photographs Committee of the British Association, and showed some slides lent by the Secretary to the Committee, Mr. Jeffs, repre- senting inland erosion by wind and water, the erosion of sea coasts, the formation of caverns, the nature of basaltic formations, and the records of glacial action in former times pres'-rved by certain rocks. He exhibited a photograph of part of 42 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. perhaps the oldest forest in existence, belonging to the coal period ; it is at Partick, near Glasgow, and the stumps of the trees are still standing as shown in the picture. He also exhibited slides in relation to "physiography,"' or what the Germans call " Earth knowledge."' Some of them illustrated the ways in which rivers cut valleys through both soft earth and hard rocks. Prof. Meldola then came to the use of photography in physics. He explained the analysis and synthesis of white light, and spoke of the photographing of the spectrum. He exhibited a solar spectrum with plenty of lines in it, which he had taken when associated with Mr. Norman Lockyer some years ago. He also told of Dr. H. W. Vogel's origination of orthochromatic photography in 1874, and how that branch of photography has been extended by the researches of Mr. C. H. Bothamley, technical organiser for the county of Somerset. He dealt with the wave theory of light, the phenomena of interference, and stated that the first scientific use of photography was made in 1803 by Dr. Thomas Young, in photo- graphing Newton's rings at the Royal Institution. Lord Rayleigh has just been photographing interference bands, applying the phenomena to the revealing of the degree of approximation to truth of asserted truly plane glass surfaces. Some of the results, lent to the lecturer by Lord Rayleigh, were exhibited on the screen. The photographs had been taken by pure sodium light, and plates made ortho- chromatic by ammoniacal cyanin. The lecturer lastly spoke of the " inductoscript " taken upon photographic plates without light, by the Rev. Professor Smith, of Oxford. Electricity of rapidly alternating current was used ; a coin was connected with one terminal, and a sensitised plate with the other, and the coin and plate were brought very near to one another. Then all light being excluded, the current was switched on and was continued for fifteen minutes. At the end of that time the plate was developed, and there was an image of the coin. A striking feature of it was that from every projection in the milling there was a brush of rays, as one sometimes sees depicted round the sun in old paintings. Prints could also be copied b}' this process. Prof. Meldola said that he could not explain the production of this picture ; the thing was not understood, it had yet to be investigated. The Chairman, Mr. T. V. Holmes, in moving a vote of thanks to the lecturer, remarked that Prof. Meldola was well aware of the extent to which photography was being utilised by the British Association, because he was the Chairman of the Committee of the Corresponding Societies connected with the Association, ol which societies the Essex Field Club was one of the chief. He hoped that its members would help to supply the photographs the Association required The value of photography in geology was very considerable, and in two instances which had occurred lately within his own knowledge in Essex, he had regretted the absence of such a truthful record of observation. In surveying the railway cutting between Upminster and Romford for his paper in the EsSEX Naturalist (vol. vii., p. i), he had found Boulder-Clay three miles farther south than had previously been known. He had taken several geologists to the spot in order that they might see the evidence of the fact with their own eyes, but a good photograph would have been a sufficient record without further trouble. Again, in the Romford cutting of the same railway, he had seen evidence of the existence of an old river-bed, but a day or two later, when revisiting the spot with some geological friends, the ground had been sloped, and in the absence of photographs all chance of showing his friends what he had seen on former visits had vanished. The river at Wakefield had been favoured in the photograph shown by Prof. THE ESSEX FIELD CLUI3. 43 Meldola, for the light so caught it that it made the water look bright ; whereas when he saw it some years ago it was as black as ink ; he hoped that it was better now. Mr. Andrew Johnston (Chairman of the Essex County Council), in seconding the vote of thanks, said that about 1839 or 1840 he became the possessor of two of the earlier photographs ; one was a portrait of the Pope, and the other a picture of St. Peter's, at Rome. In course of years they grew dusty ; he removed the cover glass from one, rubbed off the dust, and at the same time wiped the picture clean off the plate. The other he presented to a society which preserves ancient photographs. Mr. John Spiller thought that Prof. Meldola's programme might have been extended to photomicrograph}'', and to some other branches. The use of photo- graphy at solar eclipses might have been noticed. He possessed a photograph of the corona, taken during one of the early eclipses by Lord Lindsay, who had given it to him. The Rev. Mr. Howell had heard that small cameras could be used for some kind of stellar research. Was that so ? He believed that if it were pointed to the north, the stars nearest the pole would describe circular tracks on a sensitive plate during long exposures, and that the more the camera was pointed towards the south, the more did the tracks of the stars approximate on the plate to a straight line. Last year a man taking a shot with a hand camera at the stars was said to have accidentally photographed a meteor as well. Mr. F. H. Varle}^ C.E., had hoped that when Prof. Meldola was dealing with interference phenomena, he would have spoken of the photographing of colours, by Prof. Lippmann's process, especially as the lecturer had one of those photo- graphs in his possession. He should also have liked to have heard something of the method of building up pictures resembling the tints of Nature, by the three colour-processes. Mr. A. P. Wire called attention to a suggestion made in " Photography " some time ago that ad\antage to all concerned might be gained if the local photo- graphic societies in Essex and the Essex Field Club were to work together in obtaining faithful photographs of natural phenomena and old buildings, etc., for permanent registration. yir. W. A. Longmore, President of the Walthamstow Literary and Scientific Institution, spoke of the interest with which he had listened to the lecture, and hoped that more meetings of the kind might be held in Walthamstow. Prof. Meldola, in reply, said that the British Association Committee recom- mended the use of orthochromalic plates in geological photography, as furnishing much more striking and valuable pictures than ordinary plates. In reply to Mr. HowelTs remarks, he had never seen photographs of stars taken by an ordinar}^ camera, and he thought that nothing would be gained by obtaining streaks of light described by images of their paths across the plate. In the time at his dis- posal it was clearly impossible to cover the whole ground of the scientific uses of photograph}', hence the omissions which had been mentioned by some of the speakers. As to Mr. Varley's criticism there was no doubt, he said, that Prof. Lippmann's method was the greatest advance which has ever been made in the photographing of colours, and he had received from him a very beautiful speci- men of the solar spectrum. He had lent it, and was therefore unable to bring it to the meeting. Moreover, it would have been difficult to arrange the lantern to project the image by reflected light, which was the way the Lippmann images must be viewed. The meeting then resolved itself into the usual conversazione, light refresh- ments being served in an adjoining room. 44 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. Meeting in Furtherance of the Proposed Epping Forest Free Local Museum. February 24th, 1894. As long ago as December 8th, 1883, a meeting, under the chairmanship of Mr. E. N. Buxton, was held at his house at Buckhurst Hill, to consider a scheme for the establishment in Queen Elizabeth's Lodge, Chingford, of a Public Local Museum of Natural History and Antiquities for the Forest Districts and the County generally (see Report in the " Journal of Proceedings," E.F.C., vol. iv., pp. Ixvi. — vii.) The meeting was attended by many taking a strong interest in the Forest, and resolutions in favour of such an institution, an J empowering a Committee to appoint a deputation to wait upon the Conservators to solicit their active co-operation in the scheme, in conjunction with the Essex Field Club, were unanimously passed. But unfortunately the Committee appointed was unable to proceed in the matter beyond the preliminary stages owing to the opposition of a high official of the Corporation, who refused to entertain the scheme except under conditions that the Club could not comply with. Although thus checked, the proposal was not forgotten, and recently the Council of the Club made an application to the Epping Forest Committee, submitting a scheme for a local Museum in the Lodge, and asking the Committee to find the capital sum required for cabinets, cases, etc. A reply was received from the City Solicitor saying that the Epping Forest Committee " cannot pledge themselves to allow the Banqueting Room to be used as a permanent Museum, but they are prepared to entertain any application for the temporary housing of loan collections of the kind indicated in the scheme accompanying your letter. ' Many local members and residents being very desirous that a Museum for the Forest should hi established, determined to act upon this qualified permission, and a small Com- mittee was therefore formed for the purpose of assisting the Council in appealing for funds to furnish cabinets, cases, etc., and then making another application to the Conservators, simply asking for the use of the room and approaches, provision for warming and cleaning of the same, and the services of a caretaker. It was considered that promises of subscriptions of £lS0 or ^"200 would justify the Club in again approaching the Epping Forest Committee with a distinct proposal, which the Council had reason to think would be accepted. An illustrated pamphlet, fully explaining the nature of the proposed Museum, and detailing the kind of specimens to be exhibited, was prepared by the Com- mittee,^ and a certain amount of support having been promised, a meeting was called, in furtherance of the proposal, in the Banqueting Room of the Lodge (by kind permission of the Superintendent), on Saturday afternoon, February 24th, 1894. The Rev. A. F. Russell was, on the proposal of Mr. C. C. Black, voted to the chair, and there was a good attendance of scientific gentlemen interested in the scheme, of local residents, and members of the club. The company included the following : Professor C.Stewart (Conservator of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, and President of the Linnean Society), Professor R. Meldola, F.R.S., Professor Boulger, F.L.S., F.G.S., Mr. J. E. Harting (Librarian to the Linnean Society, and editor of the "Zoologist"), Mr., Howard Saunders, F.L.S. (author of an " Illustrated Manual of British Birds," and editor of " Yarrell "), Rev. W. T. Dyne, Dr. Shepherd Taylor, Mr. Walter Crouch, Mr. C. C. Black, Rev. W. C. Howell, Rev. W. L. Wilson, Mr. F. H. Varley, Mr. Porter, Mr. G. Day, Mr. A. P.' I " An Epping Forest Free Local Museum : a proposal." Buckhurst Hill, 1894. THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 45 Wire, Mr. Elliott, Mr. Sauze, Mr. Avery, Mr. Bevvers, Dr. Pridie, Mr. W. Cole, Mr. B. G. Gole, Mr. A. Sheldon, Mr. S. Foot, Mr. Bruce Cook, Rev. C. G. Savill, Mr. Cornish, Mr Chatfield, Mr. H. A. Cole, Mrs. Yeates, Miss Bentley, Miss Cole, Miss J. E. Cole, Mr. T. Hay Wilson, and many others. The Chairman said that the scheme was by no means a new one. Ten years ago several of the gentlemen present that day were invited by Mr. Buxton to go to " Knighton " to talk over a proposal to found a museum in that very room. Various reasons prevented the scheme from being carried out. Most of those reasons had besn removed during the last ten years, and at the present time there seemed to be no difficulty in the way. The Epping Forest Committee had given conditional consent for them to use that room — not in perpetuity, but to allow them to place a local museum there. They could at any time withdraw their sanction, but such a thing was not likely to happen if the museum was suc- cessful. The people who were speciallj' asked to consider and support this scheme were not the scientific people, but people who might be classed as " open-air naturalists ; " they did not pass much time in the laboratory or study in dissect- ing specimens, but observed these subjects in the open air. This would be the line of study taken up, he thought, by those in the neighbourhood who would support that museum. The museum would be managed by the council of the Essex Field Club, who have also the management of the museum at Chelmsford, and specimens would be continually changed from one museum to the other. Most small museums soon become tiresome from their sameness, but in this museum they hoped to have a constant supply of fresh subjects of interest, so that it would never be dull. If the museum met with a good start, and every- thing was carried out properly, there woull be little fear but that the Epping Forjst Committee would give them such support as they could. Mr. Cole had been working very hard in bringing forward this scheme — he had drawn up the proposal and given them the details which were laid before them, and Mr. H. A Cole ha 1 furnished them with capital illustrations. The illustrations of Oueen Elizabeth's Lodge — both inside and out — were pictures which they would all be glad to keep. Mr. W. Cole said they propjsei to keep the museum entirely local, to repre- sent, from a geological, antiquarian, and natural history point of view, the Epping Forest district ; and nothing would be taken into the museum except from that district. They also desired that the specimens shoul 1 be exhibited in an educational manner, not merely by a series of cabinet specimens, but by specimens having some teaching purpose, and illustrated by drawings, diagrams, maps, and so on. They proposed to take in antiquities, drawings, and paint- ings, and that the grand staircase should be furnished with movable frames, sj that a constantly changing series of drawings and paintings might be received. As to antiquities the}' already had considerable collections. Two of the most interesting collections they had were the objects obtained during the Club's exploration of the Forest camps. Then they had in their hands at present collections of fungi preserved by Mr. English, and the wild fljwers of the Forest, and insects, and illustrations of the work of prehistoric man, both in the Forest and the Lea valley. All these would form interesting exhibit^asa commencement, and there would be no difficuliy in adding to them as time went on. Mr. Cole read letters from Sir Wm. Flower. Director of the British Museum of Natural History and Mr. McKenzie, Superintendent of the Forest, who was prevented from being present, but hoped that th,' meeting would be successful. Sir Wm. Flower wrote : 46 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. " I have read with great pleasure and interest the proposal for establishing an Epping Forest Free Local Museum in Queen Elizabeth's Lodge at Chingi'ord, and wish I could attend the meeting to further the object next Saturday, but engagements have made it quite impossible. I wish to urge upon you the desirability of keeping the collection absolutely to local objects, without anv exception. In a town or county museum, especially if connected with general teaching, an Educational Museum requires other than local specimens, but the object is different in this case, and although the Museum ought of course to be arranged educationally^ if once you open the door to admit specimens not from your own district, as a paragraph in the proposal seems to indicate that you may do, you will never know where to stop." The Rev. W. T. Dyne said he came forward as representing the local thirst for knowledge, which they hoped these gentlemen were going to satisfy. It seemed to him that this museum would meet a want that had been felt by three classes of people. They who lived in that district felt the want of such a museum and it promised to be of great educational benefit. The people who came down there from London and hovered about the station, and never got farther off — some of them perhaps wished they would go a little farther off — would be encouraged through this museum to explore the Forest. The museum might also be the means of awakening an interest in children's minds in the beauties of nature in the grand woodlands, and to many members of London natural history societies visiting the district such an institution would be very helpful and encouraging. He moved that : — " This Meeting is of opinion that it is desirable (ivith the consent of the Conservators') that a small free Local Museum should be established iri Queen Elizabeth's Lodge, and pledges itself to do all in its power to promote the same." Professor C. Stewart cordially seconded the resolution. He felt strongly the very great advantage from many points of viaw of such a museum as it was intended to found in that antique building. He looked upon it, if properly carried out, as no doubt it would be in the able hands in which it was placed, as some- thing which would supply to many inquiring minds a direct and emphatic answer to such questions as, " Wh it a certain thing was, what its life was, what it fed upon, what its enemies were," etc. There were few more innocent pleasures, and delightful pursuits than natural history carried out in the field. Useful though dissection in laboratories and class-rooms might be, it was in the study of the lives of these creatures that the main educational value and interest lay. He wished most heartily for the success of the scheme, which he thought was well conceived, and there could be little doubt that it would be thoroughly and efficiently carried out. Mr. J. E. Harting, in the course of his remarks in support of the resolution, said that the aim and object of a local museum such as was proposed to be established was not merely to exhibit rare and so-called curious specimens, but to develop and foster in the minds of all classes of people an intelligent appreciation of the common objects of nature by which they were surrounded, and to pro- vide them ^vith the means of informing themselves about such objects. Mr. Harting could not advocate the indiscriminate collecting, nor the conservation in the museum of specimens of all the birds of the Forest, for instance — such speci- mens would occupy too much space and cost too much money — but collections of invertebrates, such as land and fresh-water shells, with insects, mosses, fungi, etc., were not open to this objection, and could be made interesting and education- ally valuable in a high degree. It should be borne in mind, that the more THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 47 simple and economical the arrangement? of a local museum were at the outset, the more steady the rise of interest, the more gradual its progress, and the offers of co-operation in its formation — the greater will be the chance of ultimate suc- cess. For educational purposes it seemed to him that there could be nothing better than the exhibition of a series of well-selected types, supplemented with accurate illustrations, each with a line or two of description such as may be seen in the Mineralogical Gallery of the Natural History Museum. More than this could hardly be attempted, having regard to the size of the building. The selection and arrangement of such types would be best carried out by a Museum Committee com- posed of specialists who, each in his own department, might furnish a simple scheme for an instructive exhibition of such objects as those to which he has devoted particular attention, whether they be geological, botanical, zoological, or archaeological. In a comparativel}' inexpensive way much may be done by means of charts and diagrams suspended on the walls — and the main object in view should be not to show what a mass of material has been collected by those who are directly concerned with the formation of the museum, but to indicate to the visitor what he may e-xpect to discover and examine for himself out of doors — in other words to put him in the way of making original observations. He felt sure that a visitor to the museum so instructed would derive tenfold enjoyment in his future rambles through the Forest. Prof. Boulger, in reply to some observations made during the afternoon, said that he was sure nothing could be further from their minds than a desire that there should be an extermination of the animals or plants that exist in the Forest at the present time. He did not think there were many things in the Forest that would be in danger of extermination, and the small number of specimens re- quired in the museum, and with which good educational work could be done for the benefit of visitors and residents, could be obtained without any risk of that kind. Prof. Meldola highly approved of the motion submitted by Mr. Dyne. This idea of a local museum in connection more especially with the Forest district had been often in their minds, and he remembered being present on the occasion to which the Chairman referred when they held a meeting at Mr. Buxton's to consider the scheme. Things had ripened since then, and it seemed to him the opportunity for action had now arrived. On behalf of the Essex Field Club he could assure the meeting that if they met with adequate support they would do their share of the work to make the museum a thoroughgoing success. The in- stitution, as had been pointed out by Sir William Flower, should be strictly a local museum. By so limiting it the best kind of educational work could be accomplished. Mr. Howard Saunders wished the museum great success. If they had an able curator and a special committee he thought something might be done to assist real students of natural histor}'. and not destroyers, by guiding them to the more I interesting parts of the Forest and pointing out some of its more interesting I features — more particularly its sylvan features. The motion was carried by acclamation. Mr. T. Hay Wilson pointed out that some of the members of the Essex I Field Club had already subscribed very liberally towards the museum at Chelmsford, from which they would draw very considerably for their local museum, and it behoved the local residents to support the present scheme. He suggested that a subscription list be at once commenced, so that the local committee might be able to approach the authorities with a definite scheme. They estimated 48 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. the sum required to be jCiOO, but it was quite possible to commence -A'ith a very much srraller sum, and he thought if the Council of the Field Club had promises to the extent of ^loo or ;^i 50, they would be safe in approaching the Forest Committee, and offering to commence the work at once. With £100, and the materials they already had, they might go to the Corporation. He moved : — " T/iai a Subscription List for the raising of the necessary Funds be at once com- menced^ so that the Local Committee may be enabled to approach the authcrities with the definite scheme." Dr. J. Shephard Taylor seconded the resolution, which was also carried unani- mously, and subscriptions of about £lo were promised in th; room. Mr. Cole proposed a vote of thanks to the Epping Forest Committee for the use of the room, and particularly to Mr. McKenzie, who had met them in the very kindest manner. He might say that in addition to what Mr. McKenzie said in his letter, he had promised, if the museum was established, that he would do all in his power to obtain specimens, and see that the place was carried on well. The Rev. W. L. Wilson seconded the motion, which was carried. A vote of thanks to the Chairman closed the proceedings. As most of those present were desirous of attending the Ordinary Meeting of the Club in the evening, the usual " high tea " was served in the Forest Hotel adjoining the Lodge. The 145TH Ordinary Meeting. Saturday, February 24th, 1894. The 145th Ordinary Meeting of the Club was held in the Banqueting Room at Queen Elizabeth's Lodge, Prof. Meldola, F.R.S. {Vice-President'), in the chair. The Chairman referred to the meeting held that afternoon in connection with the scheme for the Forest Museum, and 1 ead the resolutions that had been passed. The scheme had his hearty approval, and he commended it to the support of the members, more especially those on the Metropolitan side of the county. He thought that everyone present would be pleased with the antique room in which they were assembled, and would agree that it could be put to no better or more appropriate use than as a home for a local museum, devoted to the elucidation of the n tural history and antiquities of the charming district of Epping Forest, in which they all took so much interest. In accordance with Rule VII., nominations were made on behalf of the Council of members to serve as officers of the Club for the ensuing year. No other nominations were made. Announcement was also made of vacancies on the Council, and nominations of members to fill the seats in compliance with the Rules. For these see Report of 14th Annual Meeting (^supra p. 26). Mr. Walter Crouch was chosen auditor on behalf of the Council, and Mr. H. C. Snell on behalf of the members. Mr. T. Hay-Wilson exhibited, on behalf of Mr. Bartrip, a remarkably fine nest of Vespa vulgar is, w'iVi-dWy io difficult to obtain in a perfect condition, as Mr. Elliott remarked, taken about forty years ago at Chingford. Mr. Wilson also exhibited a remarkably globular stone, found in a gravel-pit about 150 yards S.E. of the Oueen Elizabeth's Lodge, which pit he had described in The Essex Naturalist, vol. vii., p. 75. The stone had been thrown up with drift gravel from a depth of nine or ten feet. The authorities at the Guildhall Museum had pronounced the stone to be a "cannon-ball," THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 49 Mr. Cole thought that Mr. Wilson's specimen more probably had 5ome con- nection with the preparation of corn for food, and that it was really the crusher of a quorn.' He had obtained some years ago a pestle of apparently the same kind of stone (? Hornblendic Granite or Hornblendic Gneiss), from a few feet below surface at Loughton. This was described and figured by Mr. VVorthington Smith in The Essex Naturalist, vol. ii., p. 4. Mr. T. V. Holmes, F.G.S., said that the stone looked like a round flint pebble with those curious roughnesses over its surface so common in flints picked up on the seashore. It was very likely, as Mr. Cole had suggested, intended for use as a pestle for grinding, in the gravel-pit where it was found there were no stones like it, and he had no doubt it came from the surface, where it had been buried through the growth of soil by the agency of worms, etc. It seemed to be a perfectly natural stone, and the presumption that it had been used for an artificial purpose depended largely, he thought, on the fact that the gravel of the pit contained no stones at all like it. Had a certain percentage of the stones in the pit resembled it, even approximately, it might well have been originally not on, but in, the gravel, and probably have never been used by man. Being, as it was, utterly unlike any stone in the gravel, it was much more probable that it was brought down from elsewhere for some special purpose by human agency. This last supposition, too, leaves the date an open question ; while as the surface of the pit was apparently 180 to 190 feet above O.D., a human relic, in the gravel, would probably have a truly tremendous antiquity. Mr. W. Cole exhibited some twigs of Black Currant invested with Scale-insects (a species of Aspidiotiis'), which had occurred in great numbers on the bushes in a garden in Buckhurst Hill. He also exhibited some specimens of British butterflies and moths, illustrating the phenomena of true Dimorphism, and Seasonal-Dimorphism. Also some samples of naphthalene, compressed in the form of small cone?, with fine metal points inserted, so that the preservative could be easily stuck in insect cases, etc. Prof. Meldola had heard it stated that naphthalene was liable to cause 'grease" in specimens of lepidoptera. It was possible that this might be true, and he should be glad to have the experience of collectors on the point. Mr. F. H. Varley read a note, " Tenacity of Life in a Gold Fish," and ex- hibited a coloured drawing he had made in illustration of his remarks. {Vide his note on another page.) Mr. Walter Crouch exhibited some Romano-British pottery which had been 1 ound on the 27th January, in the gravel pit on St. Swithin's Farm, Barking Side, ibout one foot under the surface soil. One is a portion (about one-half) of a 'small round cinerary urn of red clay with rudely indented pattern. It measures \\ inches in height, the greatest diameter being 6^ inches, the rim 5f , and the base 5 inches. The other, a small black pipkin, nearly perfect, 3 inches high, 4 inches n diameter, the base 2f inches. A few other fragments were also unearthed. \s already mentioned, when the Club visited the spot on July 1st last year {t'ide |ESSE.X Naturalist, vii., pp. 104 — 7) nothing has been found there since March, 11892 ; and it is satisfactory again to come upon some relics of early occupation in his high ground. J Curiously enough there is a specimen in the collection of stone implements in the Guildhall "Useum, labelled " Pounder for preparing grain, roots, etc. Found in Moorfields, 1805," and here is also another specimen from Suffolk.— Ed. 50 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. Mr. C. Oldham exhibited a box of Forest lepidoptera, including Eittlicmonia russula^ and Zygcena fillif>enduhv from Theydon Bois. Mr. Crouch referred to observations he had made on the sun-spots which had been so prevalent during the last few weeks, and Prof. Meldola remarked how readily observations on sun-spots could be made by using the telescope for pro- jecting the image of the sun on a screen. Sketches could easily thus be traced. A paper was read " On the occurrence of Crepidula fornicafa, Linn., off the Coast of Ess?x," by Mr. Crouch (see p. 36) who exhibited specimens of the Cre- pidula in illustration of his remarks. Mr. George Day, F.R.M.S., then read a paper on " Some Essex Folk Lore," an abstract of which will be' printed in THE EssE.x Naturalist. The Chairman thought that the members would welcome Mr. Day's paper on a subject of very considerable interest in connection with beliefs and fancies current in early stages of civilisation, and one which even possessed a distinct scientific value in itself. A long discussion on various points in the paper was carried on by the Chairman, Prof. Boulger, Mr. F. C. Gould, Mr. Wire, Rev. W. C. Howell, Mr. Varley, Mr. Day, and others. During the discussion Mr. Crouch exhibited, on behalf of Mr. G. E. Pritchett, F.S. A., who had to leave early, a forked hazel branch which had lately been used as a " divining rod " for finding water, and demonstrated the manner in which it had been held by the " water finder," Mr. W. Stone, for the purpose. Mr. Pritchett was present when it was employed in January last at Thremhall Prior}-, Takeley Street, near Bishop's Stortford, the present residence of Mrs. Archer Houblon. A spring of water was subsequently found at the spot where the rod had bent down, whilst tightly held in the hands of Mr. Stone, who claims thereby to have dis- covered the exact place. On the second occasion, when the " divining rod " was used by Mr. Stone at Uphall, near Braughing, Herts, last February, Mr. Pritchett was not present. It was held firmly, and when the right spot as sup- posed was traversed, the " rod " was drawn down, causing one branch of tlie fork to split. The ground selected was afterwards dug for fifty-five feet, but no water has been found and further search for water at that spot has been ab.m- doned for the present. A vote of thanks to Mr. Crouch and Mr. Da}' for their papers concluded the business of the meetiii"-. The 14TH Annual General Meeting and 146TH Ordlnarv Meetlng. Saturday, March 31st, 1894. The I4lh Annual General Meeting of the Club was held in the Buckhurst Hill Hall, Buckhurst Hill, at six o'clock, the President, Mr. F. Chancellor, in the chair. Desiring, if possible, to catch an early train back to Chelmsford (in which endeavour he was, unfortunately, not successful), Mr. Chancellor, by consent of the meeting, read his Address before the commencement of the formal business. The subje:t was "A Sketch of the Development of Architecture in Essex," which was illustrated by a large number of wall-diagrams, specially drawn for the occasion by Mr. Wykeham Chancellor. The address will be printed in full in The Essex Naturalist. At the commencement of the formal business, the Secretary read the minutes THE ESSEX FIELD CLUI!. 5 1 of the 13th Annual Meeting and Special Meeting held at Chelmsford on April 15th, 1893 (see Essex Naturalist, vol. vii., p. 78), which were confirmed. The Report of the Council on the year's work was read and received (see ante p. 26). Mr. Crouch, one of the Auditors, read the Treasurer's Statement of Account, which had been carefully audited by himself and Mr. H. C. Snell, and which was also received and adopted, after some discussion, initiated by Mr. Webb, on the cost of printing the publications of the Club. It was also resolved that the usual statement of assets and liabilities should be omitted in future from the Treasurer's Statement, as being too indefinite. The Club possesses some very valuable assets in books, specimens, cabinets, stock of publications, etc., but it would be very difficult to state the money equivalents of such assets. For the first time the modifications of Rule VII., passed at the last Annual Meeting, came into operation, no ballot taking place if the number of members nominated to fill the posts of the officers do not exceed the vacancies to be filled. .■\t the meeting on February 34th last, the following Members of the Council letired under Rule IV., but offered themselves for re-election, and were duly pro- posed and seconded for election :— Mr. Walter Crouch, F.Z.S., Mr. F. W. Elliott, Mr. Andrew Johnston, J. P., Chairman C.C, and Mr. F. H. Varley, F.R.A.S. In addition, General BranfiU and Mr, C. Oldham wished to retire, owing to inability to attend evening meetings. To fill these two vacancies, Mr. I. Chalkley Gould and Mr. John Spiller, F.I.C., F.C.S., were proposed and seconded. As officers for the year, the Council nominated the following i—Z'/vs/V^w/, Mr. F. Chancellor, J. P., F.R.I. B.A, ; Treasurer, Mr. A. Lockyer ; Hon. Secretary, Mr. W. Cole, F.E.S. ; Asshtant Hon. Sec, Mr. B. G. Cole ; Lihrariam, Mr. E. Durrant and Mr. E. A. Simons ; Hoti. Counsel, Mr. Charles Browne, M.A., F.S.A.; Hon Solicitor, Mr. H. I. Coburn. No other members having been proposed, the above gentlemen stood elected by Rule VII. as members of the Council and officers for the ensuing year, and were so declared by the Chairman. [The following therefore constitute the Officers and Council for 1894 : — Patron. — H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, K.G. President. — Frederic Chancellor, J. P., F.R.I. B.A. , &c. Permanent Vice-Presidents. — {Under Rule IV.). — Prof. R. Meklola. F.R.S., F.R.A.S., F.E.S., &c. {President 1880-82) ; Prof. G. S. Boulger, F.L.S., F.G.S. [President 1883-84) ; T. V. Holmes, F.G.S., M.A.I. {President, 1885-S7) ; E. A. Fitch, J. P., C.C, F.L.S, F.E.S. {President 1888-91); Dr. Henry Laver, F.L.S., F.S.A. (President 1892). Other Members of Council. — John Avery, C.A. ; Rev. R. E. Bartlett, M.A. ; C. E. Benham ; E. N. Buxton, J. P., Aldmn. C.C, D.L., &c. ; Miller Christy, F.L.S. ; Walter Crouch, F.Z.S, ; Bryan Corcoran ; L. Cranmer-Byng ; George Day, F.R.M.S. ; F. W. Elliott ; A. J. Furbank ; I. Chalkley Gould ; Andrew Johnston, Chm. C.C, J.P., &c. ; Rev. W. C. Howell, M.A. ; Rev. W. S. Lach-Szyrma, M.A. ; Thomas J. Mann; J. H. Porter; Right Hon. Lord Rayleigb, F.R.S. ; J. C. Shenstone, F.R.M.S. ; John Spiller, F.I.C, F.C.S. ; J. C Thresh, D.Sc, M.B. ; F. H. Varley, F.R.A.S. ; T. Hay-Wilson ; Rev. W. L. Wilson, M.A. Hon. Treasurek. — Alfred Lockyer. 52 THE MANAGEMENT OF EPPING FOREST. Hon. Secretary and Editor. — William Cole, F.E.S. ; Assistant Hon. Secretary.— B. G. Cole. Hon. Librarians. — Edmund Durrant and E. A. Simons. Hon, Counsel.— Charles Browne, M.A., F.S.A. ; Hon. Solicitor.— H. I. Coburn.] Mr. Chalkley Gould proposed, and Mr. Crouch seconded, a vote of thanks to the President for his address, which they considered would be a most useful paper when printed in The Essex Naturalist, for all taking an intelligent interest in the numerous grand relics of ancient architecture in our county. Mr. Chancellor, in acknowledging the vote of thanks, said that in choosing a subject for his address, it would have been useless compiling an essay on natural history or kindred themes with which he was not specially acquainted ; he there- fore selected architecture, a subject which he had studied the greater part of his life, and in which he took the greatest interest, more especially from the point of view of mode of construction and ornamentation of the many fine ancient build- ings yet remaining in Essex. Votes of thanks were also passed to the officers, particularly to Mr. Wire, who was retiring from the Librarianship, and this brought the business of the Annual Meeting to a close. An Ordinary Meeting (the 146th) was then held, mainly for the purpose of election and proposal of new members. Mr. S. Ernest Linder, B.Sc, and Mr. J. W. Potter were elected members of the Club. Mr. Oldham exhibited some spring lepidoptera, recently taken in the Forest, including some very dark specimens of Hybernia Icucophearia \ and Mr. W. Cole exhibited some specimens of the large " oil-beetle," Meloe proscarabceus. found on Easter Day (March 25th) on the sea-wall, near the '" Bowling Green," at East Mersea. Tea an i coffee was served at the close of the meeting, as usual THE MANAGEMENT OF EPPING FOREST. Field Meeting in Epping Forest, and 147TH Ordinary Meeting. Saturday, April 28th, 1894. It has become a popular and laudable custom for the Club to hold one or more assemblies on the Forest as the season opens out, the woods never looking more lovely and attractive than when the leaves are just unfolding, the horn- beams decorated with the beautiful tassels of flowers, while the hawthorn, broom and gorse bushes are in full blossom, and the voices of the cuckoo and the night- ingale are heard in the land. The meeting on this afternoon was called, not only to view the woods in the beautyof a wonderful spring-tide, but also to enable members and their friends to see and judge for themselves the effects of the thinning operations which have recently been carried on in Monk Woods, Lodge (or Lord's) Bushes, etc., to which so much public attention had been called by numerous letters in " The Times, " and other papers. The members and friends assembled at The3'don Bois Station about half-past three o'clock, and the numbers present during the woodl md ramble and the even- THE MANAGEMENT OF EPPING FOREST. 53 ing meeting could hiive been little less than 150. Most of the important London and local newspapers were also represented, and some excellent reports have since appeared. Numerous conveyances and private carriages were provided at Theydon, so as to enable the company to travel comfortably from point to point. The conductors were : — Sir T. Fowell Buxton ( Verder^r^, Mr. E. N. Buxton (^Vice-President and Verderer}, Prof. R. Meldola (^Vice-President^, Prof. C. Stewart (President oj the Linnean Society and Hon. Member of the Club'), and the Hon. Secretaries, Messrs. William and Benjamin G. Cole. Mr. Angus D. Webster (Manager of Woods to the Duke of Bedford) was present as an expert in Forestry, as was also Mr. F. McKenzie (Superintendent of Epping Forest), and Pi of. W. R. Fisher, of Cooper's Hill College. The two other verderers, Mr. P. Gellatly and Mr. R. Ellis, were present, and the Epping Forest Committee of the Corporatiom was officially represented by Mr. J. Salmon (Chairman), and Deputies W. T. Brown and T. Greenwood, with others. Among the members and friends who attended the inspection of the woods were the following, and they were received at Theydon by Mr. F. Chancellor (President), who was accompanied bj' Miss L. Chancellor, and the Hon. Secre- taries and Treasurer, Mr. A. Lockyer : — Miss Abraham, Miss Allen, Right. Hon. J. Bryce, M.P. (Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster), Prof. Boulger (Vice-President), Mr. J. Barrett, C.C, Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Buxton, Mr. Noel and Miss Buxton, Misses M. and C. Buxton, Misses F. and J. Cole, Mr. H. A. Cole, Mr. R. W. Christy, Dr. W. T. Church, Mr. and Mrs. Bryan Corcoran and Miss Corcoran, Mr. Walter Crouch ( Vice-President), Mr. A. Double, C.C, and Mr. G. A. Double, Mr. O. Deacon, CO., Mr. and Mrs, F. W. Elliott, Mr. and Mrs. Finzi, Mrs. Ferry, Mr. J. C. Float, Miss Gibbs, Mr. and Mrs. F. Carruthers Gould, Mr. Bernard Gibson, Dr. Frances Gray, Rev. W. C. Howell, Mr. J. Hilliar, Mr. and Mrs. David Howard, Mr. T. V. Holmes (Vice-President) and Mrs. Holmes, Mr. W. D. Holmes and Miss Holmes, Mr. A. B. Hoskings, Mr. S. Johnson and Miss Johnson, Mr. Andrew Johnston (Chairman, Essex County Council), Mr. E. Johnston, Rev. T. B. Johnston, Mr. A. Lister, J. P., and Miss Lister, Sir John Lubbock, ALP., and Lady Lubbock, Mr. H, G. Morris, Mr. F. H. Meggy, Mr. J. Mark, Mr. C. Oldham, Rev. L. N. Prance, Mr. G. T. Reid, Sir C. C. Smith, Mr. H. C. Snell, Messrs. R. J. and R. A. C. Sheldon, Mr. H. H. Savage, Mr. and Mrs. Sworder, Mr. John Spiller, Mr. F. W. Spiller and Mr. Spiller, Mr. T. Thompson, Rev. W. L. and ALs. Wilson, Mr. T Wilson, Mr. H. Wilson (Hon. Sec. Malvern Field CM), Mr. T. Hay Wilson, Mr. J. Wheatley, Mr. P. ^V. Wilson, Sir F. Young (Chairman, Forest Fund Committee), and very many others, who were either unknown to the secretaries or who did not enter their names in the signature book. The first stopping-place was on the right-hand side of the road from Theydon to the " Wake Arms," just opposite Oak Hill (a beautiful tract of twelve and a half acres, restored to the Forest in 1889 by the munificence of Sir Fowell and Mr. E. N. Buxton, See Essex Nat., vol. iii., pp. 57-60). Here a short walk was taken into the wood ('" Theydon Thickets") where Mr. Buxton called attention to the difference between the condition of the woods on either side of a narrow path- way. On the right hand was a small tract of unthinned coppice, with the trees drawn straight up and branchless owing to overcrowding, and the herbage and undergrowth either dying or dead. On the left, where thinning operations had been carried out, was a beautiful woodland, the trees vigorously throwing out lateral branches, and a fine undergrowth springing up in all directions. Mr, Buxton said that he did not propose to do more than draw attention to the two systems — the visitors could judge for themselves which was the more judicious. Seats being again taken, the route ran by Jack's Hill, where on the right could be seen the effects of the disastrous fires of a few years back. But happily 54 THE MANAGEMENT OF EPPING FOREST. nature is lepairing the injury, and already the spot is beinof covered with fine mosses (in which nestle in due season some lovely Hepaticcr) and vast numbers of seedling birches are springing up to renew the woodland for the delight of the next generation. Proceeding along the charming forest road, and at the •' Wake Arms " turning to the left down the old Loughton road to Broad Strood Lodge, the company alighted at the entrance to Great Monk Wood, that exquisitely beautiful " bit " of forest scenery, about the operations in which so much angry outcry has been made. Here were a considerable number of tree-trunks, which had been brought t 1 the spot from various parts of the wood for convenience of removal. Sensational pictures had been published of these " fallen monarchs of the wood," apparently under the idea that they had grown and had been felled where they lay ! Here Mr. Buxton mounted on a trunk as a rostrum, and directed the special attention of the meeting to the nature of Monk Wood. He said that it was a mistake to suppose that it was a piece of virgin forest. It did not differ in essentials from any other part of the woodlands which had been pollarded. The bulk of the trees had in effect been pollarded up to fifty years ago, and he was told by Mr. Maitland that the wood was formerly divided into ten sections, each of which was pollarded in succession, one leading branch being left on each tree, a necessary practice in dealing thus with beeches. This process was an ex- tremely unlikely one to produce picturesque trees, and in effect it was only those trees which had been distinctly left untouched which could be so described. In addition to these there were many fine unpollarded trees, and others which were extremely tall and drawn up from overcrowding — thin, almost branchless, in- fested with a blight (allied apparently to the American blight), diseased, and a source of disease. It was these last and a portion of the ugliest of the pollards which had been removed, but only when they were actually doing damage to superior trees. He asked them to remember that it was extremely difficult for any two experts to agree as to the particular trees which should be removed, and he begged them not therefore to criticise individual cases but to consider (ist) whether any should have been removed at all, and (2ndly) whether on the whole the selection had been judiciously made. He called attention to the extreme importance of the question, Flow will the Forest renew itself? Of this there were good illustrations in Monk Wood. Where old openings existed they w'ouid see young groves, here of beeches, there of thorns, and outside the wood of birches. These young growths were of extreme charm in themselves and of immense importance in the economy of the Forest. Mr. Buxton then called attention to that section of the Forest (an example of which they would soon visit) which consisted only of small pollard trees, very thickly grown together, and contended that, in his opinion, the only way to deal with such a tract was to open irregular p.itches, removing several stems together. It would be found that in such patches after a time, the heather appears, and this or thorn bushes act as nurses and pro- tectors for young forest tree;. Finally he asked them not only to use their eye? but their imaginations. There had been too much imagination imported into this controversv, but that was not what he meant. He meant that they should not only see the picture before them but imagine what it would be fifty years hence. To view a wood immediately after it has b$igge, hoy, buUii)iony\ cowl, goi/s, hoi/sen, /ugso/ne, mat, mawther, pillow, beer, rumpled, stiver, stump, and snace. And words from the Norman, as foizon, frail, chate, and coppy. There is a tendency to transpose letters, as aers ■= ears. Vowels are often lengthened, as maade for made, and niaake for make. A is liable to become O, as ollis for always. E is often changed into A, as rtnough for enough, czrrant for errand, and W(?rse for worse, /has a broad sound, y^/;/6^ = fine, noice =■ nice, smoile = smile. toi)ne = time, twoice —twice, etc. becomes U, e.g., fru//i = from, sput = spot, uut = not. D is changed into T, as in arrant = errand, ballet = balled. i? is often dropped altogether, as suppased = surpassed, hul = hurl. There is also the usual tendency to abbreviate words, e.g., aivnias, arst, an to, boarnt, mosly, hnvance, monsiis, for "almost," "asked," "all to," " bonnet," " mostly," "allowance," "monstrous." /T' for V \i common, as ivarse for verse. But to their credit, Essex people generally pronounce the letter /7 correctly; this was remarked at the celebrated Ardlamont Trial recently held (see " Law Reports," Dec. 19th, 1893). The old plural occurs in some parts, as housen, asseii, shoon, etc. The total number of provincial words used in Essex is put down at 589, as compared with Suffolk 2,400, Norfolk 2,500 ; but these figures cannot be implicitly relied upon. As a few examples of words used in Essex, we may note the following : Bed-steddle — A bedstead. (" Steddle " seems to be a diminutive of the Anglo- Saxon Stede [Danish id.], a place.) Be liar — To bellow. Bile — To boil. Boa — Boy. (" Wa'a yow gowan altogether, boa '; " is common in the rural districts of Essex.) 74 NOTES ON ESSEX DIALECT AND FOLK-LORE. Bullimony^ BiilUmoug — A mixture of several sorts of grain as peas, o.its, and vetches. Bum-hy — By and by. Buss — To kiss, to embrace. Cop — To throw (as " cop that to me," and " cop it here," etc.). Coivl or cow — A tub. Ger., Kugel, a bowl. Dag — Dew, from the Swedish dagg. Dog-rapper — The parish beadle with the long willow wand in church. This has been handed down from the early 17th century. Du}it — To confuse by noise. Down — At, as " down t'other end of town." Enow — Enough. G)ift — Slate-pencil, from the Danish and Swedish griffel. Gumption — Nonsense, foolish talk. (It also means talent, understanding.) T^y^^/— Haytime, from A.-S. heg, hay ; sel, time. Hodtnadod — A shell snail, from A.-S. hod (whence hood), and mad an earth-worm. Mawther — A great, awkward girl. This word is also used in Norfolk and Suffolk. Paagles ~Q,QVi'iX\^% are so-called by children in N. Essex. This is a corruption of paigles. In some places the word signifies flowers in general. Pay — To flog or beat, as " I'll pay you " said to a bad boy. Shakespeare also uses the word '■'■pay " in the sense of " to beat or thrash." Tighted up — Put in order. Weavers Beef of Colchester — Sprats. Flacked — Hung loose, agitated by wind. Finnick — A tawdry dressing woman. Golls — The hands, as " Warm golls warm Boys are gone to plough. If you want to warm golls. Warm golls now." (N.E. Essex,) Many more examples might be given, but want of space forbids. Essex is particularly rich in Local Sayings, and the following may be noted : " As K'ise as a Walthain Calf which went nine miles to suck a bull, and came home as dry as it went." This needs no explanation. " DoTsrcourt all talkers and no hearers.'' — At Dovercourt a court is annually held, at which, as it consists chiefly of seamen, the irregularity described is likely to prevail. " Keeping Dovercourt " is said to mean making a great noise, and a further explanation was that Dovercourt was celebrated for its scolds. (See Nare's •' Glossary," Halliwell, Wright," Prov. Diet." ; Also Ray.) " Every dog has its day and a cat two Sundays." " Giving the straight tip," meaning speaking plainly and decisively, and very often an insult is intended, " Good elm, good barley, good oak, good wheat,'' is well understood. ^'■Laying by the wall." — If anyone is dead, he or she is said " to lie by the wall," implying also that one is dead but not yet buried. In the Dutch there is NOTES ON ESSEX DIALECT AND FOLK-LORE. 75 a phrase " Aan de laager wol zyn,'" to be brought to a low ebb, but the phrase ma}' well be a corruption from the x-\nglo-Saxon "^iy^/," death, Ger. '■'■ woe/es," and so meaning "he is laid down by death." ^^ Moon and mnslii-ooms." — It is a prevalent belief in Essex that the growth of mushrooms is influenced by the changes of the moon, and the subjoined rule is often strictly adhered to : '■ When ihe moon is at the full, Mushrooms you may freely pull ; But when the moon is on the wane, Wait ere you think to pull again." '■^ Not to have her change" — when s[ieaking of a woman — " //;? has not got ml his buttons of a man, are expressions used in referring to people not quite right in the head. " Essex stiles, Suffolk miles, Xorfolk wiles, Many a man beguiles."' An Essex stile is a ditch, a Suffolk mile is an ordinary mile and a " bittock,' and they were often impassable, and hence the way seemed longer. Norfolk is said to have been remarkable for litigation, and the quirks and quibbles of its lawyers. " To put the miller s eye out " means to overdo the milk with water and to make the pudding too thin. '• Scare a job " implies that the work will soon be completed, or in other words, " making the job look foolish." A person who excels in anything is a " frigjit " — a good gardener is a fright at gardening, a clever person is a fright, etc. This is not generally understood, however. '•Caution" is a word also to indicate a clever person— a good farmer is a "caution,'' or anyone who attends to business properly. " Braintree hoys " — brave boys. " Bocking boys" — rats. " Church Street ' — puppy dogs. " High Garrett "—cats. (See Hazlitt.) Who fetcheth a %vi/e from niinmoii' Carrietli home two sides of a sow" The ceremony connected with the granting of the " flitch of bacon " is not peculiar to Essex. It was established at Dunmow in tlie time of Henry II., but was originally founded by Juga, a noble lady, in the year 1 1 1 1. " He has gone to Harwich'' signifies he has gone to rack and ruin. An old Essex word is " Harriage," meaning confusion, the " i " is dropped as in marriage, carriage, etc. , and the similarity to our Essex sea-port will account for its being used. It is from the old verb harry, to harass, to drive. French haricr. The word " Hatch " is very common in our county : e.g., Albury Hatch, Chingford Hatch, Kelvedon Hatch, Pilgrim's Hatch, Rayne Hatch, West Hatch, etc., etc. Wherever this occurs it signifies that there is, or was, a gate across a high-road, at the entrance to a common, to prevent the escape of cattle. In many places where the commons have been enclosed or thiown open the gate has disap- 76 NOTES ON ESSEX DIALECT AND FOLK-LORE. peared, but its reality is still discoverable by the word hatch being affixed to the name of the place as above. I am not prepared to say how many times the Devil has appeared in our county, but it is reported that he showed himself to the inhabitants in the form of a Minorite friar during a thunderstorm at Danbury, 1402, when the nave and a great part of the chancel of the church was destroyed. In the parish of Tolleshunt Knights there is an uncultivated field, and at some distance from it is an old mansion known as •' Barn Hall." The legend is that the Hail was intended to have been built on the first named spot, but the devil destroyed in the night time all that had been done in the day. A knighi with two dogs was sent to watch, and when the evil one came there was a sharp tussle, but of course Apollyon was vanquished by Greatheart. The irritated demon thereupon snatched a beam from the building and hurled it through the darkness, exclaiming : ■' Wheresoever this beam shall fall There shall stand Barn Hall," and further added that on the knight's death he would have him, whether he was buried in the church or out of it. To avoid this calamity the warrior was buried in the church wall — half in and half out. A:curious doggerel was common in the district named. The " Legend of the Flying Serpent," an account of which appeared in a pamphlet published by Peter Lillicrap in the year 1669 with the title of "The Flying Serpent, or Strange News out of Essex, being a true relation of a monstrous serpent which hath at divers times been seen at the parish of Henham-on-the-Mount, 4 miles from Saffron Walden." This was reprinted a few years ago by our member, Mr. Miller Christy. " It is the hardest thing in the world to shake off super- stitious prejudices. They are sucked in as it were with our mother's milk and growing up with us at a time when they take the fastest hold and make the most lasting impressions become so inter- woven into our very constitution that the strongest good sense is required to disengage ourselves from them." These were the words of Gilbert White, written in 1776, and if true in his day they are as true in ours. In Essex it is considered lucky to see the new moon over your right shoulder, but unlucky to see it through glass. One good woman I came across always shut her eyes when she closed the shutters, lest she should see the moon. It is lucky to put on your stocking wrong side out, but unlucky to turn it immediately on discovering the mistake. NOTES ON ESSEX DIALECT AND FOLK-I.ORF. 77 " Good fortune ivill follow you if you pick up a horse shoeT At Ilford I saw a horse shoe nailed to the door of a cow-house, and on asking a lad the reason, he replied, " Why, to keep the wild horse away, to be sure." This seems to be a new explanation of the custom. It is considered ominous of evil to spill salt, or to lay your knife and fork across each other. These are two very wide-spread beliefs, not by any means confined to our county. The first of them has been handed down to us from the Romans. Gay, who attributes them to his old market woman, was from the north of Devonshire." " The salt was spilled, to me it fell. Then to contribute to my loss, My knife and fork was laid across." — The Fable of'''' The Farmer's W'lff.'' The signs of coming death are numerous, such as breaking a looking-glass — if a corpse should not stiffen — the thrice repeated crow- ings of a carrion crow — having green brooms in the house during May — the barking of a dog at dead of night — the tapping of a beetle, known as the Death Watch — the bringing of a solitary primrose into the house ; and many others. The origin of Monday being looked upon as the "Shoemakers' Holiday " is interesting. The story is this : While Cromwell's army lay encamped in Essex one of his most zealous partizans, whose name was Monday, hanged himself. Cromwell offered a reward for the best lines on his death. A shoemaker sent in the following lines : — " Blessed be the Sabbath day, And cursed be worldly pelf, Tuesday will begin the week Since Monday's hanged himself." Cromwell was so well pleased, that he not only gave the reward, but also ordered that shoemakers henceforth should observe Mondays as holidays. A mode of punishment for robbing churches, though not entirely confined to our county, may be found connected with it. It is that of flaying the offender, and fixing his skin to the door of the parish church. This penalty for sacrilege appears to have had the sanction of the law in Anglo-Saxon times, when money was often paid by the offender to save his skin, called "hide gold," a ransom for one's 78 NOTES ON ESSEX DIALECT AND FOLK-LORE. skin.^ Morant mentions this barbarous custom in connection with the church at Copford, " that the building was robbed by the Danes and their skins were nailed to the doors." In 1789 there was exhibited before the Society of Antiquaries, a plate of iron from the door of Hadstock Church, with a portion of human skin upon it. Mr. Maynard read a paper on this subject at a meeting of the Club at Saffron Walden, in 18S9. (See Essex Naturalist, vol. iii., p. 292.) The folk-lore of plants is considerable. The curious legend of the " Holy Thorn," in connection with Woodham Ferrers, has al- ready been detailed in The Essex Naturalist (vol. vii., pp. 48-50), and there is a thorn of the same kind in Coggeshall. Other plants around which legends hover are the maiden-hair fern, rosemary, broom, lilac, laburnum, etc., etc. Interesting beliefs concerning birds and insects are current throughout the county. Rohins if allowed to die in the hand cause that hand to shake al\va3's. The wren is considered the wife of the robin, and in many places it is thought unlucky to kill or injure it. " The robin and the wren Are God Almighty's cock and hen." " The martin and the swallow Are the next two birds that follow." It is considered highly unlucky to kill a swallow from, perhaps the idea of its being a breach of hospitality, these birds being in the habit of taking refuge in houses. If they fly low and often touch the water with their wings thej- are said to foretell rain. Thus Gay sings : " When swallows fleet soar high in air, He told us that the welkin would be clear.'' " There are no nightingales at Havering-atte-Bower," runs the legend, because Edward the Confessor, being interrupted by them in his meditations, prayed that their song might never be heard again ; but the Rev. R. Faulkener, who was Incumbent of Havering for over twenty-five years, says : "Their sweet notes are still heard chanting tlieir Maker's praise amongst the shady groves of this pretty village." In Essex the peasants have a rhyme on the crow. If crows fly towards you, then " One's unlucky, two's lucky, three is health, four is wealth, five is sickness, and six is death." Maguies are considered unluck}-, and an old tradition believed in by many in our count}' is " that it was the only bird that refused to enter the ark with Noah and his folk, preferring to perch itself on the roof of the ark, and to jabber over the drowning and perishing world." Ever since, it has been regarded as unlucky to meet this defiant and rebellious bird I It is possible that another explanation may be given of expressions in the Saxon codes — such as that an offender "shall pay with his hide." This may mean that he may be scourged ; and Mr. Fisher, in his " Forest of Essex," quotes from another Anglo-Saxon code the words, " if any one put his hide in peril, and flee to a church, be the scourging forgiven him." — Ed. NOTES ON ESSEX DIALECT AND FOLK-LORE. 79 Round our coast sea-gulls are considered ominous. The following rhx-me I beard at Walton : " Sea gull, sea gull, sit on the sand, It's never good weather when you're on land. " Insects. — During harvest, reapers take very great care not to injure a large kind of " daddy-long-legs," known to them as " harvest men," under the idea that it is unlucky to kill one. Crickets about a house are considered lucky, but it is believed (especially in the Tendring Hundred) that they eat holes in the stockings of those that kill them. The " Death's-head Moth " is ever looked upon with suspicion and dread. A capture of a very fine specimen was made by Mr. A. J. Furbank at Maldon, on Sept. 15th, 1888, on the occasion of the Essex Field Club's excursion down the Blackwater (See Essex Naturalist, vol. ii., p. 188). The calamity which befell the Club was that the barge was becalmed some sixteen miles from Maldon. Had the members been believers in super- stition the reason would not have been difficult to discover. There are various beliefs concerning bees. At Hyde Green, [ngatestone, I inquired of some cottagers how the bees were, they 5aid, " They have all gone away since the death of poor Dick, as we "orgot to knock at the hives to tell them he was gone dead." Matters referring to the household come in for a large share of beliefs. A popular notion in Essex is that a mild winter is less healthy ;han a cold one : — "A green Christmas makes a fat churchyard," but the returns of the Registrar-General prove the contrary ; the mortality of the winter months being always in proportion to the ntensity of the cold. Candles are not without their omens. A collection of tallow 'ising up against the wick of a candle is called in Essex a winding sheet, and looked upon as an omen of death in the family. A bright spark on the wick 'tells that a letter is coming to the house, and that ;he person towards whom it comes will be the one to receive it. The belief in witchcraft has not entirely lost its hold amongst our 'ural population, and against it one of the best preservatives is a horse shoe. Bodily ailments present a wide field for folk-lore, and remedies or every conceivable ill that flesh is heir to are to be found in the lotions of our village wise-women. Some of the prescriptions are of So NOTES ON ESSEX DIALECT AND FOr.K-I.ORE the most nauseating description, and would rather aggravate the com- plaint than otherwise, but yet around them hang the hoar- frost of superstition and antiquity. Several curious sayings and customs are connected with Colchester. Amongst them may be noted the following. It has been the habit of the Town Crier at Colchester, on the ist of every December, thus to proclaim the birth of that month in various parts of the town in the early hours of the morning : " Cold December has come in, Poor men's clothes are very thin, Trees are bare, and birds are mute, A pot and a toast would very well suit." " Past 12 o'clock and a cold^ frosty morning. Good morning, masters and mistresses all, and God bless j'ou." Gooseberry-pie day. — The origin or this curious name reaches so far back that it is not easy to say who was first responsible for it. For a great many years past the expression has been applied by the people of Colchester to signify the day on which the Society of Friends have an annual religious gathering of an extensive character, which is followed by a repast at which gooseberry pie figures on the menu. It was also considered that the berries were not to be bought cheaply until after that particular day. In Colchester, also, it was held that mackerel were rot fit to eat till the chapter concerning Balaam and Barak was read as the first lesson in church (second Sunday after Easter), but no reason can be given for this strange saying. THE DIVIMNG-ROD. A notice appeared in the daily press in December, 1893, "That a good spring of water has just been found at Thremhall Priory, Essex, the residence of Mrs. Archer Houblon, by means of a divining rod," etc. This is by no means the first time that this practice has been resorted to in our county ; a similar search for water was made at Broomfield at the instance of Mr. Christie-Miller, who, on the 12th June, 1 89 1, engaged Mr. Mullens, of Chippenham, to search for water by means of the divining rod. Again, in the month of Sep- tember in the same year, the divining rod was used by Mr. A. K. Barlow, of Lynders' Wood, Braintree. The belief in the rod existed from the earliest years. The Staff of Hermes was venerated by the Greeks and Romans, and they also had their " wish rods " like our- NOTES ON ESSICX DIM, ICC T AND FOLK I.ORK. 8l selves, or at least traditions of such objects is plain from sundry passages in their writings. Tacitus speaks of divination by means of rods. But the Middle Ages was the date of the full development of this superstition. The first notice of its use among the late writers is in the " Testamentum Novum " of Basil Valentine, a Bene- dictine monk of the fifteenth century. He says that there are seven names by which this rod is known. "J'o its excellences, under each title, he devotes a chapter of each book. The names are " Divine Rod," " Shining Rod," " Leaping Rod," " Transcendent Rod," "Trembling Rod," " Dipping Rod," and "Superior Rod." The most general name is that by which it is known to us, viz., " The Divining Rod," but in Germany it is known as the " Wimschel Ruthe," and in France as the "Baguette Divinatoire." It is also known as the " Virgula Divina." We find no mention made of the "Virgula" in any author before the eleventh century, but from that time it has been in frequent uss, and the notion still largely prevails in England of a twig of hazel's tendency to turn to a vein of lead ore, a seam or stratum of coal, water, etc. In the " Living Library," 162 1, we read " that no man can tell why forked sticks of hazel or some other wood (but hazel in preference) are fit to show the places where theveines of gold or silver are. The stick bending itself in the places at the bottome where the same veines are." From a paper in Tulloch's " Philosophical Magazine," written by W. Phillips (vol. xiii., page 309), it appears that the Divining-rod was advocated by De Thouvenal in France in the eighteenth century ; and soon after in our own country by a philosopher of unimpeachable character, Mr. Cookworthy, of Plymouth. This is mentioned in Sir Thos. Browne's works, vol. ii., page 97 ; also in :"The (ientleman's Magazine," 1752 (page 77); and in "The Agricultural Survey of the County of Somerset," 1797 ; in "The '')uarterly Review" for March, 1S20; in " The Autobiography of Henrick Zschokke," published by Messrs. Chapman & Hall, 1845 ; jjeveral records are also given in " The Spiritual Magazine " for !VIarch and .\pril, 1862, and May and June, 1868. In " The Shepherds' Kalendar or the Citizen's and Country- nan's Companion," there is a receipt given to make the " Mosaic ivand to find hid treasure " without the intervention of a human operator : " Cut a hazel wand forked at the upper end like a Y- l^eel off he rind and dry it in a moderate heat ; then steep it in the juice of (3 $2 NOTES ON ESSEX DIAT,ECT AND FOLK-LORE. wake-robin or night-shade, and cut the single lower end sharp, and where you suppose any rich mine or treasure is near, place a piece of the same metal you conceive fs hid in the earth to the top of one of the forks by a hair or very fine silk or thread, and do the like to the other end, pitch the sharp single end lightly to the ground at the going down of the sun, the moon being at the increase, and in the morning at sunrise by a natural sympathy you will find the metal inclining, as it were, pointing to the place where the other is hid." We find in " The Virtues of Sid Hamet, the Magician's Rod," by Swift, 1710 : " They tell us something strange and odJ, About a certain magic rod, That, bending down, its top divines Where'er the soil has golden mines. Where there are none it stands erect, Scorning to show the least respect.'' But the most extraordinary treatise on this subject is an old book, written in French in the seventeenth century : " La Physique Occult ou traite de la Baguette Divinatoire des sources d'eaux, des mineres, des Iresors cachez, des voleurs, et des meutriers fugitifs, avec des principes qui expliquent les phenomenes le plusobscurs de la nature. Par M. L. L. de Vallemont, Ph.D.," illustrated with rudely-drawn woodcuts. Other references to works on the subject might be given, but those mentioned are the most important. Whatever may be the merits of the Divining-rod in the opinion of the educated and scientific its efficacy is very generally credited in the coal and other milling districts, and persons who have the reputation of being skilled in its use are had recourse to with as much faith as is the " wise man " or " cunning woman " of the neighbourhood in affairs of another description. In Cornwall the mines place much confi- dence in the indication of the rod, and even educated and intelligent men ofttimes rely on its supposed virtues. But Cornwall is so plentifully stored with tin and copper lodes that some accident frequently discovers a fresh vein. In Lancashire and Cumberland the power of the rod is much believed in, and also in many other parts of England. Amongst the many virtues ascribed to the rod is that of detect- ing water springs, and the mode of use is as follows : — • The rod is a little forked stick of hazel or some other wood. The operator takes one of the branches in each hand, and, extending the shaft or stem horizontally from his body, moves slowly over the spot which is supposed to conceal the spring of water or the vein of coal. NOTIOS ON ESSKX IJIALECT AND FOLK-I.OKK. 83 In the year 1874 an advertisement appeared in the local pa[)crs as follows : — "Water. — Mr. J. Bailey, of \'ine street, Grantham, in addition to his thirty years' experience in raising and conveying water by self- acting machinery, has arranged with Mr. John Mullens, the great water discoverer, for his services, and all orders addressed to him at 10, \'ine-street, will receive prompt attention." Mullens was known as the Bath water-findtr, or the " man with the twig." He, however, did not use a twig of hazel, but one of blackthorn. This man had been employed to discover water on the estates of the Duke of Beaufort and other noblemen and gentlemen, and it was said that his discoveries by means of his twig were always attended with success, and that a good spring of water was invariably found in the precise spot where his rod had indicated its presence. At the annual meeting of the Science Classes, held in September, 1878, Sir W. E. Wei by Gregory, Bart., M.P., said in his speech : " The really great man, who devotes his whole life to the pursuit of knowledge, progresses in his discoveries from day to day, only to become more and more convinced of the depth of his ignorance and the vastness and the mystery of the things which lie beyond his ken. The man, on the other hand, who has but a slight acquaint- ance with science, is far too apt to think that he knows everything, and to set up his own judgment in opposition to all authority, even the very highest. I had occasion to seek for an additional supply of water for my house, and I was induced to send for a man out of Wiltshire, who was said to be able to discover running water by the aid of a twig, or, as it used to be called in ancient days, a Divining- rod. The man came, apparently a very simple, straightforward sort of a fellow, who did not profess to know the reason why, but simply the fact that when he crossed running water the twig turned upwards in his hand, and he indicated two spots where he said I should find water at a very moderate depth. So I determined to sink my wells in accordance with his directions, and 1 may say at once that in both cases I found water. But meantime I mentioned what I had been doing separately to two friends well versed in geology, and both as by one consent agreed in laughing the water-finder to scorn. They said he might by long experience have gained some skill in judging where water would be found; he might simply be an im- postor ; only one thing was certain — he could not be possessed of any occult power. Science could not understand such a power existing, and science believes nothing it cannot understand. Now why should not this man be endowed with some force or power that is not yet explained? Did science know all about electricity a century ago? What can it tell now about animal magnetism, mes- merism, and so forth ?" 84 NOTES ON ESSEX DIALECT AND FOLK-LORE. But scientific men who have bestowed any care or examination of nature regard this alleged power as an unconscious delusion, ascribing the whole phenomenon to the effect of a strong impression on the mind acting through the agency of the nerves and muscle?. Let anyone try the experiment. Hold the two branches of the fork as loosely as possible about 6 inches from the angle. At first one points over each shoulder, then without clenching the fist turn the hands till the backs are towards the ground, keeping them about 6 inches apart. It will be seen that, however loosely the twigs are held, they become a little twisted, and that the slightest movement of the hands will make the fork fly up and down again at pleasure. Another method is to hold the small ends in the hands in a position parallel to the horizon and the upper part at an elevation having an angle of 70°. The rod must be strongly grasped and steadily held, and then the operator walks over the ground. When he crosses a lode or spring, its bending is supposed to indicate the presence thereof. The position of the hands in holding the rod is a con- strained one ; it is not easy to describe it, but the result is that the hands, from the weariness speedily induced in the muscles, grasp the end of the twig yet more rigidly, and then is produced the mysterious bending. The phenomena of the rod and table turning are of precisely the same character, and both are referable to an involuntary muscular action, resulting from a fixedness of idea. But, in the opinion of the ancient experts, the operation of the rod depended upon many special conditions. It was always to be used after sunset and before sunrise, and only on certain nights, among which are specified — -Good Friday, Epiphany, Shrove Tues- day, St. John's Day, and the first night of a new moon or that preceding it. In cutting a rod one must face the east, so that it shall have caught the first rays of the morning sun, or, as some say, the eastern or western sun must shine through the fork, otherwise it will be good for nothing. It must not be thought that no scientific (so-called) reason has been given to account for this supposed power. I trust the fol- lowing may be understood : — It is stated " that the corpuscles rising from the springs or minerals entering the rod determine it to bow down in order to make it parallel to the vertical lines which the effiuvia describe in their rise. In effect the mineral or water particles are supposed to be emitted by means of the suhterrancous heat or of ihc fermenta- NOTES — ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 85 tions in the bowels of the earth, and the rod being of a light porous wood gives an easy passage to these particles, which are also very fine and subtle. The effluvia then being driven forward by those that follow them, and oppressed at the same time by the atmosphere incumbent on them, are forced to enter the little interstices at the fibres of the wood, and by that effort they oblige it to incline or dip down perpendicularly, and to become parallel with the little columns which these vapours form in their rise " I ! Now to sum up the whole matter. How can we reconcile our disbelief in the powers of the Divining-rod with the testimony of those persons who have either used it themselves or seen it used, and whose writings have been published from time to time ? The task is not so difficult. We are quite willing to admit the good faith of those we have named, and do not for a moment disbelieve the accu- racy of their facts. We have no doubt that the rods turned and that the water was found ; we merely refuse to arrive at the conclusion that the rod turned because there was water below the holder's feet. The truth is, there is generally water under the soil if we only try for it, and the ceremony of walking backwards and forwards with a twig in no way alters the fact. Before we go further, let us hear how often the rod has failed, let us see whether water cannot be found by digging where it has not indicated water, and minerals found in places over which the rod has made no movement. NOTES— ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. Badgers in Essex. — A remarkable letter from Mr. B. Morris, of Black- heath, appeared in " The Standard" of May 17th, which was the occasion of a " leader " in that paper of the following day. We should be much obliged for any further information. Mr. Morris's letter was as follows: " Being on a visit recently at a country house in a village not far from Braintree, in Essex, I was greatly surprised to learn that quite a large number of badgers had been found in a wood near the village. I was also more surprised to hear that they had all Deen caught, and, if not killed, sent away. One would have thought that such rare and interesting visitors would have been taken the utmost care of and strictly preserved. There were no less than eleven. I had imagined that the badger was nearly extinct — at least, in so thickly populated a part of the country is that I speak of. The small wood in which the earths were situated is close to I much-frequented high road, within a stone throw of the village and church. The squire of the parish is a capital sportsman, and I cannot understand how he :ould have allowed such vandalism. I may add that there was lots of woodland ountry round for them had they been left alone ; at all events, the fact of there oelng such a rare species of wild animal as the badger in Essex ought to have 86 NOTES — ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. assured them protection and strict preservation." Mr. Morris subsequently writes, under date May 26th, that — " I have heard from the owner of the covert in which the badgers had made their earth that out of the eleven badgers nine were saved ; six are hoped to be safe in another part of Essex, to which they were deported to coverts where their services were required to construct earths for foxes ; two came to grief, one by natural causes, the other through misadventure, i.e., entanglement in a poacher's snare ; the remainder were relegated to another county. I ask the favour of this explanation for two reasons, to allay the apprehension that the}' were destroyed, and to be able to state that the owner of the wood was too good a sportsman to allow them to be slaughtered." Otter Notes. — The following records of the destruction of otters in Essex have appeared in the local papers. It appears to be futile to remonstrate against the senseless and wicked attempt to exterminate this most interesting animal. Oiter at Heybridge. — "On January 15th, Mr. James Woodcraft, of Hey- bridge Basin, shot a very fine female otter, on the bank of the Chelmer and Blackwater canal, near the Basin. The animal measured 3 ft. 7 in. from the nose to the tip of the tail, and weighed 13 lbs. The coat was in splendid condition." Otter at West Berghoit. — "On Thursday afternoon, January iith, while Mr. A. E. Diss and Mr. W. H. Wythe were up the river wild fowl shooting, they managed to secure a male otter." Otters m the Blackwater, near Langford, — " A number of otters have made their appearance in the Blackwater, at Langford, since the London Anglers' Association restocked their private water there with two tons of fish. Remains of fish have frequently beea discovered on the banks, and three otters have recently been shot. The last one was killed on Sunday, Feb- ruary 4th, and was subsequently exhibited at a committee meeting of the Association, held at Foresters' Hall, Clerkenwell." An Otter thirteen miles from a river. — " In the early part of April, a labourer on the Fanton Hall estate, North Benfleet, saw what he took to be a fox run into a drain urder a field gateway. He immediately informed Mr. W. Butcher, bailiff to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, to whom the property belongs. Mr. B tcher at once proceeded to dig it out, and after some three hours' digging got down to the drain, which was covered in with timber slabs ; but another hour and a half elapsed before he was able to capture the animal, which he did by passing a workman's waist-strap over its head. He had never before seen an otter (for so it turned out to be, a female, weighing 14^ lb.), and had no notion of what animal he had caught. It is a mystery what the otter was there for, as there is an entire absence in the neighbour- hood of anything in the shape of otter's food. The nearest river is the Chelmer, thirteen miles away. It is supposed that the animal had been disturbed by a shooting party." Death of a Horse from Yew Poisoning. — " On Wednesday afternoon, February 7th, Mr. H. J. Hutson, Maldon, had a horse die from eating some yew boughs, which, it is said, had been gathered by the borough road men, and thrown on a rubbish heap. The animal reached over the fence of the field in which it was, and picked them up and ate them, dying shortly afterwards." — " Essex County Standard." Rough-Legged Buzzard in Essex. — "A rough-legged buzzard QArc/ii- biiteo lagopus') has recently been trapped at Hatfield Peverel while feeding on a pheasant." — "Essex County Chronicle," January 25th, 1894. A Travelling Sparrow's Nest.— "A sparrow's nest, containing five eggs, was the other day discovered between the Westinghouse brake of one of the London, Tilbury, and Southend Railway Company's carriages and the bottom of NOTES — ORIGINAI, AND SELECTED, 87 the carriage. The nest was not disturbed, and the eggs have now been hatched, notwithstanding that in the interim the carriage had been used to form part of a local train running between Dagenham and Fenchurch Street." — " Standard," May 17th, 1894. A Lunar Rainbow. — The evening of Saturday, January 20th last, was marked at Chelmsford b}' occasional showers of rain, while the moon, which was nearly full, shone brightly from between the clouds from time to time. At 6.25 a slight shower fell in the yard of the County Technical Laboratory while the moon was shining, and a lunar rainbow was consequently formed. The centre of the bow was almost due west of the observer and not more than fifteen degrees above the horizon. The colours of the spectrum, though distinctly visible, were much paler than those of a solar rainbow. — Thomas S. Dvmond, Chelmsford. Tenacity of Life and Natural Repair of Injuries in a Gold-fish. — On the afternoon of Friday, February gth, the servant heard a noise in the breakfast- room, and upon seeking the cause, she found the bell-glass aquarium pulled over on its side, and the contents— water and three gold-fishes — projected on to the floor about two feet off. The fishes were wriggling and gasping, and she picked them up, put them back into the bell-glass .and filled it with fresh water. The :atastrophe was brought about by an Essex-bred frolicsome kitten who had invited a neighbour to enjoy the fun, and between the two thoujhtless and unfeeling felines the poor fish must have had a bad time of it. The poor little things were :erribly mauled ; not a fin or even the tail escaped the sharp combing of the cats' :laws. The drawing I have made gives a fairly good idea of the e.xtent of mis- :hief wrought by the two playful Grimalkins. The fish however, on the next day were swimming about almost as well as if they had their fins intact, and came to the side of the glass to be fed with meat- pulp, the food invariably given, and took it with as keen a relish as if nothing anusual had occurred, and their propelling organs were uninjured. To-da}', February 23rd, I have again carefully examined the fish. The largest one, the subject of the drawing, has now so far recovered that its fins are perfectly joined, .he only eviJence which they now exhibit of the laceration being the appearance of white lines where the membranes of the fins have grown together — the scars jf the healed wounds in fact — showing how quickly they heal up, and how very protective the scales must be to resist the rough treatment. — Frederick H. V'arley, 82, Newington Green Road, N., February 23rd, 1894. Early Swarms of Bees. — The Rev. Henry H. Allott, Rector of Stifford, near Grays, recoras in " The Standard " that he hived two good swarms of bees :)n Saturday afternoon, April 28th. He adds that he has kept bees for some years now, and the earliest swarms have happened not sooner than the latter end 88 NOTES — ORIGINAL AND SELKCTED. of May. [Two swarms came forth from the straw skeps in our garden at East Mersea on May 15th, which we considered remarkably early. — W. COLE.] Vanessa Antiopa in Epping Forest. — On Saturday, April 7th, I was delighted to take a hybernated specimen of the " Camberwell Beauty" butterfly in Great Monk Wood, Epping Forest. — W. F. Whittingham, " North View," The Drive, Walthamstow. April 23rd, 1894. Inscribed Letters in a Tree Trunk. — In the middle of December last, during one of the heavy gales that prevailed at that time, a large elm was blown down by the roadside near Cannock Mill, on the road to Donyland, near Col- chester, A month or so later portions of the timber were being chopped up for firewood when a curious discovery came to light. A piece of the trunk split open under the chopper, and revealed the letters " B. P." boldly inscribed on one sur- INSCRIliED LETTERS IN AN ELM-TKEE. face and in clear relief on the other. The tree had in former da3^s marked the parish boundary of St. Botolph's. Bark had been cut away and a plane surface of wood levelled, on which the letters had been cut. The bark appears to have crept over and covered up the inscription, and the growing wood fibre of the tree had buried the letters deeper and deeper into the tree trunk. I have heard of a story, whether apochryphal or not 1 cannot tell, about a somewhat similar incident, though of a more romantic character, the following suggestive lines having been similarly incised in the heart of a piece of timber : " Long shall this tree witness bear We two lovers walked here." The discovery at Colchester has led me to wonder whether other parish boundary marks have not been tree-swallowed in the same way. The present instance shows that such cases could he detected without cutting the tree down, for the outside scar would never be completely covered up. 1 am on the look out in this neighbourhood, and have already found a suspicious-looking tree exactly level with the modern stone boundary of a Colchester parish ; but unfortunately, the trunk is so clasped with ivy that its secret, if it has one in its heart, is at present inscrutable. Members in -other pans of the county might hunt for examples, for it is not unlikely that trees were, in the times of the " simple great ones gone," the accustomed landmarks of parochial boundaries, — CHARLES E. BeNHAM, Colchester, 'April, 1894. NOTES — ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. Silene Conica. Lin. — I found this plant growing freely in a field of crim- ;< clover {Trifolium incartiatiim, Lin) near this town. I believe this is the first ii that this plant has been recorded in this county. It is a rare plant, found )i7 in the Eastern counties, and occasionally in ballast hills further north. Pro- jly it has only recently been introduced into this locality, but seed vessels 1 Ing been freely formed it may become established. — J. C. Shenstone, Col- iliter. [In Gibson's "Flora of Essex" it is stated that " D. French has a ij:imen of this species gathered near Harlow Bury House, in 1858. It was y,\l once found." — Ed.] lA Remarkable Meteor. — A meteor of great brilliance was observed at Cilmsfordon Sunday evening, April 22nd, at 7.35. The evening was fine and : .r, and it was still almost broad daylight, the sun having set at 7.5. The D eor appeared near the zenith, and took a course a little to the east of south, e tting a dazzling greenish light, and leaving behind a number of sparks. About I above the horizon it suddenly " went out," but for a short distance it was 5 visible as a red hot ball before finally disappearing into space. — Thomas S. I viOND, Chelmsford, April 24ih, 1894. [This meteor appears to have been seen i: arious parts of England. The Hon, R. Russell recorded it as seen at Hasle- n e, in "Nature" (April 26th), and at Williton in Somersetshire. It " broke 5 ienly into view at thirty-seven minutes past seven, about 50" above the b zon, and gradually very steadily fell towards the earth, a high range of hills, t Quantocks, torming the eastern boundary. A very large elm-tree standing a ut a quarter of a mile from us, the meteor became hidden by the tree, so that V could not see its contact with the ground. It was of as bright a light as the s at midday. We should much like to know if it was seen by parties the other S'i of the hill. It fell just as steadily as a spent rocket-stick, leaving for some llle distance a tail of sparks. Apparently the meteor was about two and a hal^ r 63 from us, the Quantocks being three miles." Another observer, writing f n Margate, noted it at tw'enty-five minutes to eight, its direction being " from rth-west to south-east, the altitude 45" to 30°, in view about thirty seconds ; c )ur a brilliant green, and apparent dimensions about the volume of a Roman cdle." From Guildford it was noticed at exactly the same time, falling "in a c;ct line to the earth, leaving behind a magnificent tiain of blue. After t/elling to within, apparently, a very short distance of the earth, it broke into tee pieces, something like the bursting of a sky-rocket, the lower portions being Eutthe size of a breakfast cup. The sight was the more remarkable, there Ing no star visible in the clear light of day." — Ed. Mammoth Tusk near Chelmsford. — Under the heading "Mammoth Irn," the "Essex Weekly News" of Nov. loth, announced that the "men in t] employ of Mr. James Brown at his brickfield, near Lower Anchor Street, rently found a portion of a mammoth horn lying on the top of the white cy at a depth of between 12 and 14 feet. The portion of the horn measures <|t. 3 in. in length, and at one end is as large as a man's thigh." We have li:n unable to obtain any further information as to this find, but just as we go 1 press we learn that Mr, Brown has kindly presented the specimen to our iseum. — Ed. THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB, .OCAL (ESSEX) MUSEUM AND LIBRARY. NEW LONDON ROAD, CHELMSFORD. The Establishment of a truly LOCAL Museum has ahva3's been a lead idea with the Club. Towards that end many specimens have been collect and the Curators are now endeavouring to form a really useful Museum, contain autlientic collections to illustrate the Geology, Mineralogy, Botn Zoology, Ethnology, Pre-historic Archceology and Technology, etc., of ESS and the adjacent sea and rivers, together with an educational series specimens and preparations to be employed for illustrative and teach purposes. Chelmsford has been chosen as the site of the principal Museum and Libr; being the County Town and occupying a central position in Essex. Funds now being raised to build and fit up rooms worthy of the comprehensive sc of the Museum and Library. It is also anticipated that before long an Epp Forest Museum will be established in Queen Elizabeth's Lodge, Chingford. DONATIONS OF SPECIMENS AND COLLECTIONS OF A LOC (ESSEX) CHARACTER are invited. They should be sent at present to : W. Cole, Hon. Sec. and Director.^ care of Mr. Edmund Durrant, go. High Stn Chelmsford. A letter should precede the donation, and the Council reserves itself the right to refuse any imsuitable specimens. The fullest details should be given of the locality, finder, and other pre* information about each specimen, for insertion in the Register. The Director will be glad to give any instructions in his power to th proposing to collect for the Museum, The Club already possesses a very considerable Library, consisting of boc MSS., prints, photographs, etc., appertaining in any way to the County of Ess and also of scientific, antiquarian, topographical, and other literature, and ev effort is being made to enlarge it and increase its usefulness. The Library is the use of the members only, and such visitors as may be admitted under regulations of the Librarians. DONATIONS OF BOOKS, prints, maps, etc., of the classes above indica should be sent, at present, to either of the Librarians, Mr. Edmund Durr.i go, High Street, Chelmsford, or to Mr. E. A. Simons, at the Quarters of Club, or "Kyneton," Balfour Road, Ilford, Essex. ^AL SUBSCRIPTION— Members, 4s. 6d. Non-Members, 9s. Post Free. 1)S. 6-10, VOL. VIII.] Price 3s. 6d. [JUNE-OCT., 1894. m Essex Naturalist: BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB, EDITED BY WILLIAM COLE, Honorary Secretary. I Oak Tree in Essex. By J. C. Shenstone. (With thh-ty Engravings.) I. Management of Epping Forest— Official Report of the Experts N es on the Conference of Delegates of the Corresponding Societies of the British Association, Oxford, 1894. By T. V. Holmes, F.G.S I Question of Workable Coal Measures Beneath Essex. By Rev. A. Irving, ;D.Sc., F.G.S 31 under South-Eastern England. Reports by T. V. Holmes, F.G.S., and W. VVhitakbr, F.R.S Nes— Original and Selected Vieum Notes. I. — Pleistocene Non-Marine Mollusca from Walton-on-the-Naze r Serotine Bat in Essex. By Miller Christy, F.L.S r ) Pre-historic Weapons recently found near Epping. (IVith two Engravings) Aj ketch of the Development of Architecture in Essex. By F. Chancellor, J. P., F.R.I.B.A. (President). (IVitk page Illustration) [Title and Index to Vol. VII. accompanies this part. \ 142 151 160 162 163 i6s M authors alone are resp07isible for the statements and opinions contained in their respective papers. PUBLISHED BY THE CLUB, BUCKHURST HILL, ESSEX. E. DURRANT & CO., 90. HIGH STREET, CHELMSFORD. Stationers' Hall.] Published Dec. 31, 1 8 Communications and Advertisements should be addressed : — The Editor of "THE ESSEX NATURALIST," 7, Knighton Villas, Buckhurst Hill, Essex THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. (^Founded January loth, l88o.) List of Council and Officers for 1894. patron : H.R.H. THE DUKE OF CONNAUGHT AND STRATHEARN, K.G. {Rant^er of Epping Forest). J^rcsiiicnt : FREDERIC CHANCELLOR, J.P., F.R.LB.A., F.R.M.S. (ex-officio). E. NORTH BUXTON, J. P., Ald. C.C, D.L. WALTER CROUCH, F.Z.S. RIGHT HON. LORD RAYLEIGH,D.C.L , LL.D., F.R.S. (^Zon/ J. C. SHENSTONE. Lieut, of Essex) {Constituted under Rtde IV.) Professor R. MELDOLA, F.R.S., F.R.A.S., F.C.S., M.A.I. (President, iSSo—S2.) Professor G. S. BOULGER, F.L.S., F.G.S. (President, 18S3—S4.) THOMAS VINCENT HOLMES, F.G.S., M.A.I. (President, iSSj—Sy.) EDWARD A. FITCH, J.P., C.C, F.L.S., F.E.S. 1 (President, iSSS—gi.) HENRY LAVER, J. P., M.R.C.S., F.L.S., F.S.A. 1 (President, iSgi.) ©tlicf JTlcmbcrs of (iTomtcil: ANDREW JOHNSTON, Chrm. C.C, J. P., D.L Rev. W. S. LACH-SZYRMA, M.A THOMAS J. MANN. J. H. PORTER. JOHN SPILLER, F.I.C, F.C.S. J. C THRESH, D.Sc, M.B., D.P.H FREDK. H. VARLEY, F.R.A.S. T. HAY WILSON. Rev. W. L. WILSON, M.A. JOHN AVERY, CA. Rev. R. E. BARTLETT, ^LA. CHARLES E. BEX HAM. MILLER CHRISTY, F.L.S. BRYAN CORCORAN. L. CRANMER-BYNG. GEORGE DAY, F.R.M.S. F. W. ELLIOTT. A. J. FURBANK. F. CHALKLEY GOULD. Rev. W. C HOWELL, M.A. ALFRED LOCKYER, Edgcumbe House, Cambridge Park, Wanstead, E. ^ccvchiru nnb (Ebitor: WILLIAM COLE, F.L.S. , Buckhurst Hill, Essex. glssistiittt (Sccrctavg : BENJAMIN G. COLE, Buckhurst Hill, Essex. librarians : EDMUND DURRANT, I E. A. SIMONS, 90 High Street, Chelmsford. | Kyneton, Balfour Road, Ilford. ^)onor;irj3 Counsel : CHARLES BROWNE, M.A., F.S.A. ^}onoruni (Solicitor: HENRY I.' COBURN. jankers : NATIONAL BANK, OLD BROAD STREET, E.C ^)cat)-quartcrs: 8, Knighton Villas, Buckhurst Hill, Essex. ^hiscums anb glibrarn : I New London Road, Chelmsford. '^ Queen Elizabeth's Lodge, Chingford. THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. By F. C. SHENSTONE. [Read June 23rd, 18^4.] " Time made thee what thou wast — King of the Woods 1 And Time hath made thee what thou art, a cave For owls to roost in." Coivficr " Yardky Oak" 00 ME time ago our member, Mr. R. Miller Christy, suggested that "^ we should together collect material for a paper of oak trees in Essex remarkable either for their age and size, or their historical and topographical associations. In consequence of more pressing matters, Mr. Christy has left the work in my hands, and I now venture to submit the results of the inquiry to the Club, although I have not by any means completed the search for notable Essex oak irees. I hope that by affording data which will enable others to judge as to what may be considered a tree worthy of record in our :ounty, I may interest and encourage them to add to our information Dn the subject.^ It may be safely said that no member of our British Flora surpasses the oak in interest. The tree is intimately connected with )ur history from the earliest period, though in recent times the idvent of " ironclads," and other changes in the art of naval irchitecture have robbed it of much of the romance which clung ibout it when " our ships were British oak, and hearts of oak our nen.'' Volumes might be written about the uses our forefathers bund for its timber; for their buildings, as may be seen in the roofs md carvings of our historic houses and churches ; for their furniture n the days when the household belongings were made to be handed lown from generation to generation ; for their art work, as may be bxemplified by the beautiful oak carvings in our museums and galleries ; with the bark they tanned the hides of their cattle, and in he days when more than half our country was "King's Forest," the icornwas of extreme value, as may be seen by a glance through the I The illustrations of this paper are taken, unless otherwise stated, from photographs by Mr. >henstone, who has also verj- kindly presented the blocks to the Club. Mr. Shenstone writes especting his own drawings: — "I think that some explanation is needed with regard to the Uustrations. I felt that a paper on oak trees would be incomplete without pictures. The trees leing spread through the length and breadth of our county, it was not practicable to send an irtist to make careful drawings. I therefore had no choice but to do the be=t I could myself. In 'nost instances I photographed these trees, and from my photographs made the drawings. Though, no doubt, these are open to much criticism from an artist's point of view, I believe I am ustified in stating that they correctly represent the condition of the several trees at the present ime." The pictures of the Cuckoo Oak (fig. 4), the Pulpit Oak (fig. 5), and Theydon Oak (fig. 6), re from drawings from nature, kindly presented by Mr. H. A. Cole. — Ed. H i)0 THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. "Domesday Book" for Essex, where we find the number of swine which the woods in each parish would sustain carefully recorded as one of the most valuable belongings of the manors.'- The "Round Table " of King Arthur in our national romance, was made of the trunk of an oak, and our Saxon forefathers held their primitive parliaments under the spreading boughs of the favourite tree. It was on the stout trunk of an oak that the arrow struck which found its way to the heart of the second William, and in popular story it was to the shelter of an oak that King Charles the Second owed his life. No tree excels the oak in its picturesque beauty. With its ponderous trunk, its gnarled but spreading branches, its rich coloured luxuriant foliage, it is indeed a monarch of the vegetable kingdom. To the modern biological student the oak tree offers the material for much interesting research, as a glance through Marshall Ward's work, " The Oak," will prove. I have, however, said enough to show how wide a subject we have entered upon, and how necessary it will be to confine it within strict limits ; but I must make a few introductory remarks for the benefit of those of our members who may not have previously given attention to the subject. The varieties of oak which might be selected from extensive woods are very numerous, but they have been in a great measure neglected by foresters, as they are difficult to propagate except by acorns. I must however describe the two varieties into which oak trees are usually divided by botanists, known as Qiiercus pedunculata, Ehr., having long peduncles (^flower-stalks), and sessile leaves (with- out stalks) ; and Quercus sessilijiora having peduncles short and leaves stalked. It is stated that much, if not all, of the wood found in old houses, frequently called " chestnut " by builders, is in reality the wood of Quercus scssiliflora, which resembles the chestnut-wood, and which is devoid of what is po[)ularly known as the ' silver grain,' generally considered characteristic of the timber of the oak. These varieties are usually found growing together in the wild state, and they are used indiscriminately for all purposes for which the oak is applicable. Some writers state that Quercus pedunailata is a low spreading tree or " Broad Oak," whilst Quercus sessiliflora is ■^ Soc for much information on this subject the late Mr. W. R. Fisher's valuable book, "The Forest of Essex. " THK OAK TREE IN ESSEX. 9' a tall conical tree. Other authorities contend that there is no difference in the " habit '' or growth of the two supposed species. It was suggested that I should ascertain the variety of each tree which I propose to describe, but it appeared to me that while it would be interesting to take a census of the oaks of our county to determine which variety predominated, and was presumably most suited to local circumstances, the question of the variety to which the comparatively few isolated oak trees which had grown to a great age should be referred, was not of sufficient importance to compensate for the considerable amount of trouble it would have entailed to have visited or secured branches from each tree at the time it was flowering. One other variety, or rather sub variety, I must also mention, viz., Qitercits pediinculala var. peiidula, the " A\'ee[)ing Oak." My readers will probably be rather incredulous as to the existence of such a form, as I was when I first heard of it ; the very term '■'■ pendiila " ndicating an amount of variation from the ordinary character of the ree which almost surpasses belief. Nevertheless, a large tree of this variety occurs at " ^[occas Court," Herefordshire, some of its tranches being thirty feet long, and no thicker than a cart-rope, and noreover all trees raised from acorns of this variety after the age of wenty years, if not earlier, partake of the weeping character of their )arents. It is possible that our Essex specimens of " Weeping Daks," which I shall describe later, are descendants of this Moccas !^ourt tree. It is extremely difficult to decide at all accurately upon the age of .n oak tree. It is not possible to ascertain the exact date when an .ncient oak tree was a seedling, for, unlike a building, our tree )robably was not sufficiently remarkable to attract notice until it had eached a venerable age. It is stated that oak trees add one ring of ^'ood to their growth each year. These rings can readily be dis- inguished by reason of the wood being less compact and having acre vessels in the early part of the year, when the growth is more igorous, the later slower growth producing more compact wood, wen this basis for calculation would only give the approximate age, )ecause exceptionally long seasons, like that of 1893, do occasionally nccur, in which trees will put forth fresh leaves and may even )lossom a second time and form a second ring of wood as the utumn advances. Moreover it would not be a wise thing to cut iown our oak trees to discover their age. There are however 92 THE. OAK TREE. IN ESSEX. grounds for' believing that oaks may' live upwards .of i,ooo years, and that the age of many of our venerable trees may vary from 500 to a 1,000, years, or even more. The "Oak's Pedigree" is scarcely an exaggeration : " In my great grandsire"^ trunk did Druids dwell ; My grandsire with the Roman eagle fell ; Myself a sapling when my father bore The htro Edward to the Gallic shore." The following extract from Arthur Young's book" affords an Essex illustration of the slow growth of the oak tree. '■'Allen Taylor, Esq. ^ of Winibish, 1792. — Young's oak at five feet from the ground ; it is eight feet five inches and three-quarters in girt ; and a larch only twelve years old, at the same height from the ground, two feet four inches. " 1805. Young's oak, eight feet ten inches. The larch, five feet one inch. "The oak in thirteen years has increased four inches and a half. The larch two feet nine inches. What a difference ! " I hope that Mr. Taylor and those who follow him will publish the future progress of these two trees." (Vol. ii., p. 151-) Loudon, in his list of notable oaks of Great Britain, includes trees in which the boles are 30 i^o.^ and upwards in circumference. The five trees with the largest boles in Great Britain are stated as follows : — " Salsey Oak," Northampton, 46 feet. " Grimstone Oak," Surrey, 48 feet. " Hempstead' Oak," Essex, 53 feet. " Merton Oak," Norfolk, d^ feet. " Cowthorpe Oak," Yorkshire, 78 feet. Amongst trees having the widest stretch of boughs, the following are mentioned : — "Worksop Oak," t8o feet. "Oakley Oak," iio feet. The above figures will give rough data for the comparison of our Essex trees with oaks in other counties. It is to be remembered that the accurate measurement of an oak is often found to be impossible owing to the ruggedne;S of its trunk. In a county which a few centuries ago was half forest, and in which the soil and climate are admirably suited to the growth of the oak tree, we might expect some fine specimens, and indeed, the inquiry I have made would show that Essex is by no means deficient in this respect. 3 " General view of the Agriculture of the County of Essex, etc." Two. volumes. 1807. THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. 93 The Hempstead Oak. — I think that the great Hempstead Oak deserves the foremost place amongst Essex trees. This tree, as will be seen by the list of finest trees in Great Britain in " Loudon's Arboretum," in the circumference of its bole was the third largest tree in England. This o^k might even date back almost to prehistoric times. Under its branches Sixcms have possibly met to transact their business, and in more recent times ■ under this old tree may have often wandered that notorious highwayman, "Dick Turpin " ; he was born in the parish of Hempstead, in a house near the church known as the SRU JAtifl't The great Oak at HEMSTEAD.Eficx Fig. I. — {From " The Gentleman' s Magazuu^" 1802). " Crown Inn." In the Church Register, the event is recorded thus: — A.D. 1705, September 21st, Ricardus filius Johannis et Maria , Turpin. Dr. Harvey, the discoverer or demonstrator of the circula- ition of the blood, possibly also may have rested beneath the boughs of this tree. He is buried in the parish church of Hempstead. Arthur Young {op. cit. pt. ii. p. 149.) refers to the Hempstead Oaks as follows : — " At Hempstead I viewed two immense oaks, one of which is apparently of very great antiquity, they are unfortunately 'both pollards, but the size such as must astonish the spectator." An Essex Directory (1848) states that — "Arthur Young mentions two immense pollarded oaks in a field near Great Dawkins Farm House 94 THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. at Hempstead, but that only one was then standing which was much mutilated and decayed. This venerable tree was supposed to be a thousand years old, and was formerly 99 feet in height : its boughs covered an extent of 36 yards diameter, and its bole 53 feet in cir- cumference. Seven waggon loads of hay have stood under its shelter at one time." The illustration I give represents the tree as it was in 1801 ; it was engraved for the "Gentleman's Magazine," in which journal it appeared in 1802. A part of the tree fell thirty years ago, and has quite disappeared. Another part fell twenty-five years ago, and all that is now to be seen of the old tree is lying in a meadow- adjoining the farm-house of " Great Dawkins." I give an illustration of the ruins of this forest giant. Remains of the Great Oak at Hempstead, Fairlop Oak. — Another celebrated Essex tree was the Fairlopl Oak, in the Hainault district of Waltham Forest, of which Mr. Gilpin remarks in his " Forest Scenery " : " The tradition of the country traces it half way up the Christian era. It is still a noble tree, though it has now suffered greatly from the depredations ol time. About a 3-ard from the ground, where its rough fluted stem is 36 feet in circumference, it divides into eleven vast arms, yet not in the horizontal manner of an oak, but in that of a beech. Beneath its shades which overspread an area of 300 feet in circuit, an annual Fair has long been held on the second of July, and no booth is suffered to be erected beyond the extent of its boughs. But as their extremities are now sapless, and age is yearly curtailing their length, the libertic- of the Fair seem to be in a very desponding condition. The honour however i- great. But honours are often accompanied by inconveniences, and Fairlop ha- suffered from its honourable distinctions. In the feasting that usually attends 1 fair, fires are often necessary, and no place seemed so proper to make them in a- the hollow cavities formed by the heaving roots of the tree. This practice ha = brought a speedier decay in the Fairlop Oak than it might otherwise have suffered." THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. 95 Phillips in his " Companion to the Orchard " gives the following notice of the same tree : — "This venerable tree was cut down previous to the Fair in 1S20. The founder of the Fair was a Mr. Daniel Day, commonly called the ' Good Day,' who was born in the parish of St. Mary Overy in 1682. His father was an opulent brewer, but Mr. Day followed the business of a block and pump maker in Wapping, and possessing a small estate in Esse.x, at no. great distance from this remarkable tree, he used on the first F'rida}' in Jul}'- to repair thither, having given his accustomed invitation to a party of his neighbours to accompany him for the purpose of dining under the shade of its branches and leaves on beans and bacon. This benevolent, as well as humorous, man never failed to pay his annual visit to the public bean-feast, and as regularly provided several sacks of beans and a proportionate quantity of bacon, which he distributed from the tnmk nf the Virw ol iFaAjK.I.VJI' G.'iiKoii Kj)j)ingbi:aii .Mai;a:^i>ie, 1S02.) tree to the persons there assembled. A few years before the decease of Mr. Day (in 1767) his favourite oak lost a large limb, out of which he procured a coffin to be made for his own interment. We have been informed that the following gave ise to the name of F'airlop bestowed on this celebrated oak. Some of Mr. Day's friends having promised that he should be buried in a coffin made from that tree, lopped off one of the branches, for which trespass an action was brought against the party, fortunatel}"^ for whom some flaw was found in the pleadings, and the plaintiff was non-suited. It was, however, proved that the act committed was not injurious to the tree, but a ' fair lop.' As lately as 1794 this venerable oak in the meridian of the day shadowed an acre of ground, although then greatly decayed." In Mr. H. W. King's (late Hon. Sec. to the Essex Archaeological Society) annotated copy of Morant's " Essex " there is a printed leaf introduced containing the following statement : "On the fair day, 18 1 3, a gentleman gave a boy half-a-crown to procure for 96 THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. him the last green sprig off the end of the branches, and when the drawing was made for the vignette in the August following there was not a leaf on it." Some years before the fall of the tree Mr. Forsyth's composition was applied to its decayed branches to preserve them from further injury, and a board was fixed to one of its limbs bearing the following inscription : " All good foresters are requested not to hurt this old tree, a plaster having been lately applied to its wounds." In the year 1805 tlie trunk of the Fairlop Oak took fire in con- sequence of the carelessness of a party of cricketers who had spent the day in the vicinity and had left a fire burning too near it. The fire was discovered the same evening, and although a number of persons did their utmost to extinguish the flames, it continued burn- ing till the morning. This untoward accident so weakened it that, as Professor Burnet informs us, " the high winds of February, 1820, stretched this forest patriarch to the ground after having endured the storms of perhaps a thousand winters." It is stated in Loudon's " Arboretum " that the Fairlop Oak, at 3 feet from the ground measured 36 feet, near the ground 48 feet. The boughs were 10 to 12 feet in girth and covered 300 feet in circuit. The pulpit and reading-desk in the new church of St. Pancras were constiucted out of its remains. A picture of this tree is given from the plate in the " European Magazine" (1802), kindly lent for reproduction by Mr. Walter Crouch, and copy of another early engraving appeared at page 169, vol. v., of The Essex Naturalist. King's Oak, High Beach. — There was formerly an oak tree of some historical interest at High Beach, Epping Forest. It is stated that King Henry VIII. sat under this tree waiting to hear the cannon fired which announced the death of Anne Boleyne. The tradition is thus related by Tytler in his "Life of King Henry VIII." (1837), who appears to have drawn the story from Nott's "Life of Surrey " : " That Henry waited with unfeeling impatience for the death of .\nne is certain ; and a tradition is yet preserved in Epping Forest, which strikingly illustrates this fact. On the morning of the day which was to be her last (May 19th, 1536) he went to hunt in that district ; and as he breakfasted, surrounded by his train and his hounds, under a spreading oak which is still shown, he listened from time to time with a look of intense anxiety. At length the sound of a distant gun boomed through the wood. It was a preconcerted signal, and marked .THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. 97 the moment when the execution was completed. ' Ah, ah ' it is done,' said he, starting up, ' the business is done ; uncouple the dogs, and let us follow the sport.' On the succeeding morning he was married to Jane Se3nTiour."'' Lock, in his "Essay Concerning the Human Understanding," (1825 Ed., p. 243) refers to this oak: "The well-known tree in Epping Forest called the King's Oak, which, from not weighing an ounce at first, grew to have many tons of timber in it." The tree has long since disappeared. An inn called the "King's Oak" indicates the locality where it formerly stood. Fainnead Oak. — At High Beach there is still a fine oak at Fig. 4. — Cuckoo ok Bedford Oak, Efping Fokest. " Fairmead Lodge." Its bole measures 29 ft. and 30 ft. in cir- cumference at different heights. The tree and the Lodge were illustrated by Mr. H. A. Cole in The Essex Naturalist for 1893 (Vol. vii., p. 86). ''^ Cuckoo''' or '' Bedford'' (9^/^.— We have also in Epping Forest an oak tree formerly called the " Cuckoo Oak," but more recently I named " Bedford Oak," in honour of the Councillor of the City of London of that name who did so much towards rescuing Epping * I am indebted for this extract to Mr. B. G. Cole. 98 THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. Fig. 5. — " PuLi'ir Oak" and "Poachers Pocket," Eiting Forest. Forest from the encloser. It is yet only 12 ft. 8 in. in circumference, but as it is a vigorous tree, so we may hope it will, in the centuries to come, continue to be an ornament to the Forest, and serve to remind many generations of the good work done by the worthy Councillor Bedford. At Theydon Ganion there is an oak (fig. 6) which, previous to its partial decay, probably measured 16 feet round its trunk. In Lodge Bushes, a charming portion of Epping Forest, we have also the " Pulpit Oak," and the tree called the " Poacher's Pocket," both of them picturesque specimens, but comparatively small (fig. 5). When we recollect the many thousand acres of this ancient woodland, one cannot but wonder that it does not contain more fine oaks than exist in many a private park of not more than a dozen acres. Perhaps the explanation given by Fisher in his " Forest of Essex," is the correct one. He says : — "The comparative scarcity of large trees in the Epping division of the Forest arose from the continual felling of timber, and from treating new growth as coppice wood. This was much practised in the eighteenth century." It is also possible that the right of lopping which prevailed in THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. 99 '"iG. 6. — Oak af 'lin-Aonx (Iar.non. Epping Forest may explain the dearth of large oak trees, for though the lopping rights were regulated by law, yet such rights would be likely from time to time to be abused. Nor must we forget that the trees which most largely prevail in the Forest are the beech and the hornbeam, trees which are extremely scarce in some parts of the country outside private grounds. Danbury Oaks. — I believe that I am justified in saying that the spot in all Essex richest in fine oak trees is the park at Uanbury Palace. The largest tree is situated S.W. of the Palace (fig. 7). It now measures thirty-one feet in ciicumferencc, but probably its girth was some five or six feet more before a portion of the trunk collapsed. The inside of the bole was completely burnt out more than sixty years ago ; the tradition is that it was fired in smoking foxes out of the tree. Thirty-five years ago. Bishop Wigram caused an iron band to be put round the trunk to strengthen it. This iron band is now imbedded in places some inches into the tree, and as the trunks of hollow oaks increase in thickness both inside and out- side, it is evident that this fine old giant, which was perhaps the largest tree Essex ever possessed (excepting only the Hempstead Oak), may yet survive many years. TKK OAH TREE m ESSEX. ,,-^'^:^ ,^ f^V F"iG. 7. — Finest Oak at Daxburv. There is a tree in front of Danbury Palace with a bole thirty-one feet in circumference, another with bole twenty-seven feet ; and behind the Palace, in a fence, there are four large trees having trunks Fig. 8. — Oak Tree at Danbury Palace. twenty-three to twenty-seven feet in circumference. There are also many other fine examples in the Park, which is so well worthy of a visit from lovers of trees. v ■ = Several Bishops of the Diocese of Rochester and St. Albans have taken a pride in these trees. Bishop Claughton took a special delight in showing them to his friends, who must have sometimes felt a certain fitness in having these ancient forest giants shown to them by so venerable an old gentleman. "^H-E OAK TREE IN ESSEX. lOT Thorhigto/i Oaks. — At Thorington Hall there are four monster oak trees, with trunks varying from twenty-seven to thirty-one feet in girth. A tradition current in the village asserts that these trees were mentioned in the Domesday Book. I have, however, searched Marsh's translation of Domesday Book for Essex, hut have failed to Fig. 9. — Oak at THnRiNOTox Hall. (Phoiogra/'h, J. C. Shcnstone. find any reference to individual trees, though the woods are carefully recorded as affording food for certain numbers of swine. In fact, so accurate was this survey, that in one case it is stated that there is wood for one swine (figs. 9 and 10). Doodle Oak, etc. — In our county we have one parish, viz., Hat- field Regis, or Broad Oak, which probably derives its name frqm a mighty oak tree. This, Morant says : — ^> " The distinguishing appellation of Regis seems to have been given at the Conquest, because this was the king's demesne, that of ' Broad Oak ' is from the Saxon, generally thought to be a tree of extraordinary bigness. There has been another since, for it will hardly be allowed to be the same, the remains of which appear to be some hundred years old, that covered a great deal of ground. This called Doodle Oak in the Forest near Stane Street looks as if fresh branches had grown out of the ground as others decayed or were cut." J02 THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. 1 Mil ^B i^^tea ^^ --■ '••<^fi:;^^^M|^^B ■' Fig. to. — Oak .'^t Thorington'.'.Hali.. (C Ircuwference , -^x feet. Photograph, J . C. Shcnstonc.) Arthur Young observes, " Sir John Barrington possesses in the Hatfield Forest a very beautiful oak, for which a timber merchant offered one hundred guineas. Near it is the ruin of a most vener- FiG. II. — OkigiiNal Hatfield Broad Oak. {Fro>n Young s " Agriculture," i8iij.) THE OAK TRKE IN ESSEX. 103 able one which gave the name of Broad Oak to Hatfield." Young gives an illustration of the oak as it was in his day (fig. 11), and in The Essex Naturalist for 1890 (vol. iv., p. 218) Mr. H. A. Cole has a drawing of the tree as it then appeared. Whilst agreeing with Alorant that a tree old enough to have given the name " Broad Oak " to the parish in the days of the Anglo-Saxons, would probably not have endured another 1,000 years, yet his implication that the " Doodle Oak" is comparatively modern is equally wide of the mark, for the " Doodle Oak " must certainly, even in the days of Alorant, have been some centuries old. Loudon says : — '•In Hatfield Broad Oak stands the remains of an old oak from which the village and forest derive their name of Hatfield Broad Oak, measuring 42rt. in circumference at base, but in 1813, before a large portion of the trunk fell in, it was upwards of 60 feet. The age of the tree is unknown, but cannot be less than seven or eight centuries."' Barringtoii Hall Oaks. — The park round Barrington Hall, close to Hatfield Forest, formerly the mansion of Sir John Barrington, now the property of G. Alan Lowndes, Esq., J. P., still contains some magnificent timber. One tree (fig. 12) has a trunk measuring 29ft. 6in. circumference of its bole. Another tree is one of the finest examples of the oak tree in full vigour of growth which our county Fig. 12. — Oak at Barrington Hall, Hatfield Broad Oak. Bole., 2g ft. 6 i?is. in ch cwiiference . 104 THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. possesses. Its trunk has a circumference of i8ft. gin. The circuit of the shadow of its branches is 312 feet. There are other very fine oaks in this park, " Old fashioned oak trees " my guide Fig. 13. — Oak at Barrington Hall, Hatfield Broad Oak. Circuit of shadow ofbTunches, 312 feet. called them, using an expression not infrequent in rural Essex when speaking of oaks more or less decayed. Possibly one of these fine trees is that for which Arthur Young tells us Sir John Barrington was offered one hundred guineas. I am told that foxes breed in these trees, notwithstanding their closeness to the Hall. Takeley Forest, Mr A. Young obseives, " is about half covered with wood, among which, with a great deal of other very valu- able timber, is an oak that measures at 5ft. from the ground, 14ft. in circumference, and is thought will cut to timber at ninety feet." Takeley Forest is now enclosed in the park of Hallingbury Place. Great Yeldhain Oak. — At Great Yeldham there is an immense oak tree which, staiiding in the centre of a three-cross way, forms a very prominent object and is familiar to every one in that part of the county. In the " History of Essex by a Gentleman," the following passage occvirs, referring to this tree : — "On this road, and near the church, is a remarkable large oakv tree, supposed to be upwards of three hundred j^ears old. (A person in this parish, near one hundred ^ars of age, declares that when she was a child, sh-e heard a person, who was then older than her by eighty years, say that in his infancy this tree was distinguished by the appellation of old oak), the stem of which measures twenty- !■ THE OAK IREK IN F.SSKX. 1- ;i;. 14. — Oak at Great Yeldha.m. ;even test three quarters, but the height is not in proportion to the bulk ; the ■tern from the branches being not above twelve feet high, and the height of the i-hole not exceeding eighty feet. At the place where this oak stands, the road rem Braintree is divided into the form of a letter Y." This tree is in a much decayed condition. Every care has been aken to preserve the trunk as far as possible by building it up with :ement, and otherwise supporting it. The view I give of it was aken from a field adjoining the road. Twinsted Oak. — At Twinsted, opposite the church, there is a Fig. 15.— ^Twinsted 0.\i-:. rand oak, with a bole having a girth of twenty seven feet. io6 THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. Screens Oaks. — There are some fine old oak trees at " Screens," Fk,. i6. — Oak at Screens. Girth, 26 feet. the trunks of which measure from twenty-one to upwards of twenty- six feet in circumference. Writtle Oaks. — In a hedge near Writtle Park, there is an oak with a trunk measuring 31 feet in circumference. This was almost Fig. 17. — Oak at Whittle. Bole, 31 feet circutnference. destroyed forty-five years ago by a fire lighted by a boy employed for scaring birds. There is also a fine oak in Writtle Park (fig. 18), . A THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. 107 -Oak i\ Whittle P.\ the trunk of which is 25I feet in circumference. This trunk was sph't completely into two by lightning twenty years ago, and it was again damaged four years ago. It is eas\- to walk between the two sections. Fig. rg. — Oak at Warren F.\rm, Whittle. I At Warren Farm, VVrittle, there is a fine and picturesque old 'oak tree, having a trunk 18 feet 10 inches in circumference. Rivenhall Oaks. — In the park there are some fine trees measuring 'rom twenty-one to twenty-three feet in circumference. A remark- i loS THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. able oak in the parish of Rivenhall is known as " King Stephen's Oak." Local tradition says that King Stephen found a hiding place ^-^^-~"<^%^^'^' Fig 20. — Oak in Rivenhall Park. in this tree, also that the oak is mentioned in Domesday Book. However, as previously stated, I cannot find that any individual tree is recorded in that careful survey. Although small, the circumference y'^^^^M^M^ ^^^^-^5^3-r^:- , Fig. 21. — King Stephen s Oak, Rivenhall. of the trunk being only sixteen feet, it is a noteworthy tree, for nothing remains of the trunk but a mere shell, apparently a few inches thick, and this so much broken away that it can be seen through. Nevertheless, the tree comes out into full leaf every year. Stisted Oak. — At the Lower Lodge at Stisted Hall there is a A THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. 109 very fine tree, probably destined in future years to become one of the remarkable oaks of the county. Its boughs stretch ninety- nine feet, and its trunk measures sixteen feet six inches, at five feet from the ground. Should any of my readers wish to visit this oak, let me recommend them to go in the spring of the year. Stisted Park and parish abounds in crimson and white-flowered thorns, and anything more bright and beautiful than this spot when the bushes are blossoming, I cannot imagine. I'll.,. 22. -Wi )iiL)iiA.\i Moi: riMicK' Oai-;. ]]/oodha)n Mortimer Oak. — At Woodham Mortimer there is a grand oak tree with a trunk twenty-four feet in circumference. Fig. 23. — OaIC at " REnFOKDS, HAVKlUNG-ATTIi-BoWF.:. THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. Bedfords Oak. — At " Bedfords," Havering-alte-Bower, the seat of the late Jas. Theobald, Esq., M.P., is an oak in vigorous growth, the stem of which measures twenty-seven feet in its narrowest circum- ference. This tree was unfortunately rent in two from top to bottom on the night of P'ebruary 17th, 1894. The fallen part was replaced in its original position by the late Mr. Theobald's desire. An account of this accident will be found in this number of The Essex Naturalist, page 153. Maldon Hall Oak.— At Maldon Hall, close to Maldon West Fig. 24. — Oak at Maldon Hall. Station, there is an oak tree, the boughs of which stretch 107 feet. Its trunk measures 16 feet in girth at five feet from the ground. 4.^ 'MK'dt^- FiG. 25. — Oak at Mu.vdon Hall, near Maldon. THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. HI Mundon Hall Oaks. — At " Mundon Hall, " near Maldon, there is a magnificent collection of oak trees, no less than forty-nine fine trees in a field of moderate size, and in an adjoining wood there is another, making fifty in all. A large proportion of these trees have trunks which have grown to the respectable size of from i6 to 17 feet circumference. It is quite wonderful to find so many well- grown oaks in one small enclosure. The Hall, though modern, no doubt replaced some older building, as an extensive moat formerly surrounded both the hall and church. Very probably the group of oaks is the remains of a park. Quendon Hall Oak. — One of the finest trees in Essex, in its full luxuriance of growth without a sign of decay, is the oak at Quendon Hall, Newport. Its stem is 20 feet 2 inches in girth at three feet Fig. 26. — Oak at Quendox Hall. 'from the ground, and it is a truly magnificent tree. In a few ! centuries, if no mishap occurs, this may rival the Great Hempstead oak. In the same park there is another fine tree 17 feet 3 inches in girth. j Mistley Oaks. — There appear to be oak trees in almost every 'district with trunks measuring from fifteen to nineteen feet in girth. In the park at INIistley, near the " Dairy Farm," is an oak in luxuriant growth (fig. 27), the boughs of which cover a circle of \\o\ feet in diameter, the trunk being 16 feet 8 inches in circumference at jfive feet from the ground On the verge of a hill in the north-east of the park, is a tree the boughs of which cover a circle 112 THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. Fii;. 27. — Oak near Dairy Farm, Mistley Park. 105I feet in diameter, with a trunk 17 feet in circumference three feet from the ground. There are also several venerable pollards, some with boles measuring as much as 22 and 23 feet in cir- cumference. Prittleivell Oak. — Mr. H. W. King, in his annotated edition of Morant's " Essex," writes : — Fig. 28. — Oak at Fingringhoe. " Oak tree standing on Colman's Farm, Prittlewell, the bound- ary between that parish and Eastwood, girtj middle of trunk 20 feet 6 inches, near the base 24 feet. Sketched 24th May, 1869. This tree still lives." Dedham and Laivford Oaks. — At Fingringhoe (fig. 28) is an oak with trunk having a girth of 1 7 feet at narrowest circumference. The tree is remarkable, not only for its picturesque surroundings, but also from the fact that the earth has been worn away from its roots, leaving them exposed, thus affording the village children the facilities they love for breaking their knees in climbing over something. In a THE OAK TRF:E IN ESSEX. IJ3 Fig 29. — Oak ^t Lawford Hall. paddock near the "Rookery," at Dedham, is a fine oak tree with trunk 16 feet in circumference. There are two oak trees of similar size at Dedham Lodge. At Lawford Hall, there is a vigorous tree with a trunk 19 feet 3 inches in circumference, and having a stretch of Fig. ^o. — Oak at Chigxal St. James. bough of 74 feet. At Chignal St. James Xhexe is also a fine tree, an illustration of which is given ; but I fear that our journal could scarcely afford space to mention the many luxuriant specimens of our national tree which exist in most districts of the county, and which promise in their day, centuries hence, to become objects of admiration for future generations. Weald Side Oak, Brentwood. — Mr. Henry Sperling, of \\'eald- side House, Brentwood, writes that this tree has a bole of 27 feet jin circumference. A tree of this magnitude certainly ranks amongst our giant oaks. I regret that I am not able to include full informa- 114 THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. tion, or an illustration of this tree, as Mr. Sperling's letter did not arrive until the paper was in the printer's hands. I shall, no doubt, have more to say about it at a later date. Old Oak trees mentioned in Colchester Borough Muniments. — In the Muniments of the Borough of Colchester oak trees are frequently mentioned. Thus, in the fourth year of Henry V., we read : " Roger Best, the abbot, appropriated a piece of land in Lodderslane, another piece next Northshieve, another in the Burgh Field, and also in Tye Field, and he had foul ditches at the King's Oak at Munk Wick, and he turned a water- course from Chaunte Field by the Chapel of St. Anne toward the King's Oak." Again in the Chamberlain's accounts for 171 7, there is a charge for payment to Edward Bartholomew for " pning " (? pruning or preserving) the Broad Oak, the sum of half-a-crown. This " Broad Oak" is marked upon Bower's map of Essex (1760) as near Mile End Hall. In an examination, in 1646, of John Pierson, appre- hended for robbing his master, it is recorded : " He went on the 20th of April to Milende, and coming home from thence to the said shunie's house, did meete with the said shunie on the side of the Milende broade Oake." Neither of those two old oaks is now known. In Savernake Forest, Wilts, there are, according to Harrod, two oaks of gigantic size called the King's Oak and the Braden or Broad Oak, a genuine Saxon name. Here at Colchester, in the old King's Woods, were two noted oaks of the same name. The " Leet Presentment," showed a King's Oak at Greenstead, at the end of East Street, which disappeared in Henry VI. 's time. Of the other, the Broad or Braden Oak, I have given all the particulars I can gather. Numerous other oaks remained after the disafforesting of King's Wood. Besides the King's Oak and the Broad Oak, the Leet Rolls mention the " Great Oak in East Street, near the Gallows "; and in the Perambulation of 1637 (in the Assembly Book for that year, printed by Morant, p. 95) we have Robin Hood Oak, "right , against Thomas a Bridge, on the left hand of the Buttolph Brook, 1 after crossing the river at Mott's Bridge " ; and in the Perambulation of 167 1, it is added that the oak stood " right on the pitch of the hill," and afterwards in the latter Perambulation the boundary is | stated as going " inside the hedge of Soame Wood to Goresbridge, which is at the bottom of Beggars' Oak Heath, leading to Ardleigh Street from Gallow Green." It will be noticed that perhaps the most frequent names of oak i THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. I15 trees in olden times were " Braden " or "Broad Oak," and " King's Oak " ; the derivation of " Braden " is apparent, but the origin of " King's Oak " is not so evident. It would be interesting to discover what this term indicates. There is reason to suppose that in some instances these trees mark the spot of some historical event con- nected with the sovereigns of our country, but this can scarcely have been the case with every tree known as the " King's Oak." I do not know whether any of the members of our Club can afford information upon this point. Weeping Oak at Cressmg. — In conclusion, we must not forget the Weeping Oak alluded to at the commencement of my remarks. At Newbarn Cressing, between Witham and Braintree, now occupied by Mr. Thomas ChaUis, there is a good specimen of this interesting variety. Having been told that there was such a tree, Mr. Harris Smith, of Stisted, kindly offered to assist me in the search ; but after driving for some time, we had almost given up our quest, when, happening to look over a hedge at Newbarn, we saw a tree much crowded by other trees, the species of which we could not cjuite make out, and this, upon a closer examination, proved to be the object of our hunt. The oak had many of the characteristics of a weeping ash, and certainly it was the most extraordinary looking tree I have ever seen. To find the mighty oak, associated in one's mind with all that is sturdy and strong, thus disguised, was indeed a shock to one's sense of fitness. We all know that when our Club was founded some fourteen years ago, Essex was much depreciated in popular estimation. We have, however, at our meetings and in the pages of our Journal, clearly established the fact that our county has its share of natural beauties. When I commenced hunting for the fine trees in Essex, I was told that I should never complete my work ; that I should find some trouble in collecting sufficient material for a paper. You will, I think, admit that the result of my search, as far as it has gone, is sufficient to firmly establish the reputation of Essex for the number of noteworthy specimens it contains of that tree deservedly called the king of the forest. Our trees will probably ihold their own, for historical interest, for beauty, for age, and for size, with those of most counties in England. I would suggest that our members might well occupy their leisure in carrying out a similar inquiry in other branches of natural history. ii6 THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. Recreation of this kind is, I can assure our members, a delightful rest from the drudgery of e\ery-day life, giving healthy exercise and pure air, and taking us into beautiful spots which one would have been unlikely to visit but for some object of inquiry. I cannot help remarking upon two things which have impressed themselves upon me during my search. One is the slight attention given to this subject by our topographical writers ; and secondly, the fact, that in almost every instance the first inhabitant I met in any village could direct me to the finest trees in his district without hesitation. I have only to add that I have received assistance from several kind friends, in particular from Mr. Miller Christy, who not only suggested the inquiry, but has given much information. I am also indebted to Messrs. W. Cole, E. A. Fitch, Harris Smith, G. N. Maynard, Hy. Myhill, J. C. Gould, W. Crouch, and many others too numerous to mention. I hope that my paper may be the means of attracting to the pages of our journal much information concerning Essex trees. " Let India boast her plants, nor envy we The weeping amber and the balm)^ tree ; While by our oaks the precious loads are borne, And realms commanded which those trees adorn." Pope. [Mr. Shenstone's Notes on Essex Oaks not being grouped on any definite plan, it will be useful to arrange the trees in the alphabetical order of the places in which they grow, for ready reference : — ' Brentwood Weald Side Oak • 113 Chignal St. James . . 113 Colchester Borough Oaks . . 114 Cressing . Weeping Oak . . I '5 Dan bury . Park Oaks . 99 Dedham . Lodge . 112 Epping Forest Cuckoo or Bedford's Oak ■ 97 ,, ,, Fairmead Oak . 97 ,, ,, King's Oak . . 96 )! 1, Pulpit Oak, etc. . 98 Fingringhoe . , . w. Hainault Forest F'airlop Oak ■ 94 Hatfield . Broad Oak, Doodle Oak Barrington Hall Oaks . lOI . 103 Havering-atte-Bowe r . Bedford's Oak . . lie Hempstead • 93 Lawford Hall Oak . 113 Maldon . 1! Hall Oak Munden Hall . . no . in THE MANAGEMENT OF EPPING FOREST. 117 PAGE. Mistley . Uaks .... . Ill Prittlewell Oak .... . 112 Quendon . Hall Oak . Ill Rivenhall Oaks .... . 107 Screens . . . . . 106 Stisted Oak . . . 108 Theydon Garnon Theydon Oak . 98 Ihorington Oaks .... . lOI i 'A instead Oak .... . 105 .\ Liodhum Alortimer Oak .... . 109 vVrittle . Park Oak . 106 ., ... Warren P'arm Oak . . 107 \'eldham, Great 104 Ed.] THE MANAGEMENT OF EPPING FOREST. OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE EXPERTS. TN the report of the meeting of the Club on April 28th last, called • ^ to consider the condition of parts of Epping Forest referred to by the newspaper critics, it was stated (an/e pp. 52-71), that a 1 Committee of Experts in F'orestry had been appointed by the Epping Forest Committee to report fully on the subject. At a meeting of the Common Council held on June 14th, the following report was submitted. We print the document in its entirety, as the full text has not been published in the newspapers, and it will form a valuable record for future reference. We have numbered the paragraphs for convenience of quotation : To the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, Aldermen^ and Commons of the City of Lonion, in Common Council assembled. \W T^E whose names are hereunto subscribed, of the Epping Forest Committee^ V V have the honour to report that in pursuance of the undertaking given by ilie Chairman of this Committee to your Honourable Court on the twelfth day of April last, we resolved that Viscount Powerscourt, who has had a large experience in the culture of woods ; Dr. Schlich, the Professor of Forestry at the Royal Indian Civil Engineers' College at Cooper's Hill, and Inspector General of Forests to the Government of India ; Mr. William Robinson, Editor of the " Garden " Newspaper ; and Mr. James Anderson, of Manchester, who is a pro- fessional Expert in Forestry ; and also two gentlemen to be nominated by Sir Joseph Hooker, formerly Director of Kew Gardens, should be requested to view the Forest, and advise us forthwith as to the effect of the thinning, and pur future policy with regard to the management of the Forest. In answer to our application, Sir Joseph Hooker nominated Earl Ducie, F.R.S., Mr. A. B. Freeman-Mitford, M.P., formerly Secretary to H. M. Commissioners of Il8 THE MANAGEMENT OF EPPINO FOREST. Works, and Mr. Angus D. Webster, formerly Forester to the Duke of Bedford and who formerly acted in the same capacity for Earl Derby and Lord Penrh)m. Earl Ducie and Viscount Powerscourt were unable, owing to pressing engage ments, to undertake the work. In asking these gentlemen to report upon the matter, they were requested t consider the question solely with regard to the preservation of the natural aspec of the Forest, and not to the commercial value of the timber. The Experts visited the Forest on the 25th April, and the 22nd, 23rd. and 24t' days of May last, and examined portions of the Forest thinned at various period during the last 14 years, including those places where the action of the Cor servators has been severely criticised, and also other parts of the Forest which ai still overcrowded. On the 7th and 8th instant they met at Guildhall to consider and sign the Report, a copy of which we beg to submit to your flonoiuable Court. The Report is unanimous, with the sole exception that Dr. Schlich disseni from the last paragraph in the Addition to the Report as to there being no nee for a nursery. In presenting this Report, we are glad to find that the Experts support th policy which the Conservators have pursued. All of which we submit to the judgment of this Honourable Court. Date the fourteenth day of June, 1894. James Salmon, P. Gellatly, Richard Adam Ellis, W. T. Brown, John Green wood, William Battye, Graham King, Oliver Henry Davis, T. Fowell Buxtor R. C. Halse. June ^t/i, 1894. I Sir, — In accordance with the wishes of the Corporation of the City of Londoi we have visited Epping Forest, and have very carefully examined it, haviii; regard to its management in the past, and with a view of offering suggestions a to its future treatment. (i) We have been greatly struck by the immense value to London of S' beautiful a tract of sylvan scenery in its immediate neighbourhood, and it is witi a view of preserving for the present, and perpetuating for the future, the beautie of the Forest that our recommendations are made. (2) We leave on one side all questions of forestry for profit, and we do no propose to treat this natural woodland from the point of view of a park ; wij consider that the only way of doing justice to Epping Forest is by maintaininji intact those characters which have been its chief distinction. | Our proposals are as follows : — (3) As there is much beautiful landscape in and around the Forest, the openins! up of which would add much to its charms, we think that the best views shoulc be carefully opened up by making judicious clearings. Such views would be ii every wa}' a gain. Honey Lane Quarters is an example where by careful clearing pretty views of the Lea Valley may be obtained. (4) The Rides and Drives are beautiful features of the Forest, and thosi made in recent years are well designed. They should receive constant attention lest the encroachments of vegetation should mar their picturesque effect. In thi connection we would call attention to the beauty of the glades which alread; , exist. These should be increased in number where it can be done withou sacrificing the finer trees or interfering with the massive groups of the Forest. THE MANACIEMENT OK EPPING FOREST. II9 (5) Pollard Hornheains. — A vasi proportion of the area of tlie Forest is covered by Pollard Hornbeams. In parts they are an interesting feature, but the practice of pollarding having been discontinued, the trees are now so dense that neither light nor air can penetrate. We consider that with a view to encouragina; the growth of better trees and varying the monotony of the Forest, the best course will be, not generally to thin the trees, but tq make bold clearances among them. The finer Pollard Oaks throughout the Forest should be carefully preserved. (6) Planting. — We are opposed to any artificial planxing in the Forest. The natural vegetation is so luxuriant that there is little need of the planter if Nature be allowed to take her course ; but where the tree growth falls short it would be advisable to assist it by the introduction of seed of the trees which are indigenous to the Forest. It may be necessary for a lime to protect certain spaces against the inroads of cattle, horses, and deer. (7) We most strongly object to the planting of any l-\>reign trees. (8) We do not approve of the small ring plantations which have been formed in parts of the Forest. They are, in our judgment, out of keeping with the true character of the woodlands. (9) Underwood. — Although in many places this forms one of the beauties of the Forest, we do not think that in all parts sacrifices should be made for the purpose of encouraging it where the trees do not allow of its healthy growth, as under Beeches. The effect of closely-massed forest trees constitutes a beauty in itself. (10) Drainage. — We consider that there should be as little artificial drainage as possible, though in the case of rides or drives it is sometimes necessary. The natural drainage is in most places sufficient, and the streamlets should be allowed to make their own courses. (11) In approaching the question of thinning, we think we can best point out our \iews by taking as examples a few typical parts of the Forest, as it is impossible to lay down any general principles for dealing with so vast and various un area. (12) Hawk Wood is, in the main, an Oak \\'ood, ami the trees are not such as would be improved by wholesale thinning, h would be, in our opinion, wise to take out no trees, except such as are obviously d3nng, and a few scrubby stunted trees which are injuring the others. Where, here and there, a single specimen of more than usual beauty can be encouraged into noble growth, it should be protected from overcrowding. But we attach great importance to preserving the massive character of the B'orest, especially in this Wood. (13) Monk Wood. — This consists of fine old Pollarded Beeches, and, in oiu' judgment, it needs no further thinning for many 3'ears to come. (14) High Beach. — The trees here are of considerable age and beauty, and we do not think that they should be interfered with. (15) Wathamstow Wood. — The beautiful undergrowth of Holly is here a distinctive feature. There are a few dead and dying trees which should be removed, and here and there some Pollards, which threaten to injure the Hollies. The healthy Oaks, even where crowded, should be left standing. The beauty of tall oak stems, often lichen-covered, when growing in close woods, should be considered. (16) Theydon High Wood. — Here are Beech trees of moderate age which have ] 20 THE MANAGEMENT OF EPPINO FOREST. not been pollarded, forming a dense canopy of leafage, and constituiing a distinct feature. We recommend moderate and periodic thinning. (17) Lord's Bushes. — At this point there is a struggle between health}' young trees (Oaks and Beeches), and a number of old Pollards, some of which are dying. Having regard to the preponderance of Pollards in the Forest, we should, a,s a rule, let the young trees take the lead, pre5er\ing the ;fiiaer. and inor? picturesque Pollards. , - :...'" (18) As profit is out of the question, we consider that the thinning of ihe Oak trees should be done in winter, without regard to the-value of the bark. Less injury will accrue in this waj' to adjoining trees. All cutting should be done in late autumn and winter. (19) In conclusion, we may say that we are not prepared to endorse the strictures which have been passed upon the work carried out in Epping Forest. We are of opinion that much has been done judiciously and well. In some instances we should not, perhaps, unanimously approve of the whole of the action of the authorities. In others, we may consider that more might have been done. But of one thing we are certain, that whatever has been done has been animated by earnest desire to preserve the finest features of the Forest and through intimate knowledge of its necessities and peculiar conditions. We have the honour to be. Sir, Your obedient Servants, A. B. Freeman-Mitford, William Schlich, A. D. Webster, W. Robinson, and James Anderson. To Sir John Mon'ckton. June %th., 1894. (20) We think the practice of Gravel Digging should be discontinued as tending to the disfigurement and injury of the Forest, as may be seen at Strawberry Hill. W. Schlich, James Anderson, A. B. Freeman-Mitford, A. D. Webster, and W. Robinson. (21) As we have expressed a strong opinion against the re-planting of the Forest in the ordinary sense, we think there is no need for a Nurser}', and that it should be discontinued. A. D. Webster, W. Robinson, James Anderson, and A. B. Freeman-Mitford. While there is not much in the Report that is new to those whc, have carefully considered the matter, it will, we believe, be accepted! by them as a correct statement of the present condition of the' Forest, and although there may be some slight differences of opinior in matters of detail, they will be prepared to endorse most of tht recommendations of the Special Committee. We are very glad to see the condemnation of excessive artificia" drainage (paragraph 10). We have always strongly opposed deep drainage in the Forest, as being in the highest degree detrimental tc NOTES ON THF. CONI'ERKNCE OK 1)EI,E(;ATES. T2I the natural growth of plants, mosses, etc., and we hope, for instance, that Debden Slade will be allowed to re-form itself into the delightful swamp of former years, fragrant with mints and gay with Lychnis and Ragworts. To the Conservators we would say, keep your paths dry if you wish, but pray leave us our Sphagnum bogs 1 We also cannot agree with the assertions as to replanting parts of the Forest (paragraphs 6 and 21), and the non-necessity for a nursery of young trees. Dr. Schlich appears not to coincide with these views of his colleagues, and' we trust that the matter will be further considered. As Prof. Meldola says : ''None of us will ever live to see some tracts of the Forest restored to anything like a natural con- dition unless planting is resorted to." Taking the Report as a whole, naturalists will, we are sure, be very well satisfied, and will accept it as a satisfactory answer to recent criticisms on the work of the Conservators. AVith this document as a new^ Magna Charta of the Forest, we may feel quite happy in the anticipation of living to see a restored woodland, yearly becoming more natural and beautiful. Let us hope also that the Report will put a stop to some of the nonsense in the newspapers. One leading journal the other day, in the course of a political attack on the Corporation, sneered at their work in "Epping Forest, which they have so grossly mismanaged"! We should recommend this writer to take a tramp this month through Lodge Bushes and Theydon Thickets ; he would get rid of his attack of dyspepsia, and go home with some more correct notions of the character and beauty of the autumnal woodlands. In conclusion, we may refer to an interesting analysis of the Report, communicated by Prof. Meldola to Nature, of July 5th last, under the title of " The Settlement of the Epping Forest Question." NOTES ON THE CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES OF THE CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION, OXFORD, 1894. LJAVING attended the Conference of Delegates at O.xtbrd as Secretary of the Corresponding Societies' Committee and as Delegate of the Essex Field Club, I have pleasure in forwarding for The Essex Naturalist a few notes on the proceedings of the Con- ference, of which Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., was Chairman. K \ 122 NOTES ON THE CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES OF THE It was thought by the Corresponding Societies' Committee that it might increase the practical advantages of the Conference if its first meeting were devoted to the discussion of some one subject of general interest to the Coi responding Societies, and the second to the various matters usually touched upon in connection with the various Sections of the Association. Accordingly, Mr. Cuthbert Peek, M.A., a member of the Corresponding Societies' Committee, Jcindly consented to open a discussion at the first meeting of the Conference on August 9th on the subject of Local Museums, pro- posing to treat the question under the following headings : 1. Methods of registration and cataloguing. 2. The protection of specimens from injury and dust. 3. The circulation of specimens and type collections for educational purposes. 4. Central referees for nomenclature and classification. 5. The most satisfactory methods of makint: museums attractive. 6. Museum lectures and demonstrations. 7. The relations between museums and County Councils. For small museums Mr. Peek considered the card catalogue was the most convenient, and he dwelt on the advantages of having a letter and number painted on a specimen, and of other means by which a specimen might easily be identified if the label were dis- placed by a careless cleaner. As regards the preservation of specimens from injury and dust, he reminded the delegates that every closed case was acted upon by changes in the pressure of the atmosphere, and that it drew in or gave out air and dust with every change of pressure. Professor Miall, of the Yorkshire College, had a rectangular hole cut in the top of each case and covered with damiette This filtered the air passing through. Mr. Peek himself inclined to use cotton wool. It should be remembered, he added, that enough air should be admitted at the authorised entrance to prevent a supply from being sucked in through the inevitable joints and cracks elsewhere. He then spoke very highly of the advantages of the circulation of loan collections illustrating the subjects taught in elementary schools. At Liverpool, he remarked, a system for doing this had been very carefully elaborated, and those interested in the subject should consult a paper by Mr. J. Chard in the Report of the Museums' .Association for i8go. He thought that an organisation of specialists, who would, for a small fee, allow specimens to be sent to them for identification, would be of great value. In the discussion after the conclusion of CORRESPONDING SOCIKTIF.S OF THK P,RITISF^ ASSOCIATION. 1 23 his remarks, Sir John Evans said he thought the keepers of the various departments of the British Museum would be found admirable referees in such matters. Mr. Peek considered that the leading feature of an unattractive museum was a dusty stagnation. Such a museum became almost as much fossilised as the fossils it contained ; its labels were either illegible from age or invisible from displacement. Those who casually entered such museums seldom revisited them. Some variation in the aspect of a museum was itself an attraction. It was most desirable that the English as well as the Latin name of a specimen should be given. Much might be done to allow of com- parisons between creatures of different families or genera. Thus, at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, the skeletons of a man and of a horse had recently been placed, the one in front of the other, in the attitude of running, so that the relations of the two, bone for bone, could be distinctly seen. Museum demonstrations, though of the highest value, could only, he thought, be really useful to a few persons at a time. It was desirable that the demonstrator should be placed on a temporary stand so that he might see, and be seen by, his audience. Lastly, he touched upon the relations between museums and County Councils, remarking that it had always appeared to him that demonstrations in museums should take a very prominent part in technical education, especially in rural districts, and he had been (Surprised that so little assistance had been given in aid of local collections by County Councils. In order to ascertain what had been done he had sent out a circular to County Council Technical ■Education Committees, and had found that local museums and free libraries had been assisted in only nine cases. The County Council of Cumberland had been the most liberal, having made a grant of v^6oo per annum during the last three years for the purpose of aiding the Corporation of Carlisle to erect a Museum, Free Library, and Art School. A grant had also been made to a Free Library at Whitehaven for the purchase of books for the use of students at |Technical Instruction classes ; and a grant of ^200 per annum had jbeen given to the Local Board of Millom in aid of the Free Library land Technical School at that town. Passing over grants to Free Libraries, and for the purchase of technical books in various counties, it appeared that in Surrey it was proposed to found a Museum in connection with buildings for technical education, and a reference 124 NOTES ON THE CONFERENCE OF DELEOATES OF THE library. The London County Council had a proposal to aid a certain museum under consideration, and in Dorset the museums at Poole, Dorchester, and Sherborne had all received aid. From some counties no information had yet been received, but enough had been stated to show that there was no insuperable obstacle to the applica- tion of money intended for Technical Education to the development of museums. Mr. Peek concluded by remarking that any grants made to local museums and free libraries would tend more than anything else to increase local activity. The discussion on Mr. Peek's paper turned largely on the relations between local museums and County Councils. Sir John Evans doubted whether grants to museums would be permitted to pass by the (lOvernment auditors, though a grant of technical books to a local museum might be allowed. The Rev. O. P. Cambridge (Dorset) believed that in some cases County Councils had made grants which they were not altogether legally entitled to make, but which, from the good work done, were not likely to be called into question. And Mr. T. W. Shore said that it was at least clear that grants could be made by County Councils to defray the expense of lectures and demonstrations in museums. For my own part, I remarked that I held in my hands a letter from Mr. W. Cole, Secretary to the Essex Field Club, who was intimately acquainted with the system of Technical Education as it was carried out in Essex. Mr. Cole lamented that nothing had been granted by the County Council to aid museums, but thought that to do so was probably beyond their legal powers, and hoped for an amendment of the Technical Instruction Acts. He would doubtless be cheered by Mr. Peek's remarks on that point, which showed, at least, that grants to museums were by no means un questionably illegal. Mr. Cole doubted the efficiency of mere lecturing, especially in rural districts. When a lecturer departed he took away the specimens he had brought with him as illustrations tO| his remarks, and but little real and abiding interest in his subject! was aroused. What was really wanted was a permanent central museum which was constantly sending forth loan collections to the remoter districts, and allowed them to remain there for a certain time after the lectures illustrated by the collections had been given. Mr. Cole, however, did not think that museums should be entirely worked by County Councils, as that would greatly weaken the interest taken in museums by the naturalists and Field Clubs who had y CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES OF THE URITISH ASSOCIATION, I 25 usually originated them. Moreover, the placing of these institutions entirely under the control of such public bodies might tend to stereo- typing them, the country through, into " cut and dried " collections of "educational type specimens " in connection with technical class- rooms, and thereby possibly destroy the primary function of county museums, which is to gather together authentic series of local specimens, whether of a "natural history," geological, or ethno- logical character, so as ultimately to establish collections of permanent scientific value, and of the greatest interest to every intelligent resident and visitor. But the funds of almost all societies of naturalists were so small that the main hindrance to the develop- ment of a museum was a want of money, which suggested a want of permanence. By a small grant towards the cost of a curator, or for some similar purpose, obtainable only while the museum remained efiScient, a County Council might do very much to render a museum permanent and efficient without diminishing the interest of individual naturalists in its welfare and development. Mr. Coates (Perthshire) stated that at Perth they were building a large addition to their Museum, and had applied for aid both from the Town Council and the County Council. They had obtained a grant from the County Council on the condition that they should provide specimens suitable for agricultural teaching. These specimens would be used for lectures and demonstrations, and they had been advised that they could not otherwise obtain the grant. Mr. Seward (Cardiff) was anxious to learn, if possible, what things purchased for a museum with the view of making it more attractive and useful to the poorer classes could be legally purchased under the Act. Sir John Evans replied that he supposed the best authority in these cases was the Science and Art Department, at South Kensington. The following resolution was eventually [)roposed by Sir Douglas Gallon, seconded by Dr. Brett, and carried unanimously : " That in the opinion of this Conference it is desirable that local Natural History Societies and those in charge of local museums should place themselves in communication with the .Technical Instruction Committee of the County or Borough in which they are placed, with the view of obtaining pecuniary grants towards extending technical knowledge by means of lectures or by demonstra- ' tions in museums." I I The Second Conference took place on August 14th. ' On the subject of Meteorological Photography, Mr. Clayden, 126 NOTES ON THE CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES OF THE the Secretary to the B. A. Committee deahng with this subject, said that he would be glad to receive photographs show- ing lightning flashes of an abnormal character. He added that he read now and then in the newspapers accounts of the remarkable effects produced by a whirlwind in this or that district. But he usually found that it was then too late to have the results photographed, the damage done having been repaired, or the damaged object removed. In such cases he would be very grateful to the Secretary of any local society in the district affected who would get photographs taken at once and send them to him. Earth tremors. — Mr. Davison, Secretary of the Earth Tremors Committee, gave some account of the work of the Committee, and Mr. Horace Darwin described the construction and use of the Bifilar Pendulum, which he has invented, and a full account of which appeared in "Nature" of July 12th, 1894. He said it was not affected by the rapid complicated movements which took place during an earthquake, nor by the slight tremors produced by pass- ing carts or trains. The movements which it would measure and register were such as would make a factory chimney lean over to one side. Extremely small movements of this kind could be detected. Mr. Symons, the Chairman of the Earth Tremors Committee,, said that some time ago the attention of the Committee had been directed to certain vibrations recorded by an instrument placed at the bottom of a deep mine in the district of Newcastle-on-Tyne. These pulsa- tions were traced to two causes, one, the gradual settlement of the ground in consequence of the removal of the coal, the other, the beating of the waves upon the coast. Mr. Davison on one occasion found pulsations were taking place which eventually turned out to have been produced by an earthquake then going on in Cireece. They wanted information, added Mr. Symons, as to the changes going on in connection with the faults in geological strata, and, if possible, to get records of the alterations in the earth's crust caused by tidal waves. The Committee had one instrument under the charge of Mr. Davison at Birmingham, but they wished to establish others in various parts of the British Isles. In Essex we have no great lines of fault along the course ol which an instrument for recording earth tremors would be especiall) desirable. But in the small compact area from Colchester tc Mersea, which was so severely damaged by the earthquake of 1884. we have a tract of country in which we might expect earth trenion CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 12- to be especially numerous and powerful, if Palaeozoic rocks are unusually near the surface there, a view to which I am myself inclined. It would be interesting to compare with the record of an instrument so placed, that of another at Culford, near Bury vSt. Edmunds, where Palaeozoic rocks of doubtful affinities have been found at a depth of only 63 7 ^ feet below the surface. And it is evident that others are also desirable in districts where the earth- quake was unfelt, and where Palaeozoic rocks (as near Battle, in Sussex) are known to be at a great depth below, for the sake of comparison with the results attained in differently constituted areas. Pollution of Air in Toiv/is. — Dr. G. H. Bailey gave some account of the examination of the air of towns in vvhich they had been engaged at Manchester, in connection with the Manchester Field Naturalists. He had come to the conclusion that the amount of the death-rate varied with the amount of the pollution in the air. The diminution in the amount of sunlight or daylight in the centres of large towns, as compared with their suburbs and with the open country, might amount to fifty, sixty, or seventy per cent. The work already done had been chronicled in the " Journal " of the Manchester Field Naturalists for 1893. -^^ regards the effects of smoke on plants, the Chairman (Professor Meldola) remarked that cryptogams and lichens were once common on trees in Epping Forest though now they are rare. Mr. W. Whitaker, F.R.S. (representing Section C), said that the first subject to which he would refer was Coast Erosion. The final report on this subject would be made next year, and the matter would then be handed over to the local societies, when those which had coast lines could register future changes on six inch maps. The Committee dealing with the Circulation of Underground- Waters would also issue their final report next year, and the local societies would be able to continue the investigation. Twenty reports had been issued, and it had been suggested that if the material in them were arranged topographically, and possibly rondensed, many local societies might be glad to have the volume, which would probably form an octavo book of 250 to 300 pages. Professor Blake wished to inform the representatives of the local societies that he was engaged in examining the microzoa of clays, especially of Jurassic Clays, and would be much obliged if they could send him samples. He would be glad to report to the senders as to the general character of these clays and their microzoa. He 128 NOTES ON THE CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES OF THE also took the opportunity of mentioning that he could no longer afford to publish the " Annals of British Geology," at a loss, but that it must cea^e to exist unless he received increased support. Mr. Whitaker trusted that Mr. Blake's remarks would tend to prevent the cessation of a very useful and entertaining work. Geological Photographs. — Mr. Jeffs, Secretary to the Committee dealing with this subject, said that th^ Committee had received 1,055 photographs, and that they passed a resolution recommend- ing the Council of the British Association, whose property they were, to deposit them in the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street, London. Passing from Geology to Geography^ I have to note that Mr. Sowerbutt?, the delegate of the Manchester Geographical Society, who has, year after year, denounced the neglect of geography in our primary schools, and who this year said, no doubt rightly, that geography would never be properly taught unless it was made a compulsory subject, admitted that some improvement had taken place. It is, indeed, as Mr. Sowerbutts remarked, a strange thing that geography should be so much neglected by a country owning more isolated tracts of territory in every quarter of the world than any other nation. The Manchester Geographical Society, of which Mr. Sowe. butts is Secretary, has been in the habit of instituting examinations in geography for school children. The result of a recent examination on the geography of Yorkshire was to show that out of 60 candidates, comprising t^-X) boys and 27 girls, the twelve prizes and certificates had been won either by Yorkshire girls or Lancashire boys. A glance at the report of the Society for 1 893, a copy of which Mr. Sowerbutts was good enough to present to each delegate, shows that the seven successful boys all came from the Hulme Grammar School, Manchester, while the five prize-winning girls had all been trained at the Northcote Girls' School, Armley, Leeds. The advantages of sound methods in teaching geography could not have been more triumphantly demonstrated. Mr. Brabrook gave some account of the progress made towards the Ethnographical Survey during the past year. Their list of suitable villages had, he said, considerably increased, and amounted to 367. Mr. Brabrook mentioned the various places at which sub-committees had been formed. The Keeper of the Museum at Liverpool, Dr. Forbes, had rendered most valuable assistance, and the Glasgow Archaeological Society had promised help. Of the places at which CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 1 29 sub-committees have been formed, to develop the work locally, I will only here mention Ipswich, a place not far from the northern border of Essex, at which the British Association will meet next year. It is most desirable that residents in Essex interested in the Ethnographical Survey should put themselves into communication with the Ipswich sub-committee, in order to ascertain its mode of work and the area with which it occupies itself, and thus economise tune and labour and prevent over lapping. Whether it would be better for workers in Essex to report to Ipswich as their local centre, or to establish another sub-committee in Essex, is a point which can only be satisfactorily settled when it is known what the Ipswich subcommittee has done, is doing, and proposes to do in the future. It appears to me that the discussions at Oxford gained in interest and concentration from the devotion of the whole of the first meeting to a single subject, and of the second to the ordinary sectional discussions. At Edinburgh or Nottingham it might happen that Messrs. A, B, C, and D all intended to speak on a certain subject. A and B might speak on it at the first meeting, during the absence of C and U at a garden party, and C and D might discuss it at the second, during a similar absence on the part of A and B. At Oxford a delegate knew precisely when a special subject would be discussed, and that he must either speak on it then or lose his opportunity altogether. It is impossible to fir.d anything to object to in the terms of the resolution about Local Museums. Indeed the delegates from some districts may have felt that scarcely anything more could be legitimately desired. In Essex, however, where the chief thing required is the permanent establishment of a museum, the resolu- tion will seem to have no practical interest. As the Rev. Canon Tristam remarked at the Edinburgh Conference of Delegates, there is urgent need either of endowment or of help from the County Council to maintain a museum in working order. He added that many museums had gone to utter decay from the want of an endowment, while those at Newcastle, York, Manchester, Liverpool, and Norwich were all endowed. It is indeed impossible that any local society of naturalists can do much to maintain a museum, though it may be a most powerful aid in the formation of one. For, in the first place, its numbers will vary considerably from time ; the loss of four or five of its most prominent members in the 130 THE QUESTION OF WORKABLE course of a year or two may lead to the secession of a considerable number of members, and consequently to a serious diminution of income. New accessions may possibly revive it, but a museum must cost as much in adveisity as in prosperity, or be got rid of entirely. A thinner volume of Transactions may be published and money saved in that way, but such savings are a very common cause of renewed secessions, the publication of Transactions being a primary object of the society and the establishment of a museum a secondary one — if that. And in its most prosperous times the income of a local society consists of an amount which leaves it no surplus after the expenses of its evening meetings and excursions have been met, and its Transactions have been issued in a creditable form. For the numbers of persons in any district who become members of Naturalists' Societies is very limited, and varies largely with the amount of subscription required, as may be learned from a glance at the list of the Corresponding Societies of the British Association. In short, while the fact that a local society usually comprises almost all the local collectors makes it the best possible body for the formation of a museum, its small income, which is necessarily devoted almost entirely to other objects, makes it utterly incompetent to maintain one. It is, therefore, most gratifying to learn that the County Council of Dorset has given giants directly to three local museums on the simple condition that they should be open to the public free on one day in the week, and that the Government auditor has apparently not objected to this grant. T. V. Holmes. THE QUESTION OF WORKABLE COAL MEASURES BENEATH ESSEX.' By the Rev. A. IRVING, D.Sc, F.G.S., Vicay of Hockcrill. IN dealing with this question, a few preliminary and general con- siderations may perhaps be necessary, in order that a fairly clear idea may be gained of the place of the Coal Measures in the geological history of this globe by other than students of geology. While this earth was yet young, but had so far cooled down from the conditions of a glowing star that the greater part of the aqueous vapour of its primordial atmosphere had been condensed upon the I This article is reprinted from the " Herts and Essex Observer, "of July i4lh, 1854, by the kind permission of Messrs. Mardon Bros., the proprietors, and Dr. Irving.— Ed. COAL MEASURES BENEATH ESSEX. 13I primaeval crust (a state of things perhaps not altogether unlike that which exists in the larger planet Jupiter), that crust was much thinner than the present lithosphere, or stony outer structure, of the globe. Into this great question we cannot enter here.- Now this thin crust at an early period began to depart from the geometrical regularity of a spherical surface, and as the whole globe contracted from further loss of heat, the crust had to bend and throw itself into a series of slight flexures, rising in parts into broad flat arches or domes (which initiated our present continents in out line) and sinking in other parts into vast saucer-like hollows (out- lining the ocean-basins of the globe). Further contraction neces- sitated other movements of a more local nature, their localities being determined by lines of weakness in the crust as it gradually thickened, though not equally in all parts. Such movements have given direction to most of the mountain-chains of the globe, some of which have since been worn down by denudation to mere stumps, as is the case with the Scottish and Welsh Highlands, the mountains of Bohemia and Central Germany, and others that might be mentioned. Along the early axes of elevation in many cases, further movements (at the early stages feeble) have taken place, as the result of the lateral thrust due to contraction of the globe as a whole, and in their later stages have lifted into the sky such present lofty ranges as the Alpine System, the Pyrenees, the Himalayas, the Andes. Two general accompaniments of such axes of elevation must be mentioned — (i) the fundamental crystalline rocks (the gneisses and schists of the text-books) form everywhere the inner cores of these elevated regions ; (2) such disturbances have given rise to innumer- able foldings and faultings of the crust, producing lines and points of weakness, through which enormous quantities of molten material have escaped from the interior, giving us another class of crystalline rocks known to the geologist as eruptive igneous rocks. These have been simply passive accompaniments of elevation ; the notion (found in the older text-books) that they were the active agents of elevation may be relegated to the limbo of geological fiction. This has all been discussed by myself and others elsewhere, but its discussion here would be out of place, and involve scientific technicalities which 2 It is dealt with in my '•Chemical and Physical Studies in the Metamorphism of Rocks " (Longiiians, 1889). The view there worked, out has since been adopted by a leading American geologist as furnishing the only clue to the observed relations of the Archaean Rocks of the North American Continent and was warmly appreciated at the time by Professor Hermann Credner. of Leipzig, whom I regard as one of the \ery foremost of European geologists. These ideas are slowly working their way into the text-books published in this country. 132 THE QUESTION OF WORKABLE would make this article unreadable to the general public. Such axes of elevation as have been referred to are, however, but mere wrinkles on the larger curvatures of the lithosphere of the globe ; while in some cases, as in the broad arch of the Rocky Mountains, the later stratified rocks still form a vast plateau, which may some day be thrown into the form of a normal mountain-chain, when the deep incisions made by the canons shall relieve the strain sufficiently to allow the rocks below to be ridged up into another crystalline axis. We must free our minds of the popular fallacy that the stratified rocks of the globe are parts of what were once continuous layers spread over the globe. All recent progress in geological science has led to the recognition of the fact that they were definitely related to the older continental masses, off the margins of which they were deposited, from which also their materials were in great part derived by the ordinary processes of waste and transport by water. This was first, I believe, prominently put forward in this country by Professor Geikie, in his presidential address to the Geographical Section of the British Association at Edinburgh in 1892, though to some of us who were familiar with the Continental literature of the subject, there was nothing new in it. Now the question naturally arises as to whether geology affords any evidence of the stage in the earth's history at which " dry land " was first formed by elevation above the once universal ocean. This has been often considered and debated. For my own part I am inclined to the view which I have put forward elsewhere, and which is held by some geologists whose views are entitled to respect, that we have no evidence . of any general land elevation before what is known as the Devonian age, when we meet with first appearances of a definite land-vegetation, the anthracite and graphite of the earlier strata being derived from marine Algaj.'' All the formations of previous date (the sandstones, the conglomerates, the mudstones, the limestones, and the clays since altered into slates), of the Cambrian and Silurian periods, are of the nature of marine deposits, as testified by their fossil contents ; and where these fail us, as in the Cambrian and Huronian conglomerates and sand- stones (altered m many cases into quartzites), the occurrence of such strata is perhaps best explained by the enormous tidal action 3 That is to say, the earlier stratified sedimentary rocks. The graphite of the Archasan rocks h.-xd in all probability a different origin altogether, and had nothing to do with plants, but was of mineral origin, as I have shown op.cit., and in a paper read at the Bath meeting of the British .Association, i8S8. COAL MEASURES MENEATH ESSEX. 1 33 (far greater in those early stages than anything of which we have experience), which was brought to bear upon those gradually rising portions of the crust, which have formed the nuclei of present continents, before their final emergence above the waters of the universal ocean. By a series of sketch maps Professor Dana, of America, attempted years ago to trace the outlines of the growth of the North American continent from the earliest elevation of the Archaean region of the Canadian Dominion ; and if we turn our attentiorf to the European continent, we can trace in a similar way its gradual growth by deposition of later (stratified) formations going on pari />assii with differential movements of tlie lithosphere of this part of the globe, from the earliest elevation of the Archx-an regions of Scandinavia (with Lapland and Finland), continued through the western flank of the British Kles into Brittany ; while another region of earliest elevation probably extended through Auvergne, Central Germany, Bohemia, and Upper Austria. A portion of the present Spanish Peninsula may perhaps have formed a third and minor region of elevation. I have dealt with this matter in papers published back in the " eighties " in its relation to the distribution of the younger Red Rocks of Europe (the Permian and the Trias) with the aid of the writings of some leading Continental geologists, added to my own observations in Germany and in Britain. We are thus brought to see that in later Palaeozoic time, that is to say, in the great Carboni- ferous Period, together with the Post-Carboniferous (the Permian or Dyas), while the crust of the globe was still thinner than it is now, the lithosphere must have been in a very unstable condition of equilibrium, and that, as a rule, those broad belts of its surface, which formed the margins of the earliest regions of elevation (being subjected to less hydrostatic pressure than those portions which served as the beds of the deeper oceanic basins), would furnish conditions of greatest instability ; that is to say, conditions most favourable to the relief of the general strain of the lithosphere by up or down movements. Of such a condition of things we have the actual record in the general facies of those formations, which consti- tute the strata of the Carboniferous Period, to the later portion of which our Coal-measures, as a rule, belong. The sequence of changes recorded in the rocks of the later PaUeozoic Period, speaking generally, is as follows (beginning with the older strata) : 134 thf: qufstion of workable 1. Deep-sea marine formations, consisting for the most part of limestones with marine animal remains, known as the Carboniferous Limestone, passing up into Yoredale shales and sandstones. In some areas (as in Devon) this formation changes its character to the Ctdm, the marine fauna being feebly represented along with a considerable development of a land-flora. 2. Shore-formations indicating a gradual shallowing of the sea, consisting of grits and sandstones, known in English geology as the Milhtone-grit. 3. Fresh-water marsh and lagoon formations, broken by insigni- ficant oscillations and occasional shallow sea deposits, consisting of the Coal-bearing strata with land-plants in abundance, the vegetation, where sui^ciently concentrated (chiefly in the middle and upper strata), being mineralised into seams of coal, which together with the sandstones and shales form the productive Coal-tneasures. [The maximum thickness of the Millstone-grit and Coal-measiu-es in Britain exceeds 15,000 feet.] 4. Shore formations, consisting chiefly of conglomerates and sandstones, bearing workable coal-seams in some parts of Europe, and indicating gradual subsidence (of more limited areas than in t) generally 2vith a stratification quite discordant ivith that of the older formations. This is the Roth/iegendes, or Lower Dyas of German geologists. 5. Deep-sea marine formations, consisting for tjie most part of limestones with marine animal-remains, \.\\e Magnesian Limestone of the north of England, the Zechsiein of Germany. The storage of carbon in the lithosphere of the earth in the form of the mineralised vegetable- matter of our coal seams is not confined to one stage of the earth's history, but it is to be found so concen- trated at that stage as to exceed the aggregate amount of the work done of this nature through all other periods put together ; and no name in geology has, perhaps, been more felicitously chosen than that which is universally given to the great Carboniferous System. How was this brought about ? There must have been a cause, and recent researches have brought the cause to light. We must recollect that the small quantity of carbonic acid gas (about four parts in 10,000) in our present atmosphere is no measure of what existed in the atmosphere of palaeozoic times, for the simple reason that all the carbon of our coal-seams, all the carbon of the later (Tertiary) Brown Coal deposits, all the carbon locked up in the present vegetation and COAL MEASURES RENEATH ESSEX. I 35 peat-deposits of the globe, together with all the carbon which forms the essential element of the limestones of the subsequently-formed strata of the crust of the earth, existed as free carbonic acid gas, either suspended in the atmosphere or dissolved in the waters of the universal ocean, at the time when the land first began to err^erge from the ocean. This carbonic acid gas is — as is well known — the essential food-stuff of the plant world ; and we should expect, therefore, that when once a land vegetation had got a start, as we have noticed above, in the Devonian Age, it would develop and multiply with a vigour and rapidity altogether unknown to us in the present stage of the earth's history, in which the vegetation of the globe may be said by comparison to subsist upon " starvation diet." This has, I know, been called in question by some whose opinions are entitled to respect ; and several years ago the question was raised again in the pages of the " Geological Magazine." This led me in the summer of 1888 to carry out a series of experiments on the effect of atmospheres of different compositions with varying proportions of carbonic acid upon plants of the same kind, of the same age and healthy growth, exposed to the same conditions of light and tempera- ture. The general results, which were published in the " Report of the British Association Meeting " at Bath in that year, showed clearly enough that so long as the roots of the plants were kept well supplied with water, and there was a fair percentage of free oxygen in the atmosphere to maintain the activity of the protoplasm, the rapidity of grcnvth was greatly i?icreased as the percentage of carbonic acid gas was higher in the air to zvhicli their foliage was exposed. I was informed afterwards by one of the most distinguished botanists in this country, that this result agreed v/ith the results which had been recently obtained in a similar way in Germany. As I pointed out in the " Report " referred to (page 661) this great and extra- ordinary development of plant life (chiefly Vascular Cryptogams, Conifers, and such intermediate forms as Sigillaria) in the Carbon- iferous Age served both " as a means of storage of carbon in the earth's lithosphere and to purify the atmosphere, so as to render it fit for the development of air-breathing forms of life in the Mesozoic Age." There can be no doubt that with the removal of carbonic acid from the air the supply of oxygen to it was proportionately increased ; assimilation of carbon by the green colouring matter of plants under the stimulus of sunlight and the setting free of oxygen being two concomitant factors of the fundamental law of vegetable growth. 13" THE QUESTION OF WORKAIiLE Now, as the detritus derived from the higher land regions together with the vegetable matter of the Coal accumulated along the margins of the earlier continental regions of elevation to a thickness in the British area of over 15,000 feet (and equal to the aggregate of maximum thicknesses of all the British Secondary and Tertiary formations), certain mechanical results must have followed. The enormous additional burden thus imposed upon these areas of deposition would tend to depress them. Such a force acting verti- cally downwards would be resolved partly into lateral thrusts tending (i) to pinch-up in places the Carboniferous limestone floor of the sea at greater distance from the land, giving rise to new and minor axes of elevation ; (2) to increase the elevation of the land-regions from which the detrital material had been derived followed or accompanied by increased degradation of their materials. There is evidence of the latter having actually occurred, in the conglomerates and sandstones of earlier Permian strata (known as the Rothlie- gendes), some of which are shore deposits, while others of vast thicknesses, as in Thuringia and in Devonshire, bear evidence (us shown in my recent papers on the Devon Red Rocks in the " Journal of the Geological Society ") of having accumulated on the flanks of great mountain regions of older land. In parts of Germany and Austria these Rothliegende strata even contain work- able Coal-seams, a fact which testifies to their land origin ; in other cases the Coal-Measures proper are worked beneath them, as they are in Notts and elsewhere beneath the red strata of the Trias, which in many cases overlap both Permian strata and Coal- Measures. But we cannot go here into details. Further movements of the crust occurred during that long period in which the sandstones, pebble-beds, and marls of the Trias (one of the most puzzling of all geological systems) were deposited, by which large marine basins were formed, the outline of which we can, in the hght of the accumulated evidence furnished by geology, trace as far back as the Jurassic period. Such were, in the European area, the Anglo-Gallic Basin, in which the secondary strata of the south east of Britain and the north of France were deposited ; the North Sea Basin (continuous with the former) covering all of what is now North Germany and Denmark ; the Aquitanian Basin of the South of France; the Helveto- Germanic Basin, which, as a narrow sea extending over Northern Switzerland and Southern Bavaria, connected the Pannonian Sea of the great COAL MEASURES BENEATH ESSEX. I 37 plain of the Middle Danube to the east with the Mediterranean Basin to the south of the main axes of Alpine elevation, then feebly outlined. The range and extent of these areas of deposition con- tinued pretty much the same during the Cretaceous period, during which the Chalk formation of our southern hills, which underlies the Tertiary strata of this part of England, was built up. Then followed further movements, which upon the whole were move- ments of elevation for North- Western Europe, giving us the much more contracted basins, in which the older Tertiary strata (the Eocene) were deposited. Of such strata examples are seen in the sands and clays of the Rye-street brickyards, and in the London clay (the estuarine equivalent of the great Nummulitic Limestone marine formation), which (with its capping of later Boulder-clay) forms the upper portions of nearly all the higher country in this part of England, where the chalk does not come to the surface. In this Eocene period it was that such minor axes of elevation as that of the Weald were developed, though these, doubtless, in most cases were but the further accentuation of such minor folds of the older strata as had been covered up by the secondary or Mesozoic strata. // is wii/i such minor axes of elevation of the older rocks that 7ve are chiefly concerned in estimating the prohahility of the existence of pro- ductive Coal measures under Essex. If now we turn our attention to the coal measures in which coal is worked in Britain and in Europe, we find them so distributed as to bear just such a relation to the older Paljeozoic strata as we should expect, from what has been already discussed. Thus we find the great coal measures series of the Scottish Lowlands lying in a great, broad, synclinal trough, the general axis of which (complicated by minor flexures) trends north-east and south-west, between the older strata which rise into the Southern Uplands on one side and the Highlands on the other. The great coal fields of Durham and Northumberland and of Yorks and Notts (on the one side) and that of Lancashire (on the other side) flank the great Penine axis of elevation. The Midland Counties coalfields, which by later crust movements have been thrown into the separate basins of Staffordshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire, may be connected in a series with those of Gloucestershire and South Wales by the coal measures which have been proved in recent years by borings at Burford (Oxfordshire) and Clandon (near Bath), the whole series representing a broad belt of deposition in the Carboni- L 138 THE QUESTION OF WORKABLE ferous period, having a marginal relation to the very ancient region of elevation occupied by the Palaeozoic strata of the Welsh High- lands. There is no evidence to show that these coal measures ever extended into the region of East Anglia. Turn we now to the continent of Europe. There we find the great axis of elevation of the Ardennes running through Belgium, and the Lower Rhine country. On the north fiank of this is the connected series of coal measures worked all along the country by Aix-la-Chapelle, Liege, Namur, Charleroi, Mons, Valenciennes, and even as far west as Calais and Marquise in Picardy. This axis of the Ardennes points to a continuation of it under the Weald, the axis of which (cut through by the English Channel) begins in the Boulonais, and is continued through Hastings, Crowborough, and Horsham, beyond which we trace distinctly an axis of elevation through Hind Head (near Guildford), Kingsclere, and Inkpen, in the direction of the axis of the Mendip Hills. It is to the north of this that the proved coal measures lie, as do also, in all probability, those recently discovered at Dover, though in a sketch map attached to a pamphlet recently issued by Mr. W. Jerome Harrison, F.G.S., this axis is made to turn more to the north so as to pass under London and leave the Dover coal measures to the south of it. The Dover coal measures are in all likeHhood a direct continuation of those of North France and Belgium, and (according to the views of some eminent geologists who have given special attention to this question) are most likely to be found in their continuation further west by trial borings along the line of country lying immediately south of the great chalk escarpment of the North Downs. When nearly twenty years ago highly-inclined Devonian indurated shales, some of the cores of which I had opportunities at the time of exam- ining, were brought up from a deep boring for water at the brewery of Messrs. Meux and Co., at the corner of Tottenham Court Road and New Oxford Street, the natural conclusion of geologists at the time was that there was a Palceozoic ridge running east and west under London ; but further evidence obtained in more recent years from deep borings at Cheshunt (Turnford) and Ware have shown that this inference is no longer tenable. These have proved that for twenty miles north of London, not only does the old Palceozoic floor rise as we proceed northwards to that distance, but we pass from the Devonian strata proved at Tottenham Court Road and at Kentish Town, into the still older strata of the Silurian, getting further down COAL MEASURES BENEATH ESSEX. 1 39 the geological series and away from the horizon of the coal measures. It is true that an earlier boring at Harwich had proved the existence of Loiver Carboniferous strata under that locality, and until the dip of those strata shall have been proved by another boring not far from Harwich, any coal measures in that region may be, as likely as not, found beneath the bed of the C.erman Ocean. There is no evidenee whatever of the extension of any portion of the Carboniferous ' strata to the west under North Essex. On the contrary, a boring at Culford (north of Bury St. Edmunds) executed only so recently as 1 89 1, tell us plainly enough that the Palreozoic floor, which, as we have seen, rises with a steady gradient northwards from London, exists at a still higher level under the country about Bury. These facts, taken along with the entire absence in all the East Anglian borings of Jurassic and Triassic Strata (the former of which occupy a large portion of the Midlands, while the Trias has been proved beneath them in many borings in Northants, South Notts, and Leicestershire), point to the conclusion that we are here on a line of country marked by an axis of elevation during all Triassic and Jurassic times, representing possibly a faint continuation of the inner Scandinavian axis of elevation along the line of the Dogger Bank. There is nothing to show that such an axis does not date back even to the Carboniferous period, a view to which the occurrence of crystalline rocks in the boring at Bletchley lends strong support. Such an axis would bear a relation to the two more pronounced axes of the west of Britain and of the Ardennes, similar to that which the axis of elevation of the Appenines bears to the greater and older axes of elevation of the Alps and of Corsica and Sardinia. We must not omit reference to the Lower Rhine coalfield, in the region of Elberfeld and Dortmund, because this has been spoken of sometimes as a separate and distinct basin from that of Aix and Liege, as if thrown off by an axis of elevation which points to a similar axis continued through East Anglia to the north of Harwich. Such a view would lend support to the conjecture to which Mr. Harrison has given expression in his map {op. cit.), and the sectional drawing, which represents the Carboniferous strata (including the coal measures) as let down into a synclinal flexure between Ware and Bury, upon which his argument for coal beneath North Essex \entirely rests. A careful examination of so trustworthy a document as Von Dechen's geological map of Germany leads one to the con- clusion that there is no such axis, as has been premised by some, 140 THE (QUESTION OF WORKABLE throwing off the WestphaUan coalfield ; but that on the contrary the multiple axis of the Devonian district of Sauerland, to the north of which this coalfield lies, is really a feebler continuation of the Ardennes axis, which rises to its highest elevation in the Hohe Veen, from which it has been severed by a quondam arm of the sea now occupied by the broad valley of the Rhine about Cologne as drawn on Mr. Harrison's map. One is thus led to reject the conjecture upon which the diagram in (question is based, so far as the existence of a synclinal coal measure trough under North Essex is concerned ; and the whole diagram is seen to be still further misleading, when one recognises the fact, that, in what professes to be a continuous section, the line of country represented by that portion of the section which extends from Dover to London is about at right angles to the general trend of the remaining portion of the section. A further difficulty arises if we attempt to reconcile Mr. Harrison's map with his sectional diagram, for in the former he has postulated an axis of elevation running north from London, the evidence of the borings quoted showing a general dip of the strata to south, as shown in the diagram. GENERAL CONCLUSION. The view which I am inclined to take from the foregoing con- siderations is that the existence of the Lower Carboniferous strata beneath Harwich points to a possible general dip of the strata from the Herts and East Anglian Palaeozoic axis to the south-east, the dip indicated in the line of borings partaking of this, but not representing the true dip of the Palaeozoic strata ; and that the Dover coal measures may be continued under the Nore and might be reached in South-Easl Essex. Of their occurrence in North Essex I see no probability. When the actual dip of the Coal Measures at Dover is proved by sinking shafts into them new light will be thrown upon this ; meanwhile, no more useful experiment perhaps could be tried than (as is, I believe, contemplated) the execution of a second boring into the Lower Carboniferous strata a little way from Harwich, so as to ascertain the dip of those strata in that region. Note. Writing on August ist. Dr. Irving adds : "A paper by Messrs. W. Whitaker, F.R.S., and A. J. Jukes-Browne, was read at the meeting of the Geological Society on June 20th, and has since been pubHshed (" Jour. Geo. Soc." vol. 1., pp. 448-514). It contains a list COAL MEASURES BENEATH ESSEX. I4I of aU the borings in the London Basin (using the term in its wider sense) in which Palaeozoic rocks have been reached. They are ten in number, as follows : Culford (Suffolk), Ware, Cheshunt, Kentish Town, Meux's Brewery (London), Crossness (Kent), Streatham (Surrey), Harwich, Dover. Richmond. Not much new light after all is thrown upon the question under consideration, since the results of all these borings were generally known to geologists. A gleam of light perhaps is gained from a consideration of the limited distribution of the Jurassic strata under the London Basin. So far as these borings can tell us anything, we can infer that (making all allowance for a certain amount of denudation) the arm of the Jurassic sea was co-incident with a line of synclinal flexure lying to the north of the westward extension of the Ardennes axis through the area of the Weald, as indicated in my article, and that in this trough the coal measures of Dover had been let down, since it is precisely along such a belt of country that the Jurassic strata are found immediately overlying the Palaeozoic rocks at Richmond, Streatham, New Oxford Street, and Dover. " As we advance northwards, however, we lose touch of the Jurassic series altogether, and, so far as the borings can tell us, enter upon a region of Palaeozoic strata, which in all probability was a land-surface during the long period of time represented by the Triassic and Jurassic formations. This is a simple inference from the fact, that in the borings at Kentish Town, Cheshunt, Ware, Harwich, and Culford, we pass at once from the Cretaceous strata into those of the Palieozoic series. Earth-movements in this area, about the beginning of the Cretaceous period, led to the submergence of the land-area indicated above, so that the Cretaceous sea spread over the whole of the south-east of England ; just as earth-move- ments on a grander scale led to the submergence of the Bohemian area, and the deposition of strata of Cretaceous age upon the older Palaeozoic and Archaean rocks of that region. All this lends emphasis to what was said in my article as to the significance of the absence of Triassic and Jurassic rocks in all the East Anglian borings. That the region of elevation in the East Anglian area during Triassic and Jurassic time was of the nature of an axis trending approximately to the north-east, is a hypothesis (as I before pointed out) favoured by the penetration of crystalline rocks beneath the Jurassic at Bletchley, and of the Carboniferous, at Northampton, beneath the Trias. The paper just published contains information which tends to strengthen that view, as ' further north, at Yarmouth, Norwich, Holkham, and Lynn, such (Palaeozoic) rocks have not been reached by borings taken to a deeper level than that at Culford.' This would lead us to suppose that the axis of elevation of the older rocks trends more to the east than was suggested in my article above. " The few additional facts here indicated make the probability of the existence of Coal-measures beneath north-western Essex 142 COAL UNDER SOUTH-EASTERN ENGLAND. smaller than ever ; and even the chance of the Dover measures being found to extend beneath the Nore into the region of south- eastern Essex is reduced by the absence of Jurassic strata in the boring at Crossness (Kent), although there, as well as at Richmond and Streatham, there is some uncertainty as to the age of ' red and grey rocks,' which immediately underlie the secondary series." COAL UNDER SOUTH-EASTERN ENGLAND. Reports by T. V. Holmes, F.G.S., and W. Whitaker, F.R.S. nPHE possibility of finding workable seams of coal under Essex has, from its vast commercial importance, naturally attracted great attention in our county since the hypothesis was first started by the late Mr. Godwin-Austen in 1855 in a paper read before the Geological Society, "On the Possible Extension of the Coal-Measures beneath the South-Eastern Part of England" ("Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society," vol. xii., page 38). As there is now a certainty that the search will be undertaken in earnest it will be useful to present the gist of the reports of Mr. T. V. Holmes, Mr. W. Whitaker, and Dr. Taylor, prepared for the "Eastern Counties Coal-Boring Association," for permission to repro- duce which we are indebted to the secretary, Mr. G. F. Mansell, who was the first to take the matter up practically, and who has since June, 1891, worked in the most energetic and business-like way to bring this question to a practical trial. We must also call attention to the. important paper by Dr. Irving, who expresses views of his own, printed in the present number. The problem was first brought under the notice of our readers by Mr. T. V. Holmes, in his paper on "The Subterranean Geology of South-Eastern England," being his Presidential Address at the meeting of the Club on January 28th, 1888, and which was given in full, with illustrative diagrams, in The Essex Naturalist (vol. ii., pp. 138-158). To this valuable paper the reader should refer for a discussion of the hypothesis put forward by Mr. Godwin-Austen. At the time Mr. Holmes's paper was written it was very doubtful whether any experimental borings in S. E. England would ever be made. But, since 1888, the Directors of the Channel Tunnel Company have made a boring at Dover reaching the Coal-Measures COAL UNDER SOUTH-EASTERN ENGLAND. 143 (700 feet in thickness) at i,i 13 feet from the surface,^ and in our own district an association has been formed for investigating the question. The " Eastern Counties Coal-Boring and Development Association " was started to raise funds to make borings in various parts of the Eastern Counties, for " the purpose of ascertaining the position of the Coal seams, which, in the opinion of experts, almost certainly exist in East Anglia, and also to open up and develop the same." Under the auspices of the Association, Ur. J. E. Taylor has delivered several very instruc- tive lectures, and in " The East Anglian Daily Times " and other newspapers popular articles on the subject have appeared from time to time, proving the interest which the public is now taking in this important question. Shares equal to about ;;^5,ooo have already been subscribed for the purpose of the proposed opera- tions, which will be commenced during the ensuing autumn. The recently-published account of the discovery of Palaeozoic rocks (of somewhat doubtful age) at Culford, near Bury St. Edmunds, at a depth of only 637^ feet, has doubtless quickened the desire for experimental borings in the Eastern Counties.- The association has obtained permission from the Tendring Hundred Water Company to use an abandoned bore-hole which was put down at Bradfield in Essex on the southern bank of the Stour, nine miles west from Harwich. This bore goes to the depth of 463 feet, and could be deepened to a further 500 feet at a small expense. More recently, we understand, a tender has been accepted for an experimental boring to be commenced forthwith, atStutton, in Suffolk. Stutton is on the north bank of the Stour, eight miles south of Ipswich, seven miles north-west of Harwich, and three miles south-east of Bentley Station on the Great Eastern Railway. The boring operations are to commence on the estate of Mr. Wm. Isaac Graham, one of the principal landowners of the parish. Mr. Holmes, Dr. J. E. Taylor, and Mr. Whitaker, have been advising the Associa- tion, and the two reports which are here given were prepared to 1 It was stated in " The East Anglian Daily Times," of April 29th, 1803, that a " few of the plants from the Coal Measures found in the Dover boring are now on exhibition in the Fossil- Plant Gallery at the British Museum of Natural History, South Kensington. They were presented to that establishment by the engineer, Mr. Francis Brady, together with portions of the solid cores. The fossil plants in question prove that the Dover coal at present struck is on the horizon of the upper part of the Middle Coal Measures, so that there is every probability of the occurrence of other productive seams lower down. The specimens were obtained from two horizons — namely 1,262 feet and 2,234 f^^' from the surface of the ground. ' 2 The fullest information about the borings at Culford and Ware will be found in a paper_ by Messrs. Whitaker and Jukes-Browne, published in the " Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society," vol. 1., pp. 488-"5i4 (August, 1894), "On Deep Borings at Culford and Wingfield, with Notes on those at Ware and Cheshunt." 144 COAL UNDER SOUTHEASTERN ENGLAND. afford information to the public. As these reports present an excellent summary of the evidence upon which the theory of the existence of coal in East Anglia is based, we have pleasure in being allowed to reprmt them. I.— REPORT BY MR. T. V. HOLMES, F.G.S. (Jice-Presidetit, E.F.C.') In the year 1855 a geologist of eminence, the late Godwin-Austen, pointed out that in Belgium, from the valley of the Ruhr to that of the Scheldt, near Valen- ciennes, Coal Measures exist on the northern flanks of a ridge of still older Palaeozoic Rocks. From A^alenciennes westward Coal Measures, and the older Palaeozoic Rocks associated with them, are covered by formations of later date, but have been traced by Douay, Bethune, and St. Omer to Calais. The continuation in England of this ancient ridge of Palaeozoic Rocks is to be seen in the Mendip Hills, on the northern flank of which lies the Bristol Coalfield, with those of the Forest of Dean and of South Wales. Between the Mendip Hills and the Straits of Dover the ground is covered by rocks of much more recent age than the Coal Measures, but there could be no doubt, added Godwin-Austen, that a ridge of ancient rocks with associated Coal Basins continued to exist beneath the Secondary and Tertiary Strata of South-Eastern England, though not visible as in Belgium and in Somerset. Since 1855 much evidence confirming this view has been obtained. A boring at Burford, on the western border of Oxfordshire, showed the existence of Coal Measures there at a depth of 1,184 feet beneath Lower Secondary Rocks. And borings made in or near London in order to obtain water from rocks beneath the Chalk, have disclosed the fact that beneath the Gault (which underlies the Chalk, and maintains like it a nearly uniform thickness), the strata met with in the area between the Valley of the Thames on the south, and Ware on the north are either of greater age than the Coal Measures or, where possibly later, are yet much older than any seen at the surface in South-Eastern England. Thus the existence of a subterranean ridge or plateau of very ancient (or Palaeozoic) rocks connecting that of the Mendips with the continuation of it in Belgium has been fully demonstrated. And the result of the recent boring at Dover has confirmed the evidence of that at Burford, and shown that we may expect this ridge to be accompanied by Coal Basins in the South-Eastern districts, where Secondary and Tertiary Rocks form the surface. The question which we may now enter upon is the position of the various spots in the Eastern Counties which offer the most favourable prospects of finding Coal Measures beneath the surface-rocks. The available evidence on this point is unfortunately very scanty. On examining the deep borings near London, we find that the lowest rocks discovered were at Ware, Upper Silurian strata having been reached there beneath 160 feet of Gault and a trace of Lower Greensand. At Cheshunt and Meux's Brewery the boring ended in rocks of Devonian age. All the above borings thus ended in strata older than Coal Measures. At Kentish Town, Richmond, Cross- ness, and Streatham the oldest rocks were of either Old or New Red Sandstone age, the most eminent geologists holding different views as to their affinities. In other words it has not been decided whether the borings at these four places ended COAL UNDER SOUTH-EASTERN ENGLAND. 145 in beds older or newer than the Carboniferous Series, of which the Coal Measures form an upper member. Dover and Harwich are the only places in South-Eastern England at which rocks belonging to the Carboniferous Series have been found. But while at Dover Coal Measures were pierced, at Harwich the boring ended in beds apparently older than Coal Measures. However, in the district where the lower beds of a series are found, the higher are more likely to be discovered than elsewhere. We have learned that, east of the Straits of Dover, Coal Measures have been found on ihe northern flank of a ridge or plateau of older rocks. This ridget though having a general east and west range, is seen, where visible, to take a more or less sinuous course, like that of an ordinary mountain-chain. The lowest beds 3'et reached in South-Eastern England are (as already mentioned) the Upper Silurians at Ware. Between Ware and the Thames at and near London only Devonian or Old or New Red Rocks have been discovered, as already stated ; but we have seen that we are not justified in expecting Coal Measures on the ancient plateau but on its northern flank. Assuming that the Coal Measures struck at Dover are thus situated, it is evident that the range of the plateau between Dover and Ware is nearly north-westerly in direction, and that the most probable position of any Coalfields associated with it is on the north-eastern side of a line connecting those towns. Thus a section between Harwich and Ware would probably disclose a state of things more or less resembling that indicated in the diagram below, the surface rocks being removed. ■•iAIKyviCH .\. Silurian Rocks. C. Lower Carboniferous H. Devonian. D. Coal Measures. But the Utter want of evidence between \\'are and Harwich, and the probability that any Coal Basins existing under South-Eastern England are comparatively small, and detached from each other, will make a series of borings necessary before the subterranean geology of Essex and Suffolk can be clearly intelligible. Every boring, however, will add to our knowledge, and it matters little or nothing whether the Coal Measures themselves are pierced in the first boring or only in the third or fourth, as it is almost as important to know where they are not as where the}- are. The accidental discovery of Coal Measures at Dover, for example, tells us nothing about the size of the Coal Basin touched, or the directions in which it extends. It may lie mainly between Dover and Canterbiuy or Dover and the Goodwin Sands, and ma)' accordingly be either workable or almost entirely out of reach. Nor does it show whether there is, or is not, any inversion of the beds. In short, its interest and importance resemble that at Burford. As the Burford boring proves the existence of a Coal Basin under Secondar}' rocks many miles eastward of the Coalfields of Bristol and of the Forest of Dean, so the Dover boring demonstrates the existence of coal under Secondary rocks about an equal distance westward of the nearest continental Coalfields. In selecting a site for the first experimental boring in the Eastern Counties, I should be inclined to favour one somewhere between Ware and Harwich, but much nearer to the latter town. Probably a spot three or four miles north-east 14^ COAL UNDER SOUTH-EASTERN ENGLAND. of Colchester would be a good place, as in that district the top of the Chalk is within a few feet of the surface, and it is also obviously better to begin near the place at which Lower Carboniferous rocks are known to exist than where beds of some other series are more likely to occur, as in Western Essex. An additional presumption in favour of this spot seems to me to be furnished by its position with reference to the area within which structural damage was done by the Essex earthquake of April, 1884. If a straight line be drawn, having a north-west and south-east direction, parallel with the general course of the Colne between Colchester and the sea, and about two miles east of the river, this line gives us the eastern limit of damage. The western limit might be similarly shown by a line parallel with the first and connecting Coggeshall with Tillingham, south of the Blackwater, the northern boundary being another line between Coggeshall and Colchester. Of course there are a few outlying places at which some damage was done, but at least nineteen-twentieths of it took place within the area described, as may be seen on the map given by Professor Meldola and Mr. White in their report on this earthquake.^ Now it seems to me that the most probable explanation of the restriction of the damage to so compact and limited a district is to suppose that the ancient subterranean ridge or plateau is unusually near the surface there, while it speedily becomes deeper towards the north-west of Colchester. And as we may expect Coal Measures, not on the ancient ridge, but here and there on its more northerly flank, it seems best to begin operations a little north- east of the area of earthquake-damage. P.S, — The result of the Culford boring (learned since the above Report was sent in) does not seem to me to make any modification in what I have written desirable. IL— REPORT BY W. WHITAKER, B.A., E.R.S., F.G.S., ASSOC. INST. C.E. {^Hon. Mem. Essex Field Club). The question of the probability of an uprise of Older Rocks underground in the South-East of England was first started, as a matter of reasoning, a good many years ago. The effect of such an underground uprise would be to interrupt the continuity of many of the beds below the Chalk, by bringing much older formations nearer to the surface than they would be if the Upper Cretaceous beds were duly underlain by Lower Cretaceous, Jurassic, etc., as at the outcrops on the north, west, and south. The line of reasoning was as follows : It was suggested that the uprise seen in parts of South Wales and in the Bristol district, with a general direction more or less west and east, was likely to be connected underground with the other like uprise through Northern France and the neighbouring part of Belgium, although that connection was hidden at the surface by a covering of Tertiary, Cretaceous, etc., rocks. As a consequence of this hidden uprise the continuity of the Jurassic and Triassic rocks underground would be imperfect, so that in many places the Cretaceous beds would be found to rest directly on much older rocks, whilst in other places these two might be separated by no very great thickness of Jurassic rocks. It was argued, too, that amongst the older rocks thus brought nearer to the surface Coal Measures were likely to occur, probabl}'' in a set of separate masses, as in South Wales and round Bristol. 3 " Report on the East Anglian Earthquake of April 22nd, 1884." ( " Essex Field Club Special Memoirs," vol. i.) London : Macniillan & Co., and Essex Field Club, Buckhurst Hill. COAL UNDER SOUTH-EASTERN ENGLAND, 1 47 No sooner had this important theory, based on reasoning from observed facts, been thoroughly started than the truth of the first part of it, that is the occurrence of old rocks directly beneath the Cretaceous beds of the South-East of England, was absolutely proved. This proof was given by the deep boring at Harwich, which showed the occurrence, at a depth of about 1,015 ^^^^ below Ordnance Datum,-* of Carboniferous rocks, but which are older than the Coal Measures. At about the same time further evidence was given by the Kentish Town boring, which reached red and grey beds of doubtful age, but unlike anything Cretaceous or Jurassic, at about 930 feet below Ordnance Datum. Other borings in and near London, and all made for water-supply, have con- tinued the proof. In some cases these have shown more of the doubtful red rocks, in others rocks of which the age is clearly marked by the contained fossils, both Devonian and Silurian beds being found. There is no need to enter into details of these deep borings, which have been fully described. Their sites are Richmond, Streatham, and Crossness (on the south of the Thames), Kentish Tovra, Meux's Brewery, Cheshunt, and Ware (on the north of the Thames). Besides these, two other deep borings, at Chatham and at Dover Prison, though they have not reached the older rocks, yet give evidence of the under- ground thinning of the Lower Cretaceous and of the LIpper Jurassic beds. It should be noted that in some of these borings a thin representation of Lower Jurassic beds comes between the Cretaceous and the older rocks, which last are reached at depths of from about 710 to 1,222 feet below Ordnance Datum. From what has been said above it is clear that the question of the presence of a floor of Older Rocks next beneath the Cretaceous beds, or but slightly separated therefrom by Jurassic beds, in South-Eastern England has for some years passed out of the chrysalis stage of theory into the fully-developed stage of fact. A full account of the question has been given in a Geological Survey Memoir (" The Geology of London and of Part of the Thames Valley," vol. i., pp. 10-50, 1889). to which the reader is referred. Although the occurrence of a floor of Older Rocks at no enormous depth beneath the surface was soon, proved, geologists were still greatly at variance as to the second part of the theory, the likelihood of the occurrence of Coal Measures. There were not wanting some to contend that Coal Measures would not be found underground in the South-East of England, but that the formation in ques- tion was likely to thin out southward and westward from our known coal-fields. Others, too, held that, should Coal Measures occur in such a position, they would be found to be unprofitable as far as regards containing seams of coal of a work- able character. Others, however, who, it always seemed to me, had more reason on their side, pointed to the fact that not only do Coal Measures occur at some depth under- ground on the west, in the Bristol district, and on the east, in Belgium and Northern France ; but that in both cases these hidden Coal Measures yield work- able coal, which, indeed, was and is largely worked. This being the case, it was argued that what had been proved to be the case at either end of the long line of disturbance (from South Wales even to Western Germany) was likely to occur also in the tract between, in which the range and extent of older rocks were little known. Strange to say, no attempt to prove the truth of either view was made m England for many years, and all our knowledge was derived from bormgs made 4 In this and in the following cases the depth /ro>ri tlie sttrface of course varies according to the level of the site. The figures siven are referred to one level, practically sea-level. ■148 COAL UNDER SOUTH-EASTERN ENGLAND. for water, with one exception. A very deep trial, known as the Sub-Wealden Boring, was made : not for the purpose of finding coal, however, but for the more general one of proving the underground succession of the beds beneath the lowest part of the great Wealden Series in Sussex. From this trial came most valuable information. Jurassic beds were found to a very great thickness, and there is every reason to expect that they continue to a good depth below the 1,900 feet to which the boring was made, as the Middle Division of the Series was not wholly pierced. Geologists who have worked much at the subject were well agreed that the neighbourhood of Dover was, for various reasons, one of the best for a trial for underground coal. At Dover has been made the only trial fui- coalm the South- East of England (though others are in progress or in prospect), and it has been successful, for Coal Measures were reached (in 1889) at a depth of 1,113 feet below Ordnance Datum, beneath Cretaceous and Jurassic beds. The Coal Measures have since been pierced to a further depth of 762 ' feet, in which thickness nine seams of coal, with a workable thickness of about 14 feet, have been found. The second part of our theory as to the underground structure of the South- East of England has therefore been partly pro\ed, and the existence of one coal- field has been shown. It remains now to consider whethei things should be left as they are, or whether it will not be well to make other trial-borings in search of other hidden coal-fields, and my own opinion is strongly in favour of the latter view. The extension of the Coal Measures from Dover and the thickness of the formation in that neighbourhood will of course be worked out, and I believe it is meant to put down a shaft on the site of the trial-boring, a work of no great difficulty, and of less depth than many of our colliery-shafts. Amongst other tracts the Eastern Counties should certainly be thoroughly examined. Though the only published evidence we have is from the Harwich boring, yet it should be remembered that this alone, of all the deep trial-borings for water above alluded to, has reached Carboniferous rocks, giving us therefore fair reason to speculate on the presence of Coal Measures at no great distance. Some fresh evidence however has just turned up, and though it does not show the existence of Coal Measures, it does show that old rocks of some sort come nearer to the surface in part of Suffolk than anywhere else in the London Basin, as far as is yet known. I cannot now enter into details, which it is hoped will soon form the subject of a special paper : enough to say that the depth at which old rocks have been struck, a few miles from Bury St. F^dmund's, is about 5:0 feet below Ordnance Datum. Again, we are not certain what line our underground Coal Measures may lake from Dov'er, and the opinions of geologists vary somewhat on the matter. On the one hand most hold that the extension will be found to trend westward, toward Bristol; but on the other hand some think that it may take a more northerly turn, toward the Midland coal-field, in which case the Eastern Counties would clearly benefit. It seems to me that there is no need to limit ourselves to either view : both extensions may occur. I would point out that it is not to be expected that every trial should be successful. Failures to find coal must be expected ; but even failures will teach much, and will not only give us much information as to the character of the beds dee]> underground (a matter of great practical importance in the search), but may 5 Tfiese figures are corrected, since the Report was written, from later iiiform.ition. COAL UNDER SOUTH-EASTERN ENGLAND. 149 also warn us off certain tracts, at all events until our knowledge has greatly increased. I would also allude to the fact that in Northern France disturbances of a peculiar character sometimes occur, by means of which older formations have been pushed up above newer ones ; so that Coal Measures have been found and worked beneath Devonian rocks. A like thing occurs also in the Bristol district, though to a less extent. From this it follows that we need not utterly despair of finding Coal Measures even where an older formation has been struck. At the same time I do not advise the carrying on of trial-work in such cases, which should probably be left until actual work gives indications of possible success. In conclusion 1 would draw attention to the fact that about a third of the coal-yield of France is got from hidden Coal Measures (covered b}- Cretaceous, etc., Ijeds) along the line indicated above. Frt)m this it seems fair to infer that there will be a successful result from like enterprise in England. As I ventured to say, before the success- ful issue of the Dover boring, " it seems to me that the day wi// come when coal will he worked in the South-East of England." Dr. Taylor's short report was of a general nature, agreeing with the above, but he did not recommend any particular locality in the Eastern Counties as a place of trial for coal. Since the reports were written, Messrs. Holmes and Whitaker, having been asked by the Coal Boring Syndicate as to the best locality for a first trial, decided, without any concert with each other, that some place between Colchester and Harwich, not far from the Stour river, would be the best. Mr. W. Jerome Harrison, F.G.S., has written a pamphlet'' on the subject, in which he gives his reasons for preferring the north-west of Essex (in the neighbourhood of Newport, Quendon, and Thaxted) as offering the most eligible site for a bore-hole likely to reach Coal Measures, because he thinks they would there be met with at less depth than in the other localities mentioned. Mr, Harrison's pamphlet consists of revised reports, with additions, pre- pared by him at the request of Col. Cranmer-Byng in 1887 and 1 89 1, and contains a large amount of information on the subject. But with regard to his selection of a site, M. T. V. Holmes has kindly sent us the following remarks : " I cannot make out on what grounds Mr. Harrison expects to find Coal Measures in the north-west of Essex. Of course they may be there. But as we have Lower Carboniferous Rocks at Harwich, and know only of Palaeozoic rocks of quite another kind at Ware and Culford to the west and north-west, it seems to me that the first step in a systematic series of borings should be to try a few miles away from the only spot in the Eastern Counties where lower rocks of the same series as the Coal Measures have been found. It is quite possible that the Pakeozoic rocks under Bradtield may be older than those of Harwich, and that the coal- 5 " On the Search for Coal in the South-East of England, with special reference to the Probability of the E.\istence of a Coal Field beneath Essex." — Birmingham, 1894. 15'^ COAL UNDER SOUTH-EASTERN ENGLAND. basin, if any, may be out ai sea. But Bradfield, about half way between Col- chester and Harwich, is an excellent spot for testing the question whether available Coal Measures exist near the Lower Carboniferous rocks of Harwich- In the area of earthquake damage between Colchester and Mersea Island, I should anticipate that Paiccozoic rocks, older than either Lower Carboniferous or Coal Measures, would probably be met with at a less depth than at Harwich or Bradfield. But, as I have already remarked, I should 7iot expect to find Coal Measures specially near the surface, /or Palcvozoic rocks, but quite the reverse. " In short, in endeavouring to ascertain the whereabouts of coal-basins — if any — in the Eastern Counties, it seems to me that we cannot have a better place for a first boring than a spot where we are six or seven miles only from a place (Harwich) where Lower rocks of the same series have been met with, especially as Harwich is the only place in the P/astern Counties where they (the Lower rocks) have been found." Addendum. — It is but right to add that the general concurrence of opinion in favour of a site near Harwich for an experimental boring is combatted by Mr. W. H. Dalton, F.G.S., who was the geological adviser for the Culford boring, and whose opinion is undoubtedly entitled to considerable weight. In a letter dated December 12th, 1892, Mr. Dalton thus states his view of the matter : — " Allow me briefly to indicate the position of this most important question. We have beneath us, at from 500 to 1,500 feet below the sea level, a region of rocks classed as Palasozoic, divided into Silurian slates, Devonian shales, and (let us hope) Carboniferous Limestone and Coal Measures. These are hidden by the Chalk and London Clay, and but few borings have penetrated to the ancient series. In Woolwich Marshes, in London, and at Cheshunt, Devonian beds have been found, and at Ware, Silurian. At Culford, near Bury, and at Harwich the rock found is regarded as Carboniferous by some, as Silurian by others. I hold the latter view, and think that but for the commercial glamour attaching to the word Carboniferous," that age would not have been suggested by the samples obtained, and which no authority of weight has decisively pronounced to be Carboniferous. Seeking further evidence, we find that in Leicestershire and Warwickshire and near Boulogne the tendency of these old rocks is to occur in belts or streaks of a north-west trend, and for a dozen years past I have maintained that this trend is continuous under Essex, in opposition to the orthodo-x theory of an east and west course, which has no facts in its favour and many against it. The bearing of this on Essex is that the possible Coal Measure area of the county lies between the Silurian ranges of Ware and Culford-Harwich, and trial borings should be as central as may be in the intervening space. I trust no funds are being or will be wasted in further boring at or near Culford or Harwich. Geologists, of course, are glad of any boring yielding interesting facts, but if the result be fuel, other research is guaranteed, while if only useless rock be struck, investigators will be discouraged. Therefore, the most likely point for Coal Measures, and not any spot whose owner may be willing to permit boring, should be selected." 7 Inasmuch as a Carboniferous fossil was found in the Harwich boring, Mr. Dalton must surely intend this remark to apply to the Culford boring only. — Ed, 151 NOTES— ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. Remarkable Tale of a Fox. — The county newspapers of Dec. 8th, 1893, printed the following : — " Three remarkable robberies have taken place at Tillingham. During a recent Sunda}' night Mr. Joseph English, bu^^cher, lost a brown blanket from off his cart, which was standing in a shed on his premises. During the following Friday night he lost a blanket and a whip, and on the Monday night he lost a blanket, a whip, and a nosebag — all from the same place. On the Tuesday morning he gave information to P. C. Collins, of Tillingham, who subsequently ascertained that the blanket, whip, and nosebag, which were lost on Monday night, had been picked up by Mr. Thomas Peacocke, of Tillingham, baker, who found them scattered about in his meadow early on Tuesda}' morning. He then searched the hedge and ditch which divide Mr. English's premises from Mr. Peacocke's meadow, and near a hole in the hedge, where dogs are in the habit of going through, he found the whip which was lost during Friday night, but was still unable to gain any trace of the thief. In company with P.C. Taylor, of Bradwell-on-Sea, Collins continued making inquiries throughout the day, but obtained no clue to the thief. On returning home in the evening P.C. Collins again examined the blanket and nosebag, when he noticed in them a strong scent of a fox, which at once caused him to suspect that Master Reynard had committed this robbery. He then called the attention of Mr. English and several others to it, and they all expressed themselves perfectly satisfied that the scent was that of a fox. Again during Tuesday night (29th November) Mr. English was paid another visit by something, which dragged a sack containing about a peck of oats out of his shed, down his garden, and left it in the direction where the other articles were found. On Wednesday night, shortly after twelve o'clock, P C. Collins was watching on Mr. English's premises, when he saw a fox come into his yard. It had a good look round, and a smell round the slaughter-house, and then it went into the cartshed, jumped up into the cart, and again had another look round. Finding nothing there, it came out and pulled a large empty sack from off the chaff-cutting machine and dragged it out of the yard into Mr. English's garden, where he dropped it and ran off. This was quite sufficient to satisf}' ever\'body that the thief is a four-legged one. This fox appears to think that he wants a whip for the hounds, as well as the huntsman." The Cry of the Wood-Pigeon. — A contributor to "Notes and Queries" (8th S., vi., 252) gives an interesting contribution referring to the well known idea that the cry of the bird includes the w-ords " Take two cows, Taffy." He writes under the signature J. B. B. as follows : " I have heard birds in the same wood leave off at all parts of this cry. A curious thing connec ed with it is this, that the bird invariably begins where it left off. For instance, if it simply cries ' Take,' it will begin next time at ' two cows, Taffy,' I have heard this over and over again." Have any of our Essex readers noticed the peculiarities of the wood-pigeon's I cry? — I. C. Gould, Loughton. A travelling Sparrow's Nest. — "A sparrow's nest, containing five eggs, was the other day discovered between the Westinghouse brake of one of the London, Tilbury, and Southend Railway Company's carriages and the bottom of the carriage. The nest was not disturbed, and the eggs have now been hatched. 15- NOTES — ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. notwithstanding that in the interim the carriage has been used to form part of a local train running between Dagenham and P'enchurch Street." — "Evening Standard," May 17th, 1894. Galeus vulgaris (the Toper) off Clacton. — On Saturday, September 29th, 1894, •'• niale specimen of this shark, hve feet four inches long, was brougin to me for inspection. It was caught in a trawl, a short distance outside the Colne. The captors appear to have been much alraid of their prize, when they found what they had in their net, and took considerable trouble to kill it by hammering its head. — Henry L.-wkk, F.L.S., Colchester, October ist, 1S94. Capture of a Sheat Fish (Silurus Glanis) in the Stour. — On June 15th, 1869, Sir J. T. Rowley, of Tendring Hall, Stoke-by-Nayland, turned out four females and one male of the Silurus glanis intoia piece of water in his parki the overflow from which runs into ihe'river Stour. After a heavy thunderstorm on July 25th, some nets, known as eel brays, were put into the stream at Stratfcrd Mill for the purpose of catching a run of eels as they proceeded down stream to deposit their spawn in salt water. During this operation Mr. Busby, a game- keeper, and Mr. W. Gifford were somewhat startled at hauling out, in one of the eel brays, a monstrous fish, five feet long, and over thirty pounds in weight. It proved to be a Silurus glanis, or Sheat-fish, and there can be no doubt that it came from the Park Lake at Stoke-by-Nayland. The fish is unknown in Great Britain as a native, though it frequents many of the large Continental rivers. Many experiments with a view to English acclimatisation have been made, but hitherto, I believe, without known results. The specimen has been sent to a London taxidermist for preservation. It is greatly to be hoped that no large family of these voracious and destructive creatures lurks in the depths of the Stour. A proposal is now on foot to stock the river with Chub and Barbel, hut a few Si/iiri would probabl}' make short work of llie new comers. We ha\e in this countr)' laws against the destruction of fish b}- d3'namite and b}' poison, but the eventuality of their wholesale slaughter by the introduction into rivers of such foes as the Silurus does not appear to have entered into the arena of practical politics. — Charles E. Benham, Colchester, July 31st, 1894. Pentamerous Symmetry in Aurelia observed in Essex Waters. — While shore-hunting at Brightlingsea on August 4th I came upon a stranded Aurelia which exhibited a pentamerous instead of the usual tetramerous sym- metry. I append a brief description :— Sub-umbrella surface presents five equally developed oral lobes at the five corners of the mouth. Intermediate with these lobes are five horse-shoe shaped reproductive organs, also five sub-genital pits with orifices. There are five perradial branched canals, five interradial, also branched, and ten adradial straight canals. Thus it will be seen that the animal presents a pentamerous symmetry, which is unusual among the Coelenterata. — Herbert W. Unthank, B.Sc, 37, Aden Grove, Green Lanes, N. [Mr. L'nthank's observation gave rise to an interesting correspondence in "Nature." Prof. Herdman remarks, on August 30th, that "in an expedition of the Liverpool Biological Society to Hilbre Island a few weeks ago, we found several such specimens, and remarked upon the frequency of the variation. I think the number was either four or five pentamerous forms out of twelve examined." Dr. H. C. Sorby, F.R.S., who is so well acquainted with the natural history of our Essex Waters, wrote on August 31st from his yacht "Glimpse,' off Buinham : " During the last few months I have seen countless thousands of living specimens of /i2r7(/uet \va.s ' Old Red,' ' from his bringing to light fossils in the old red sandstone, Mr. Brown also im- bibed a taste for the study of geology from the occurrence of fossils in the material he worked upon." — Copied by W. CROUCH, December 15th, 1893. 156 NOTES — ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. The Colne Fishery. — ^Mr. J. Horace Round writes to the " Essex County Standard " as follows : " The volume of ' Acts of the Privy Council,' lately pub- lished, contains some references to the Colne Fishery in 1567, which are not found in Morant's work. " Early in that year some fishermen ' of the townes of Roughehedge, Dolyland, and other townes thereaboutes ' complained to the Lords of the Council that the Bayliffs of Colchester had ' commanded that none of them should use their acustomyd trade of tra3ding oisters and other fyshing in the water of Colne without their lycense, and be also bounde in recognisaunce to bring all such fyshe as they shall take to Xew Hythe at Colchester and there unlade the same, with other condicions not heretofore used or to them knowen ; and for that they have caused vii. of their botes to be taken on the water, affirminge that they will sell the same for the breche of the said order.' Thereupon the Council, ' fearing lest this quarrell may brede such hart burninge in the complainers that they will, for revenge of that which hath ben offerid unto them, forbeare their accustomyd trade of uttering such fyshe [as] they shall take at the towne of Colchester,' — instructed Lord D'arcy, of St. Osyth's, to order the fishermen to continue supplying the inhabitants of Colchester with fish, and the Bailiffs to let them continue fishing pendente lite, and to restore their boats. Both parties were ordered to appear at the next Assizes, 'and to ende the quarrell yf they so can,' and, failing this, to come up to London for the hearing of the case. The Council were desirous ' that such auntient pryviledges as have been granted to that towne should be observid and kept.'" " Culch," "Cultch," and *' Cutcb.'' — The trial on June 19th last of five Tollesbury fi.shermen for " Piracy " in preventing certain men from Burnham from removing dead oj'ster-shells or " Culch " from the " common " or public grounds at sea near the mouth of the Blackwater (which resulted in a triumphal acquittal) led to some discussion as to the exact meaning and spelling of the word. The substance is well known — the refuse oyster-shells, stones, etc., form an admirable nidus for the reception of oyster-spat, and were it not for the presence of the culch on the grounds the gathering and culture of the oyster would be impossible. The several spellings given above are current, but some correspondents attempt to draw a distinction between the " culch " and " cutch." An " East Anglian Sailor " writes : — " I have always heard the word ' Culch used with reference to refuse, etc. (to wit) : ' The mass of stones, old shells, and other hard material of which an oyster-bed is formed.' Cutch is the spawn of the oyster, and adheres to the Culch or Cultch. I believe the latter words to be quite local, and might have had their origin from cultivate, which means ' to till, to prepare for crops, to foster, to raise by cultivation, etc' This is real!}' what the ' Culch ' is so valuable for — to raise, ioster, and cultivate the Cutch or spawn, commonly called spat." Dr. W. M. Young, of the Suffolk County Asylum, Melton, writes that the correspondence thereon recalls "a little comedy (with its under-current of tragedy) which was of daily occurrence in this asylum for many years. The principle figure in the scene was the daughter of one of Nelson's ' sea-dogs,' who has only recently died at an advanced age, after many years of mental aberration of a particularly unique character. Her language, as befitted her descent, was as ' robust ' as the most thoroughgoing believer in heredity could desire. She lived entirely in the ways of the centur3'"s beginning ; the peculiarities of its end were of no interest to her. " I do not wish to imply that this latter was part of her i NOTES — ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. I 57 ' mental aberration ' ; in fact, I think it should be counted unto her for righteous- ness. Her physical condition made it absolutely necessary that she should be constantly fed on light diet. When this was presented to her she invariably indulged in a string of expletives worthy of the Nelsonian time, and ended up by stoutly declaring that she would not eat ' Culch.' After having satisfied her amour propre by this vigorous protest, she ate her food most heartily, and became quite good-tempered whilst under the immediate beneficent influence of the afore- said ' Culch.' " Mr. Horace Hart, Printer to the University of Oxford, and Controller of the Clarendon Press, says that the word " Cutch " is not known to him " or to any other East Anglian ; whereas ' Culch ' is thus dealt with by Dr. J. A. H. Murray, in Part 8 of the great ' Oxford Dictionary,' in course of issue from the Clarendon Press : " Culch or ' Cultch.' — The mass of stones, old shells, and other hard material, of which an oyster-bed is formed. 1667 Sprat " Hist. R. Soc." 307 The Spat cleaves to stones, old oyster-shells, pieces of wood, and such-like things, at the bottom of the sea, which they call Cultch. 1774 E- Jacob ' Faversham " 83 A dredge full of Cutch instead of oysters. 1863 C. R. Markham in ' Intell. Observ.' W . 424 Paved with stones, old shells, and any other hard substances . . so as to form a bed for the 'oysters, which would be choked in soft mud. This material is called Culch. 1891 W. K. Breaks 'Oyster' 103 Oyster shells . . form the most available Cultch, and are most generally used.' " [We shall be very glad to receive any information from our readers as to the suggested use of the word " Cutch " in the sense of Oyster Spat. — Ed.] Periodicity ? — Some years ago a pond by the side of the Mersea Road, near Colchester, was very lively in the summer and autumn with newts. One summer more recently I noticed this pond swarming with stickleback. How they found sustenance it is difficult to imagine, for they were in such vast numbers that a cart passing through the water slaughtered them like a veritable car of Juggernaut. This year I visited the pond and found quantities of yoimg newts again, but not a single stickleback. — CHARLES E. Benham, Colchester. " Sand- Pit Plain," Epping Forest. — I cannot but regret that the Editorial Note on page 56 of the preceding number of THE EssEX NATURALIST was not printed in block rather than in diamond type. Living, as I do, close to Sand-pit Plain, this "ride " is a constant eye-sore. It is true that, within the last few years, its hideous rigidity has been somewhat modified ; but I cannot help thinking that Nature might still be artfully assisted to recover herself. In my opinion, given for what it may be worth, bays or recesses, such as those referred to on page 59 of the report, will serve to obliterate the artificiality of that uncom- promising road. Would it not be possible to break it up and give it curves, with plantations of thorns, among which sapling oaks, beeches, and hornbeams might be sprinkled ? And would not it be possible to make the approach to the Forest from Baldwins Hill less formal and rectangular ? Without a plan it is difficult to make clear what one means ; but my own notion would be to plant up the present entrance, which is utterly impassable in winter, and to cut a narrower fresh one, -more or less diagonally, and on the curve, through the grove of young growth which has sprung up from the stools of trees felled now some thirty years since. And, while one is suggesting, perhaps it might not be inopportune to add that the ■so-called " reservoir " in Staples Road looks as if it would benefit by receiving some such-addition, in proportion to its area, as that recently accorded, and with such brilliant success, to the Connaught waters. — W. C. W. I5S NOTES — ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. /' -A Remarkable Meteor. — A meteor of great brilliance was observed at Chelmsford on Sunday evening, April 22nd, at 7.35. The evening was fine and clear, and it was still almost broad daylight, the sun having set at 7.5. The meteor appeared near the zenith, and took a course a little to the east of south, e.nitting a dazzling greenish light, and leaving behind a number of sparks. About 10° above the horizon it suddenl}' "went out," but for a short distance it was still visible as a red hot ball before finally disappearing into space. — THOMAS S. Dymond, Chelmsford, April 24th, 1894. [This meteor appears to have been seen in various parts of England. The Hon. R. Russell recorded it as seen at Hasle- mere, in "Nature" (April 26th), and at Williton in Somersetshire. It "broke suddenly into view at thirty-seven minutes past seven, about 50" above the horizon, and gradually very steadily fell towards the earth, a high range of hills, the Quantocks, forming the eastern boundary. A very large elm-tree standing about a quarter of a mile from us, the meteor became hidden by the tree, so that we could not see its contact with the ground. It was of as bright a light as the sun at midday. We should much like to know if it was seen by parties the other side of the hill. It fell just as steadily as a spent rocket-stick, leaving for some little distance a tail of sparks. Apparently the meteor was about two and a half miles from us, the Quantocks being three miles." Another observer, writing from Margate, noted it at twenty-fivef minutes to eight, its direction being "from north-west to south-east, the altitude 450 to So", in view about thirty seconds ; colour a brilliant green, and apparent dimensions about the volume of a Roman candle." Fiom Guildford it was noticed at exactly the same time, falling " in a direct line to the earth, leaving behind a magnificent train of blue. After travelling to within, apparently, a very short distance of the earth, it broke into three pieces, something like the bursting of a sky-rocket, the lower portions being about the size of a breakfast cup. The sight was the more remarkable, there being no star visible in the clear light of day." — Ed.] Fairmead Lodge, Epping Forest. — This lodge, sometimes known as Sotheby's, has already (" Two Forest Lodges," Essex Nat., vol. vii., p. 82, and see also E.N., vol. vi., p. 206) been identified with that known in former ftimes as New Lodge. A reference to it probably occurs in the recently published " Correspondence of Mr. Joseph Jekyll." Writing under date July i8th, 1826, he says: — " Poet Sotheby invites the boys to a Fete Champetre at a hovel he has built in a bog on Epping Forest, where his brother the Admiral is to waltz, but they have no stilts, so decIiFie it." A few years later on, in January, 1834, Mr. Jekyll records Mr. William Sotheby's death, and says of him that " he was a man of considerable talents and many virtues . . . Many of his original compositions were highly poetical, but his principal fame will rest upon his translations. His '\'irgil,' his ' Wieland, and I think, too, his Homer, manifest a scholar's intimacy with the-idiom of their respective languages, and e.xtraordinary facility of versification." Jekyll's view of the matter in 1829 was somewhat different : "Think," he says, "of Poet Sotheby translating Homer after Pope " ; and in 1825 he alludes to " Botherby's " having left a card on him, " which he^ has not done these seven years. It has no black edges, so it is probably to shew he has not hanged himself." In 1822, Mr. Sotheby was involved in a dispute with the Benchers of the Inner Temple, of whom Jekyll was one, and they expected a satire from him. Incidentally we are told that it was Byron who christened him " Botherby," and not, it is added, " without good reason." NOTES ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 1 59 But the connection of the Sotheby family with New Lodge dates from a period long anterior to William Sotheby's re-erection of it. In May, 1 701, the Karl of Lindsey, chief warden in fee of the Forest of Waltham, granted to James Solhebyi iun., of Gray's Inn, Esq., the keepership of New Lodge Walk, for life. Sotheby, on his part, covenanted to sufficiently uphold the house or lodge standing thereon, with the outhouses ; and to provide one or more able, faithful and diligent keepers or under-keepers, attendant on Her Majestj-'s vert and venison, and pay the salaries of the same. By other clauses in the deed he was precluded from transferring his office without consent, and bound to serve the warrant.-; directed to him by the Earl, on pain of rendering the grant void. The original deed of grant, from which these particulars are taken, is now in my possession ; but will, I hope, short!}' find a permanent and fitting home in the newly-constituted Forest Museum at yueen Elizabeth's Lodge. — W. C. Waller, Loughton. Corrigenda. — On page 83, supra, 7th line from the bottom, for " price" read piece ; and on page 85, for " Wagner " read Wayner. Cheesemaking in Essex — In connection with the efforts now being made by the Technical Instruction Committee to revive the industry of cheesemaking in our county, the following letter, addressed by Dr. H. Laver, F.S.A., to the Rev. D. Bartrum (who has taken so much interest in the subject), is worth placing on record. Dr. Laver says : — " It may interest you to know that a few ago a Devonshire or Somersetshire family took the Grange Farm at Steeple, nine miles from Maldon, and they introduced there their own customs. They made splendid clotted cream and cheddar cheese of such a good quality that they had no difficulty in disposing of it. The late Mr. Oxley Parker, of Woodham, used no other, as he considered it first-rate. Essex at one time made large quantities of cheese, as all old descriptions of the county testif}^ but what its qualities may have been I do not know. I have, however, at various times seen proofs of the existence of the industry in the shape of perfect cheese-pressers, and more often of their remains. In Norden's description of Essex, 1594 (published by the Camden Society in 1840), par. 8, he says — ' The Hundreds of Rocheford, Denge, which lye on the South-Easte parte of the Shire, yelde milk butter and cheese in admirable abundance, and in those partes are the great and hugh cheeses made, wondered at for their massiveness and thickness. They are also made in Tendring Hundred, where are many wickes or dayries.' " Page 10. — ' Canney Ilandes — and for that the passage over the creek is unfit for cattle, it is only converted to the feeding of ewes, which men milke, and there-- of make cheese, such as it is, and of the curdes of I the whey they make butter once in the year which serveth the clothier.' " Inall the older notices of the products of the county cheese is alwa3's mentioned. It is a pity that nearly or quite all of our rural industries have disappeaied." It is certain that Essex in the past was not only a cheese-making, but a cheese-exporting county. \q\. VIII. of the "Acts of the Privy Council," lately published, shows that letters were sent from the Privy Council in August and November, 1574, " for staying the transportation of butter and cheese beyond the seas out of the counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk,'' owing to the scarcity of victuals at home. i6o MUSEUM NOTES. I.— PLEISTOCENE NON-MARINE MOLLUSC A FROM WAL TON- ON- T HE-NAZE. [The small collection of MoUusca described in the following notes has been kindly arranged and collated by Mr. Webb, and was exhibited at the meeting of the Club at Birch Hall, near Colchester, on June 23rd, 1894. It is intended from time to time to print " Notes " of this nature, descriptive of various specimens or collec- tions in or added to the museum, as they may be determined or arranged. Such details will be interesting as records of our collections, and will afford valuable data for the future compilation of a catalogue of the museum. — Ed.] n^HE shells now catalogued were collected by the late John Brown, F.G.S., of Stanway, and were presented by him many years ago to the " Essex and Chelmsford Museum." On the handing over of the museum to the Essex Field Club, the specimens were taken from the midst of a collection in which they had been inserted with other pleistocene shells from Copford, and where they were at the tender mercies of two large Echini from the chalk which rolled over them on the slightest provocation. The series under consideration was easily distinguished from the Copford specimens owing to its having been mounted on cards in trays, whereby also it had escaped somewhat from the roving Echini, while the others, merely glued on to wooden tablets, were in most cases completely pulverised. Many Walton shells were found intact in the trays under their respective cards, and help was obtained from a printed slip (though where it was published, if at all, has not yet been ascertained), giving a list of the species, and stating that they were found "with the fossil horns above at a part of the Essex coast five miles southward of Walton Naze." The writer has carefully worked through the specimens, and has had the benefit of the opinion of his friend Mr. B. B. Woodward, F.G.S., who has specially given his attention to Pleistocene Mollusca. The list will now stand as follows : — GASTROPODA. FULMONATA. Stylomatophora. Helix pulchella, Miill. H. nemoralis, Linn. MUSEUINI NOTES. l6l H. hortensis, Mi'ill., one specimen included with the last species. H. caperata, Mont. Given as H. concinna Jeff. Pupa muscorum, Linn. {=marginata Drap.) Vertigo moulinsiana, Dup. Given as Vertigo pygmaa, Drap. Basomatophora. Carychium minimum, Miill. [Ancylus fluviatilis, Miill. Given in the list, but no speci- mens were forthcoming.] Lymnsea auricularia, Linn. L. pereger, Miill. (^o\ peregra as usually spelled). Planorbis albus, Miill. PR OSOBRANCHIA TA. Paludestrina ventrosa, Mont. {^^Hydrobia venirosa.) Given as Pahidina stagnoru/n, Turt. P. marginata, Mich. ; given as F. minuta {inarginata of French authors). Extinct in Britain. Bythinia tentaculata, Linn. Valvata piscinalis, Miill. The specimens labelled Valvata cristata, Miill, were in reality young examples of this species. PELECYPODA. E ULAMELLIBRANCHIA TA. Submytilacea. Unio littoralis, Lam. Extinct in Britain, Veneracea. [Sphaerium corneum, Linn. Given in the list, but no speci- mens were forthcoming.] Pisidium amnicum, Miill. P. astartoides, Sandb. Mounted with the last species. Extinct ill Britain. Other remains found in the deposit were :— LAND AND FRESHWATER. [Cypris. Two species, specimens destroyed.] Chara hispida, Oospores. Corylus avellana. Nuts gnawn by rodents. MARINE. Scrobicula piperata, Gmel. Given as Lutraria. 1 62 THE SEROTINE IJAT IN ESSEX. Tellina baltica, Linn. Generic name only in the list. [Mytilus j [Balanus - Specimens not forthcoming.] [Flustra ) It is worthy of note that at the British Museum, Natural History Department, are two species from the Bovverbank Collection labelled "Near Walton (Mr. Brown)," to wit : — Planorbis nautileus, Linn, (given as crista), which does not occur in the above list, and Paludestrina ventrosa, Mont. In the British Museum also, is one species from Walton, presented by John Brown : — Helix nemoralis, Linn. Wilfred Mark Webb, F.L.S., Meiiib. Maine. Soc. THE SEROTINE BAT {SCOTOPHILUS SEROTINUS, GMEL.) IN ESSEX. By miller CHRISTY, F.L.S. NEARLY eleven years ago, I had the pleasure of recording the occurrence of the Serotine Bat for the first time in ithis county. (PROCEEDINGS ESSE.X Field Club, Vol. iv., p. iv.) Since that time the species has not, until now, been again met with in Essex, and the record still stands as the most northerly occurrence of the animal in Britain. I am glad, therefore, to be able to add that, about one a.m. on the 25th of August last, a fine male specimen entered my bedroom at the " Pryors," Bloomfield, by the window, which stood open to the extent of two inches at the top. I made every effort to secure it, as I saw that it was one of the less common species, but it was more than half an hour before I succeeded, and then only by the novel expedient of standing on a chair in the middle of the room and whirling a large bath-towel round my head, so that the bat had only the corners of the room to fly in, and was soon knocked down. It proved an unusually large specimen. Its total length (tip of nose to end of tail) is 5^ inches ; weight f oz. ; and expanse of wing 14 inches, thus rivalling the ordinary dimensions of the Noctule, which is usually the larger of the two. In colour, too, it varied considerably from the description usually given of the Serotine. Nowhere was there any appearance of the " deep chestnut brown which both Bell ( " British Quadrupeds," p. 46) and Harting ( " Zoologist," 189I) p. 102) speak of as usually distinguishing the species. The back was ot a dark blackish-brown, but the fur was tipped with yellowish-grey, thus giving much the same "frosty" appearance as the silvery-grey tips of the fur on the back of the Barbastelle. The under parts were of a smoky-grey. I have deposited the specimen in the Club's museum at Chelmsford. 163 :, TWO PREHISTORIC WEAPONS RECENTLY I FOUND NEAR EPPING. A ^ i T d nieelino; of the British Archasologiail Association on the 4th of April, i*>q4 oin esteemed member, Mr. Benjamin Winstone, M.D., F.S.A., exhibited two interesting prehistoric implements, and read some notes on the same, which have since been puLiIished in the "Archaeological Journal." Mr. AVin- sione has kindl)' lent the blocks of the engravings of these implements and allowed us to make the following extracts from his paper : The bronze weapon illustrated by Fig. i was taken by Mr. Francis Hart off a heap of old iron gathered on Caines or Cannes Farm, in North Weald, near Epping. " Unfortunately there is no procurable informa- tion as to when or on what part of the farm it was found ; Ijut as it had been carelessly thrown on the heap of metal, there is trustworthy circumstantial evidence of its having been turned up during some agricultural operations." The total length of the weapon is ijf inches, the blade tapers to a fine point and is I3j inches long and 1 1 in width at the base. " The arrangement for fixing the handle differs from that in the bronze instruments usually found. They have the butt-end prolonged like scythes, sickles, chisels, etc., of the present time, so as to go through the length of the handle, whilst the specimen now described has the butt-end flattened out. The handle must have been formed of two pieces of wood, through which passed the rivets, which were then bound or riveted together to fit the handle to the hand ; or a groove cut in a piece of wood properly shaped, so as to admit of the insertion of the fiat end and made fast by the rivets." Cannes Farm is not more than six miles from Fyfield, where, according to Gough in his edition of "Camden," were found in 1749 a "great number of celts, with a large quantity of metal for casting them, fifty pound of which, with several of the instruments, the late Earl Tilney gave to Mr. LethieuUier." Mr. Winstone thinks that the evidence points to a manu- factory of such implements at Fyfield, the bronze being imported in lumps as stated by Sir John Evans, and that the implement here figured may have been one from this manufactory. In the British Museum are some daggers of similar description and one is figured by Evans, found at Covene}', near Downham Hithe, in Cambridgeshire, so like the one from North Weald as to give rise to the supposition in Mr. Winstones' mind that they came out of the same manufactory, more especially as Fyfield is not very far from Cambridgeshire. BRONiCE Implement fgu.nd on Cains or Cannes Farm, North Weald Bassett, Essex, by Mr. Francis Hart. 164 TWO PREHISTORIC WEAPONS FOUND NEAR EPPING. The stone implement figured (Fig. 2) was found in 1888 by our member, Mr. Charles B. Sworder, of Epping, on " Gill's Farm," in Epping Uplands, and was exhibited by him at a meeting of the Club on January 30th, 1892 (see EssEX Naturalist, vol. vi., p. 17). Its length is 6} in., breadth 3J in., thickness 2 in., and it weighs 2 lb. 2 oz. " It w-as on a heap of stones gathered off the field, intended for use in mending the roads. . . . Mr. Sworder could obtain no information as to when or where it had been found, so the supposition as to its having been gathered with other stones off the farm can only be accepted as Fig. 2. — Stone Implement (III 1 \l M Sworder. LiiiM LiL\NDs, BY Mr. C. B. probable. The material of the instrument is quartzite — a stone not belonging to Essex nor to the neighbouring counties, although occasionally found with other stones in 'gravel-pits. It seems by its high finish to have been of the latest period of the Neolithic age ; the manner, moreover, in which the hole has been drilled shows that it was done by a skilled workman. Mr. Worthington Smith says that he has never found a drilled hammer-stone in the valley of the Lea, but he has Section' to show Form.^tion of the Hole Drilled through the Stone. seen one preserved in the, school-room of Waltham Abbey, which had been taken out of the bed of the river. Sir John Evans has given in his work, " Ancient Stone Instruments of Great Britain," a drawing (p. 518) of a similar stone found at Winterborn Bassett, in Wiltshire ; and there is also a drawing of another stone resembling it found at Sporle, near Swaffham, in Norfolk. . . . The hole for the handle has been bored from each side, and is conical, the hole in the middle being much smaller than on the surfaces. How the handle was fi.xed needs explanation, on account of the peculiar formation of the hole, if at right angles, like an adze or garden hoe, it would apparently have required wood to have. been compressed sufficiently to have gone through the small hole in the middle, and THK l)KV]:i.OP.MENT OF ARCHITECTURK IN KSSKX. 165 ihen.for it to swell again like a champagne cork. A handle, however, might ha\e been made by passing a stick of wood, so prepared as to admit of its being bent nearl}' double, through the hole, and bringing together the two ends or lengths, and binding them by a leather thong, so as to make a compact handle. The chipped edge shows that it has been used." Mr. Winstone thinks that the instru- ment was imported into the district in Neolithic times, and gives in his paper some nueresting information as to possible lines of communication in ancient times, ind probable primitive traffic in bronze as indicated by the hoards of the metal haind at F3'field, Havering, etc. We may add that heaps'of stones picked off fields in likelv localities are often worth searching over, as Mr. Sworder found ; Mr. H. A. Cole picked up a verv good celt and a " hammer-stone " off such a heap at Parndon some years ago. A SKETCH OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN ESSEX. BEING THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS, DELIVERED AT THE FOURTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING, ON MARCH 31st, 1894. fiy FREDERIC CHANCELLOR, J. P., F.R.I.B.A., President. npHE Study of the architectural and archaeological remains of Essex is one that becomes more fascinating the more it is pursued, until so wide a field of inquiry is opened up that it becomes impossible in one short paper to treat, otherwise than generally, of the whole subject. Our friends, the geologists, are able to extend our studies to a very remote period of the world's existence. I do not pretend to compete with them in point of antiquity, and, indeed, a range of 2,000 years will cover the whole period over which my remarks will extend. I have observed that with the exception of some few, who are always particular as to dates, there is great confusion in the minds of many people as to the date of any particular building. The object, therefore, I have in view is to endeavour to set out some of the leading features in the buildings of the various periods into which I may say the archi- tectural history of Essex is divided ; and to enable me to do this more effectually, and also to enable you to grasp it more easily, I propose to divide my subject into the following heads : 1. The Roman period extending from the invasion of Julius Caesar 55 b c. to 410 a.d. 2. The Saxon and Danish period from 410 a.d. to 1066. 3. The Norman and Gothic period from 1066 to 1546. 4. The Tudor period from 1546 to 1602. 1 66 THE DRVEI,OP.MENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN ESSEX. Except for defensive and religious purposes, and then only in the shape of earthworks and Druidical remains, there are no buildings left to us of a date prior to the Roman invasion, and in this county, with the exception of some few earthworks, which have been claimed as belonging to this period, we have nothing to illustrate it, unless, indeed, we can satisfy ourselves that the deneholes in the neighbourhood of Grays, and which some of the members of our Society have done so much to elucidate and delineate, belong to a remote period. That they were formed by a race who had some idea of design, cannot, I think, l)e doubted after looking at the plan published in The Essex Natur.alist, and indeed, one may go so far as to say that not only had they an idea of planning, but the construction of the arch must have been floating in their brains, although maybe somewhat dimly. The invasion of Julius Caesar, in 55 B.C., marked the commence- ment of a new era in this country, pretty much in the same way as our proceedings in Matabeleland at the present moment will be regarded in that country some centuries hence. The Romans at this period were almost at the zenith of their power, and possessed, undoubtedly, architects of great celebrity and engineers of great resources. As we do now, when we invade a country inhabited by wild tribes, so they did then ; signalise their victories by the con- struction of military roads, and the formation of stations at certain distances along those roads, with the view of holding in check the sudden attacks of the half-conquered tribes, by the facilities thus obtained for concentrating a strong force upon the point attacked. The construction of one of these roads through this county had un- doubtedly great influence over its future history. Starting from Londinium (London) it proceeded through Durolitum (Romford) to Ccesaromagus (Chelmsford) on to Canonium (Kelvedon) and Camu- lodinum (Colchester), and so on to Suffolk.^ There were also branch roads from Colchester, through Coppeshall, Braintree, Dunmow to Bishops Stortford, and from Colchester through Halstead, Hedingham, Yeldham, Ridgewell to Haverhfll,.and from Chelmsford to Maldon and probably on to Bradwell-juxta-Mare, and there were no doubt other roads of more or less importance through- out the county. I Since this paper was written Mr. (.'•. F. Beaumont has startled the anti(iuarians of Essex by asserting that the gth Iter of Antoninus did not pass through Romford, Chelmsford, and so on to Colchester, but by Cheshunt, Braughing, Royston, and Chesterford. Without stopping to discuss tills question, I think it cannot be doubted that a Roman road did pass through the first named towns whether it was the 9th Iter or some other road not mentioned. •JHK I)i:\i:lopj\ii<:nt of architkcturf. in i'.sskx. 167 At each of the places mentioned as lying on the foregoing roads, remains of the Roman occupation have been found. Colchester undoubtedly was one of if not the chief Roman town in East Anglia, and the remains of the wall with which the ancient town was surrounded and defended gives us an excellent example of the Roman mode of building. Finding no stone in the county but an abundance of clay, they set to work to manufacture a substitute for stone and well they succeeded, for the hardness and durability of a Roman brick is proverbial ; but probably they found that the manu- facture of bricks with which to carry up the whole building would involve not only a great expense but very considerable delay. They therefore utilised material which was ready to hand and required no manufacturing process. I refer to the pebbles and flints which are found throughout the county, and to the small hard calcareous boulders found in the clay, and also on parts of the coast, especially at Harwich, which they called Septaria. The mode of construction of their walls was as follows : having carried up the foundations for three or four feet in rubble work, that is, with pebbles and flints and septaria mixed with mortar composed of good lime and sand, with a certain admixture of ground bricks or burnt clay, they bedded there- on two or three courses of their bricks, which were about half the thickness of the bricks of the present day ; they then carried up the next three or four feet with rubble work as before described, and then repeated the courses of bricks, followed again by rubble work and hands of bricks until the wall was completed. This was the mode of construction adopted in the Colchester wall, and similar construction was adopted in building the walls enclosing the great camp at Bradwell-juxta-Mare ;also in the walls of the Roman villa at Chelms- ford, in the south-west wall of the nave of Eroomfield Church, which I believe to be a fragment of a Roman building, and I think I may venture to say that this mode of construction is found in all buildings in this county which can be verified as of the Roman period, and it therefore becomes practically a test of Roman work. From the numerous remains of undoubted Roman pottery and other matters, which have been found from time to time throughout the county, and especially at Colchester, indicating a very considerable population, it has been to many a matter of surprise that there are so few Roman buildings left to us ; but it must be remembered that the habits and religion of their successors was so different, that certainly no Roman temple would stand a chance of existence when 1 68 THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN ESSEX. its competitor was a Christian church, and buildings of this class especially were treated as quarries from which to obtain building material, and I am afraid what was still worse, as it meant absolute destruction, they were used as quarries for road material. If, in your perambulations you will note the materials of which our old parish churches were erected you will find in very numerous instances Roman bricks and septaria mixed with other material, this indicates that near by once stood a building of the Roman period. I have long had a strong conviction that the site of many of our old moated manor houses, especially those which are within a short distance of one of the old Roman roads, were, in the Roman period, military stations, and if so, in addition to the defensive earth- works and water moat by which they were surrounded, there would be a substantial residence for the Commandant, the materials of which were re-used when the Norman lord required materials for his church or his new buildings. I have often been surprised when conning over the plans of Roman villas, which have been discovered in this county and elsewhere, of the comparative thinness of the walls as compared with those which were considered necessary by the Normans. The Roman walls of houses seldom exceed 2ft, in thick- ness, whilst a Norman would not consider himself secure with walls of a less thickness than from 4ft. to 5ft. From fragments left to us, the Roman villas would seem to have had rich pavements and the interior walls plastered and decorated in divers colours. All these things seem to indicate that the Roman occupiers, after having thoroughly cowed the ancient inhabitants, lived here for two or three centuries in comparative luxury and safety. As the Roman power became weakened, the old British races became emboldened, until upon the final withdrawal of the Roman troops they reasserted their power and, as usual with undisciplined and barbarous troops, gave way to the wildest excesses and destroyed with fire the belong- ings of their late masters, and certainly traces of fire nave been found in many of these Roman remains when unearthed, which seems to support this suggestion. After the departure of the Romans the country was rent and devastated by the British princes who had assumed the sovereignty, and the invaders, who were attracted by the spoil — the Jutes, the Saxons, and the Angles — until at last the Saxons gradually established themselves in the country, Essex, with Middlesex and part of Herts, falling to the East Saxons, whose kings continued to reign from y THE DEVELOP^rENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN ESSEX. r 69 Erchwine in 527 to Egbert in 823, when that king estabhshed his supremacy over the whole Heptarchy, and so became king of all England. The Saxons continued to rule the land until 1013, when Sweyn, the Dane, and his son Canute obtained temporary posses- sion, and from this date to 1066 the Saxons and the Danes fought for the supremacy, sometimes the one and sometimes the other being the victors ; and it is noticeable that many of the battles between these two peoples took place on Essex soil, and it cannot be doubted that the dissensions caused by the break up of the Roman power, and which continued with more or less interruption from 410 down to 1066, led to the destruction of many a noble pile of building. In discussing the remains of this period we must remember that we are treating of a people who seemed to be the opposite of their predecessors. The Romans were ambitious and imperial, great architects and great engineers, both civil and military; the Saxons were agricultural and domestic. The former were never so happy as when building or constructing or fortifying; the latter as when ploughing or tending their flocks and herds ; and no doubt they availed themselves, not only of many of the buildings, but of the earthworks and other defences of the Romans, altering or adapting them as occasion required ; and had it not been for the re-introduction of Christianity in the Saxon period we should probably have had very much fewer remains of the architecture of this period than we have now, few as they are, and although the Roman temple did not suit the early Christians, yet the materials could be adapted ; and so with the pro- verbial enthusiasm and impulsiveness of converts they would consider it incumbent upon them to destroy all vestiges of the Pagan religion. It cannot be doubted that a people so strongly imbued with religion would, when the country had been divided into parishes, which practically represented small communities, be eager to con struct buildings for public worship, and there cannot be any reason- able doubt but that in very r any of our Essex parishes a Saxon church was built, for w^e are tola that at the time of the Norman Conquest there were throughout England 1,700 Saxon churches. \ In Essex there are only two specimens of Saxon work left that I tarn aware of, although there may be fragments of that period which have escaped attention. The two specimens I allude to are the tower of Trinity Church, Colchester, and the nave of Greensted Church, near Ongar. N lyo THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN ESSEX. The former is mainly built with Roman bricks and other materials. The west doorway has a triangular arch, a peculiar feature of Saxon work, and the windows have plain semicircular arches which, together with the jambs, are formed of Roman bricks, as are also the quoins of the tower itself. The latter is a unique specimen of work. It is constructed of oak trees about 12 inches in diameter, cut down the centre, placed side by side and morticed into a cill and top plate, and form- ing in fact an oak wall, the flat side being placed inside and the round side outside. Those at the west end were probably removed when the tower was erected. Some forty or fifty years ago a new cill was inserted, the old one having decayed, and it is believed it is placed at a higher level than the old one, the tenons of the trees having no doubt become decayed. In lists of Saxon buildings we find Boreham and Felstead Churches described as of that period. I presume the towers are alluded to, but a close examination has satisfied me that both these structures are Norman. The peculiarities of Saxon work are : 1. Long and short masonry. 2. Plain semicircular and triangular arches. 3. Rude balusters when windows have two openings. 4. Absence of buttresses. The absence of remains of Saxon buildings in Essex probably arises from the fact that they were no doubt constructed with timber ; stone, except that arising from older buildings, being very diflficult to obtain, the county itself being absolutely devoid of any stone whatever. We now come to the most interesting period of English archi- tecture, the third division of my subject, namely, the Norman and Gothic period, extending from the landing of William the ist, in 1066, to the death of Elizabeth, 1602. During this period, the architectuie of England developed so rapidly and assumed such distinct characteristics, that architects have adopted the divisions set out originally by Rickman, namely— A. The Norman period, from William I., 1066, to the death of Henry II., 1189. B. The Early EngHsh, from Richard I., 11 89, to the death of Edward I., in 1307. C. The Decorated, from Edward II., 1307, to the death of Edward III., in 1377. THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN ESSEX. 171 D. The Perpendicular, from Richard II., 1377, to the death of Henry VIII., in 1546. To which I have added, E. The Tudor, froiu Edward VI., 1546, to the death of Eh'zabeth, in 1602. The sudden access of wealth by the captains of the Conqueror's army, and by others who were related to him, or had assisted him in the invasion of England, combined with the natural characteristics of the Norman race, namely, a love of building and fighting, impelled them to enter upon a building mania, the like of which has never since been seen. The castles and fortified houses were a necessity to those who had to hold what they had obtained by the strong arm. And the religious edifices, the churches, the abbeys, and the priories were the outcome of their religious zeal. Whatever the Norman took in hand, he did to the best of his power. If he built a castle, he built it for all time, and according to the instinct of the day against all attacks of the then known implements of war and of surprise. If he engaged in a fight he fought as well as he knew how. If he desired possession of another man's land or propert) he did his very best to secure them ; and so in his soberer moments, and when appealed to by the ecclesiastics of the day, he laid the foundations of his abbey or his priory with a princely disregard of its ultimate cost. The erection of a church in every parish was a duty not to be neglected under any circumstances ; and when we remember that the great ecclesiastics of that period were as eager and as active on the field of battle and in the senate as their military and judicial brethren, and possessed of great influence and power, we can readily understand that they would not allow the erection of the parish church to be forgotten or postponed. Amongst the Conqueror's followers to whom he made con- siderable grants of manors and lands in Essex were Eustace, Earl of Boulogne, Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, Suene of Essex, Aubrey de Vere, Ralph Baynard, Geoffrey de Mandeville, Eudo Dapifer, Robert Gernon, all well-known names to readers of Essex history as heads of families, and who, either themselves or through their posterity, were connected with many of the churches and castles and other buildings of the county. As the question of mouldings is one of considerable importance, often in point of fact determining the date of a window or door, I think it will be advisable at this point to draw your attention to this 172 THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN ESSEX. part of the subject, and give you a slight sketch of the history and development of mouldings characteristic of the various periods as they progressed. My remarks are illustrated by the plate of outline draw- ings on the opposite page^. The mouldings of the Norman period were very simple, as they never got beyond the chamfer, the roll, and the hollow. The earliest examples of jamb mouldings, of course, were perfectly square (Fig. i on plate), then the angle was chamfered off (2), or converted into a roll (3), and these features, as time progressed, were repeated, the square angles being further en- riched by the introduction of shafts (4). Then, in the tran- sitional period from Norman to Early English, the roll be- came more detached by the introduction of a hollow on either side, converting it more distinctly into a distinct member (5) ; sometimes the roll became pointed (6) ; then, as Early English work became developed, a deepish hollow was cut on either side of the roll or bowtell (7), the pointed bowtell was sometimes depressed on one side (8), sometimes the cylindrical bowtell was filletted, now on the edge only (9), sometimes on one side only (10), at other times on both sides and on edge (11). You will observe how these variations, especially when the hollows were deeply under-cut, gradually divided the jamb or arch as the case might be, into a series of depressed and projecting mouldings, produced deep shadows and an infinite play of light and shade. I should like to draw attention at this point to the fact that in Gothic work there are three planes in which mouldings will be found to lie — one parallel with the outer wall, called the wall plane, one at right angles to it called the soffit plane, and the third the plane formed by chamfering one edge generally, but not always, at an angle of 45 degrees, called the chamfer plane. As a general rule Early English mouldings lie on planes rectangular ; Decorated on either these, or on the chamfer plane alone. Perpendicular almost always lie on the last. The introduction of the fillet on the roll was the most important feature in Early English work, and appears to have brought about a revolution in the system of moulding, as it afforded the opportunity of introducing a great variety of combina- tions of mouldings. We have seen that the Norman mouldings were : i. The chamfer; - These drawings were kindly made by Mr. Wykeham Chancellor for reproduction by the photographic process. — Ed. THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN ESSEX. 17: SECTIONS OF MOULDINGS oFTMEDirFERENT PERIODS C5F GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE From Draii'ings by WvKEHAM CHANCELLOR, M.A. November, \i 174 THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN ESSEX. 2. The roll; 3. The hollow. In the transition from Norman to Early English the roll became more detached, sometimes being pointed. The Early English mouldings included the roll, now having the appearance of a rib by having on either side a deep hollow. P^illets on the roll, sometimes in the centre, sometimes on one side only, sometimes on both sides, and sometimes on both sides and the centre. In Decorated work the fillet became much broader (12). An important form generally considered distinctive of Decorated, but occasionally met with in advanced Early English work, is the scroll moulding (13 and 14). Another moulding of this period is the double ogee (15), the fillets being at right angles to each other with a hollow between them. The hollows in Decorated work generally divide groups of moldings ; in the Early Eiglish individual members. In this period the plain chamfer of two orders is frequently used, especially in our small village churches. Another moulding of this T^enod'xsihe. 7vave moulding {16), and its repetition with a hollow between is very characteristic of the period. Another peculiarity of this period is the sunken chamfer (17). In Perpendicular work the tendency is to flatten the work ; for instance, instead of the deep hollow of the Early English and Decorated periods, we have the flattened hollow known as the Cavetio (r8). The bowjtell is reduced in size, forming a slender shaft. The double ogee is much more common than in Decorated work. Another feature is the double ogee with small bowtell in the centre (19). Of course, the moldings of an earlier period are introduced with modifications at a later period, and although mouldings are a very important element in determining the date of a building or a feature, yet, after all, the general design of the building is a factor not to be disregarded. The chief characteristics of Norman work are : 1. The semicircular arch to both doors and windows. 2. The introduction in the arches and sometimes down the jambs and elsewhere of the zigzag or chevron, the billet, the nail- head, the beakhead, and other enrichments. 3. The general massiveness of the work, as for instance the short, thick, circular, sometimes octagonal columns, undivided as in subsequent periods, and frequently enriched with zigzag or other ornament. THE DEVELOPIMENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN ESSEX. 1 75 4. Absence of buttresses, any projection from the face of the work having more the character of a pier than a buttress. In the earlier examples of Norman doors, a stone lintel or arch was introduced at the level of the springing, and the semicircular head or tymphana, filled in with masonry, sometimes hatched as in the north door of Tillingham Church. The walls of our churches of this period were generally three feet thick, and sometimes even thicker. The quoins or corners of the buildings, especially of the churches, were built square, either wiih Roman bricks or stone, and this is a point to which I would specially direct your attention. If you come across an ancient church with the nave and chancel walls carried up with square quoins, you may infer that although the doors and windows and roof have been altered, the walls themselves are of the Norman period. Another feature of Norman work, but which requires con- siderable experience to detect, is the mode of building the walls. They seem to have been carried up in regular layers (I am now alluding to walls built of pebbles and flints), so that the courses of pebbles can be distinguished ^n the same way that we see the courses of bricks in walls of that material. Rubble and pebble walls of a later period seem to have been built in what is technically called " random work" ; that is work where you cannot detect any regular coursed work. Of course in many of these old Norman walls repairs have been carried out which sometimes materially interfere with the original coursed work. There does not appear to have been, at any rate in Essex much variety in the design of the old Norman church. Sometimes, but very rarely, they were built in the form of a cross. Sometimes the tower was introduced between the nave and the chancel, as at Boreham. But more generally the church consisted of a nave and chancel, sometimes with a tower at the west end, but usually, I suspect, with a bellcot only, over the western bay of nave. In this description of church there would probably be one or two, or possibly three, semicircular headed windows at the west end, about six inches wide and about two feet six inches high, with very slight external reveal, but a very deep splay all round internally. On the north and south sides would be, starting from the west end, a similar narrow window, then a doorway, and then two other windows ; that is, three windows and one doorway on either side. The chancel would have two or three windows on either side, and one, two, or 176 THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN ESSEX. three windows at east end ; if the latter, the centre window would probably be raised above the others. It would be a work of time to prepare a list of churches contain- ing remains of Norman work in Essex ; but I will give a few instances within my own recollection. 1. The nave of Marks Tey Church, a specimen of very early Norman work, with inserted windows of later date. 2. The nave of Great Leighs Church. 3. The nave and chancel of Great Canfield Church. 4. Part of the nave of Broomfield Church. 5. The nave of Birdbrook Church. 6. The tower of Boreham Church. 7. The nave of Springfield Church. 8. The nave and chancel of Fryerning Church. 9. The tower and, probably, nave of Heybridge Church. 10. The nave of Lambourne Church. 1 1. The nave and chancel of Mashbury Church. 12. The tower of Felstead Church. 13. The round towers of Broomfield, Great Leighs, .S. Ockendon, and Lamarsh Churches. At S. Ockendon is the finest example of a Norman door we possess in the county. 14. The north wall of nave of Tillingham Church. 15. The nave of Stanway Church. 16. The chancel and the arcades of nave of Castle Hedingham Church. 17. Nave of Willingale Spain Church. 18. Tower of Great Tey Church. 19. Nave of Leaden Roothing Church. 20. The chancel of Copford Church. 21. Nave and chancel of High Easter church. 22. Nave of Margaret Roothing Church. This last is really a nearly perfect specimen of the period. The walls are three feet thick. On the south side is a very fine doorway with three reveals, two of them containing shafts with caps and bases, one shaft on either side having the zigzag moulding worked up its whole length, the other being plain. The arches over the shafts are also enriched with the zigzag moulding ; under the semicircular arch is a flat arch, the tymphanum being filled in with diagonal pieces of stone with a THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN ESSEX. 1 77 diaper pattern worked thereon. The whole arch has a hood mould- ing enriched with the billet ornament, and beyond that a diaper ornament. There is a peculiar feature about the jamb stones where flush with walls, they are all diapered on the flat surface with a four- leaved pattern. On the west side of door is a semicircular arched window, and on the east side there is another ; there was originally a second one more to the east, but this has been removed and a window of Perpendicular date put in its place. On the north side is a door, but quite plain, with one window on the west side of it and two windows on the east side. These windows are very high up and measure externally 3 feet high by 8 in. wide, with merely a slight chamfer round ; internally they are boldly splayed to an opening 5 feet 9 in. high by 3 feet 6 in. wide. The external arch stones of these windows are all enriched with diaper work, similar to that round the south doorway. At the west end is a double window with semicircular heads, but internally they are under one arch, deeply splayed. The work of this window is comparatively modern, and therefore we cannot say positively whether it is a faithful restora- tion. High up in the gable is a single light window similar to those in the side walls. The chancel arch was originally semicircular, but this has been removed, and a wide, flat, four-centred arch introduced. Unfortunately the external rubble work has been subject to that vicious treatment known as raised pointing, that is with a wide raised joint round each pebble or flint, so that the character of the work has been utterly destroyed. All the four corners of the nave are formed of squared stones and there is no buttress of any kind. No doubt there was a Norman chancel, but this has been replaced by one of later date. At the time of the Survey, Margaret Roding was held by Geoffrey de Mandeville, one of the Conqueror's chief captains, who rewarded him as we are told with 118 lordships, forty of which were in Essex, and of these we find Norman work at Great Waliham, Barnston, Mashbury, Broomfield, Margaret Roding, South Ockendon, Great Leighs, High Easter. In Essex we have very few remains of the Monasteries of this period. Of Hatfield Peveril Priory, founded by Ingelrica, the wife of Ralph Pevcrill, but a fragment remains at the west end, and the lyS thp: development of architecture in essex. west door is undoubtedly a relic of the original edifice, which was then the Priory Church, now the Parish Church. At Blackmore there is still left a portion of the west end of the original Norman nave of the Priory Church, now the Parish Church. At Little Dunmovv the north arcade of the south aisle of the Priory Church, as erected by luga, sister of Ralph Baynard, about II oo, still remains, although now built up, so that this fragment of a glorious old Priory Church now forms the north wall of the Parish Church. I am not aware whether there are any remains of this period at St. Osyth's Priory ; it was probably the oldest monastery in the county, having been founded by St. Osyth in the seventh century. It was, however, destroyed by the Danes in one of their harrying expeditions, and was not apparently rebuilt until the time of Henry I., about 1118. Waltham Abbey contains by far the most important remains of this period of any of our old monasteries. The nave and aisles of the Old Abbey Church, although they have been at the west end subsequently altered, are most interesting. St. Botolph's Priory, Colchester, is a very interesting building of the Norman period, and is remarkable for the interlacing arches which decorate the front; the pointed arch formed by the interlacing of semicircular arches is said to have led up to the next period, of Gothic architecture. Of castellated buildings of this period the most important is Hedingham Castle. Here we have the remains of the ancient keep or tower of the castle, erected by the second Aubrey de Vere, and as his father died in 1088 and he himself in 11 40, it follows that this work must be considered as belonging to the early part of the twelfth century. It is indeed a magnificent piece of work, entirely faced with Barnack stone, which shows but little depreciation from the storms and winters of seven centuries, with walls upwards of ten feet thick as solid as they were when first built. As the architecture is all of the same period it must have been rapidly constructed, and no doubt the De Vere of that period was anxious to consolidate his power as quickly as possible. The exterior is entirely faced with regular blocks of stone about 24 inches long by 12 inches high. The original doors, windows, and fireplaces are all there, and, with THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN ESSEX. 1 79 the exception of those parts that have been damaged, are in good condition. Second only in importance to Hedingham is Colchester Castle. Several battles have been fought over this building, some stoutly maintaining that it was a Roman temple built by the Romans, whilst on the other hand papers have been written to prove its Norman origin. I do not propose to enter minutely into this discussion, because to examine the question thoroughly and exhaustively would occupy more time than I can afford out of that at my disposal. After examining the building many times, and reading the arguments for and against, I have never been able to come but to one con- clusion, and that is that this is a building erected for defensive purposes in the Norman period, and not one erected for religious purposes in the time of the Romans. It occupies a much larger area than Hedingham, but is not so lofty, and is not such a fine piece of masonry. The transition from Norman to Early English work was very gradual, insomuch that it is sometimes difficult to place the building or feature on the right side of the line. For instance, it has often been said that the distinguishing feature of the Norman style is the semicircular arch, and that of the Early English the pointed, but I am disposed to believe that arches not quite semicircular were used by the Normans. For mstance, in the tower of Boreham Church the windows of the ringing chamber have semicircular heads, whilst those in the belfry in the stage over have heads slightly pointed, but, with some few exceptions, we may describe the principal features of the Early English style, the next division of my subject, as being : 1. The pointed arch. 2. Long narrow windows without muUions, Init sometimes grouped together in threes. 3. The heads of the windows often plain at the commence- ment of the period, but as it progressed the heads became trefoiled. 4. Columns frequently consisting of small shafts grouped round a large central shaft. 5. The capitals of columns bell-shaped and decorated with grace- ful foliage, as distinct from the squat, cushion-like shaped capital of the Norman column. 6. The foliage of this period is bulbous, very distinct from the sharp, acanthus-like foliage of a later period. 7. An ornament known as the tooth ornament. 8. As the St) le progressed the groups of windows began to get l8o THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN ESSEX. closer, until they were separated only by a shaft or muUion, and geometrical tracing was introduced into the heads of the combined windows. 9. The mouldings of arches became somewhat more elaborate, being divided by hollows and fillets into a greater number of members. 10. Buttresses became a feature of this period and were generally placed at right angles to the wall, projecting some distance, and with one, two, or more slopes. It is more difficult to point out a purely Early English church in Essex, because I think it probable that nearly every parish would have been provided with its church during the Norman period, and therefore the work of the succeeding century would probably in the main consist of alterations, enlargements, and sometimes of rebuild- ing a portion of the edifice. The Church of St. Augustine, Birdbrook, gives us a very good example of the style prevailing in the early part of the thirteenth century. We have at the east end a group of three narrow lancet windows with plain heads, with shafts and mouldings inside, with a small single lancet window in the north side, and similar lancets on north and south sides at west end of nave. These windows were no doubt repeated, but they have been superseded at a later period by more elaborate windows. There are also at the S.E. and N.E. corners of chancel two buttresses to each corner, with two distinct slopes, and similar buttresses to nave. This church is an example of the adaptation of a Norman building to an Early English one ; the remains of some of the old Norman windows being still visible. One of the most interesting buildings of this period is the Chapel of St. Nicholas at Little Coggeshall Abbey, of the Order of the Cistercians. It is interesting from two circumstances : ist. It is practically unaltered from the original design. No doubt repairs have from time to time been executed, but the whole design is practically the same as when originally erected ; it has neither been added to nor diminished. 2nd. The jambs and arches of windows, strings, quoins, and other features, are executed in moulded brick, and it is therefore probably one of the earliest examples of moulded brickwork in the kingdom. The Abbey was founded by King Stephen and Maud, his queen, in 1140, and we may fix the date of this building at about 1200. It is a very simple design, being in plan a parallelogram, measuring 43 feet in length from east to west, and 20 feet in width THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN ESSEX. i8t from north to south. The doorway is on the south side, and has on each side a lancet window. There are two other windows on the south side towards the east, but their cills are raised in order to give height for the sediHa and piscina under them. There are four windows on the north side similar to those on the south. The east and west windows are triple lancets under one arch. There are no buttresses. I am glad to .say, through the exertions of my friend, Mr. Beaumont, works necessary to preserve this highly interesting building have been carried out. Another very interesting example of Early English work is the Chapel or Chapter House at Becleigh Abbey, near IMaldon. The building is about 40 feet long I)y iS feet wide, with columns in the centre supporting the groined roof. The double doorway, separated by shafts, is a feature of this period, and in the jambs of the doorway is introduced a very elegant example of the dog's tooth or four-leaved ornament. Other portions of the old buildings, notably the old refectory, are of the same period, with inserted windows and chimney piece of later date. This Priory of the Order of the Premonstratenses, or White Canons, was founded by Robert de Mantell in 11 80, and dedicated to St. Nicholas ; it was endowed with several lands, and confirmed by the Chaiter of Richard I., in the first year of his reign, about 1 190. These buildings were probably erected during the first half of the thirteenth century. I look upon the development of Gothic /Architecture in England as one of the most interesting periods of architecture in the world. It seems to me certain that there was during the period extending from the Norman Conquest down to the reign of Henry VH., a kind of intercommunication which ensured the carrying out of the same kind of architecture throughout England at the same period. And it is sur[)rising when one contemplates the peculiarities ot the various divisions into which we have divided Gothic Architecture, that the development should have been exactly similar throughout the whole of England, even to the details of mouldings, about which I have somewhat enlarged — and you will find that the mouldings which were in use in the south of England during the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were used at the same time in the east, west and north of England. • The Decorated period (which succeeded the Early English), extending from 1307 to 1377, was perhaps the purest period of l82 THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN ESSEX. English Gothic. I have often said that I believe the glass painters of this period had very considerable influence upon the architecture of the period. The small narrow window of the Norman and Early English period gave but little scope to the mediaeval artist in painted glass for the exhibition of his talent, and we can well imagine how the painted glass artists would urge upon the architects of that day the necessity for affording them a better and wider scope for their talents. I need hardly remind you that architects of all people in the world, are the most eager to assist their artistic brethren, and I can quite believe that the architects of the fourteenth century would be actuated by the same feelings. At any rate, it is clear that as soon as the narrow lancet window of the Early English architects had become discarded, great advances were made in the enlargement of the window until at last, in the Perpendicular period, the window had almost become absorbed in what might be called a glazed wall. But to return. The period we have now to consider is the Decorated period, extending from about 1307 to about 1377. If the transition from Norman to Early English was gradual, much more so was the transition from Early English to Decorated ; so much so that it is exceedingly difficult for us to decide to which period many works really belong. The principal features of this style, which may be said to be coeval with Edwards I., II., and III., are the development of windows into three, four, and five lights, which branch into tracery in the heads of a flowing description, the canopies were openings enriched with crocKets and finials, the intro- duction of the ball flower ornament, and the general enrichment of the details. In this county we have numerous examples of this style, although, as I was obliged to observe in the case of the Early English style, it is very difficult to identify a whole building as of this period. I may, however, mention the chancel of Lawford Church as a very beautiful example of this period. Also the chancel of Great Leighs Church. The chancel of Tiltey Church. The north aisle of Danbury Church. I caimot help thinking that Edward III. or the architects of that period were very conservative, for during his reign the Decorated period of architecture seems to have held its own, but upon his death and the accession of his grandson, Richard II., a further change was THE DEVEI.OPMKXT OF ARCHITECTURE IN ESSEX. 183 carried out, and' English Gothic then began nts downward career, and from this time until the time of Henry \^II. it had entered the period known as the Perpendicular period. The general i)eculiarities of this period are as follows : 1. The general adoption of the square head to doorways, with four centred arches underneath, the spandrils being filled in with carving. 2. The window mullions run up perpendicularly into the arches, hence the name. 3. The piers of anhcs are very much divided, and sometimes the first shaft of pier is carried up to receive principal of roof. 4. The openings of window lights are wider than heretofore. 5. The whole front of the building is often panelled, and, in fact, the windows form a series of glazed panels. 6. The introduction of fan-tracery. No doubt the architects of this period were impressed with the importance of dealing architecturally with the whole surface of the external walls of their buildings. Hitherto the Gothic architects had been content w^ith dealing with the architecture of the windows and doors as so many distinct features ; but now the idea seems to have been to make the windows and doors subordinate to the architecture of the whole building, until, in Henry VH.'s Chapel at Westminster, King's College Chapel, Cambridge, and St. George's Chapel, Windsor, we find that the whole surface of the external, and even internal walls are enriched with panelling and tracery, and the windows really become pierced openings in the tracery. Very beautiful is all this work, but not. in my opinion, so chaste as that of the time of the Edwards. Of churches of the Perpendicular period we have several e.xamples. Amongst the most notable are those of — Saffron Walden Church. Thaxied Church. Coggeshall Church. Chelmsford Church. Uedham Church. Upon and even previous to the death of Henry VHL, Gothic architecture had been on the decline, and it had lost its hold for a time upon the English mind. The irruption of Italian artists had its effect, and Italian details had been mixed up with (rothic outlines, so that in effect the architecture of the time extending from the death of Henry VIII. to the time of James I. had been a mix- 184 THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN ESSEX. ture of Gothic and Italian, known as Tudor, until in the time of the Stuarts the architecture of Rome had again obtained its supremacy, so that in the reign of Charles II. the most perfect specimen we have of Roman architecture was erected in England, namely, St. Paul's Cathedral. It is curious that Englishmen brought up in the traditions of Gothic architecture should have allowed themselves to have been seduced from their old traditions, so as to have embraced classic work, but what is more curious is that for 150 years they should have abhorred and treated with every disrespect and contumely all work associated with the Gothic period. However, we live now in happier times, and there is no man who will venture to say a word against the Gothic remains of our ancestors ; on the contrary, even with every desire to retain the old features of an old building, any architect who ventures upon the path of restoration is assailed with an amount of abuse which requires a strong mind to repel. At the end of the fifteenth and the commencement of the sixteenth century, a great change had come over the architecture of the country by the re-introduction of brickwork. Hitherto all work had been executed in stone. The arches and jambs of doors and windows, the slopes of buttresses, the copings and strings of battle- ments, had all been executed in stone, and the walls constructed of pebbles and flints ; but about 1500, probably from the extreme difficulty and expense in obtaining stone to meet the demands of the building mania which undoubtedly set in in this country at that period, the architects were forced back upon native material, and as, undoubtedly, the manufacture of bricks and tiles had never actually ceased in this country, a fresh impulse was given to it by the fact that it was found possible to manufacture moulded bricks, and also that the rich red colour of the best bricks was capable of producing an. artistic effect. At any rate, from whatever cause arising, it is clear that during the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Queen Mary, and Elizabeth, the use of red brick was the fashionable material, at any rate in this county, and it must be admitted that the old red brick mansions of this and other counties, harmonise with the surrounding scenery almost as well, if not better, than the cold grey stonework of a former period. There is a fashion in architecture, as well as in everything else, and there cannot be a doubt but that the use of red bricks had almost entirely superseded the use of stone and rubble during the THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN ESSEX. sixteenth century. Throughout this county there are innumerable buildings of this period, both ecclesiastical and domestic, which are of the greatest interest. The peculiarities of the style are a use of plain bricks throughout the building, varied in many instances by chequers of dark headers worked in patterns over the face of the building. These dark headers were produced by the wood useo in the brick burning, which emitted a kind of acid, which burnt black or dark-grey the face of the brick exposed to its action. Th