8 THE SUBSIDENCE AT LEXDEN.
course, all signs of cracks in the soft gravel between the cavity and
the river—never conspicuous—must have been totally obliterated
long before the visits of Messrs. Rutley and Fisher, while the river
current would quickly remove any loose material projected into it at
the bend. In conclusion, I venture to claim for this explanation of
the Lexden sinking freedom from the very grave difficulties attending
any vertical subsidence hypothesis, whether implying the existence of
natural cavities or of deneholes.
Sandstone and Conglomerate Blocks at Orsett and White Notley.—
Whilst returning hurriedly from Stanford-le-Hope to Grays one evening a few weeks
ago, I noticed on the west side of Orsett Heath an enormous block of indurated
sandstone. Is this block known to geologists? I never saw it before. It is in a
disused gravel pit, and the gravel appears to have been excavated away from the
stone, and the block left in situ near the hedge. The light was fading, and I had
no time to examine or measure the stone, but I should say it is five feet long and
two or three feet wide and deep—the largest sandstone block I have heard of as
occurring in the gravels near London. It belongs to the top stratum of gravel,
and it must, I should say, have been dropped from a mass of floating ice. I
could not see whether the block was striated or not. A friend has told me of a
very large block of Hertfordshire conglomerate on the roadside opposite a black-
smith's shop at White Notley, near Witham. Is this block known? It was
described as being of unusually large sire.—Worthington G. Smith, F.L.S.,
May, 1884.
Block of Conglomerate at White Notley.—This stands on the right-hand
side of the road leading from White Notley to Bulford, against a blacksmith's shop,
about half a mile from White Notley village. It is the only large conglomerate
erratic block that I know of about this neighbourhood. Small lumps are plentiful
in the gravel pits. In Chesham Churchyard, Bucks, there are several of the same
kind, and one is ten or twelve feet across. These are seated on a sharp hill, and
appear to be in situ. At a place called Denner Hill, two miles south-west of
Hampden, Bucks, there are masses of conglomerate and rough reddish sandstone
(small blocks of which abound here) weighing a hundred tons or more. The
material and character of the mass appear to be the same as in those found in Essex.
I have seen the two large blocks named above, but have hitherto found no
published account of them.—(Rev.) J. W. Kenworthy, Braintree, August,
1885.
Palmated Newt (Molge palmata) in Epping Forest.—In the "Zoologist"
for June, 1886 (3rd Ser., vol. x., p. 250), Mr. G. A. Boulenger, F.Z.S., records
the occurrence of this newt in a small pit near Chingford Station. It was quite
abundant, in company with M. cristata and M. vulgaris. We gather from pre-
vious papers by Mr. Boulenger that this local species is distributed as follows :—
Scotland.—Sutherland, Edinburgh, Kirkcudbrightshire. England.—Lancashire,
Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Cornwall, Devonshire, Somersetshire, Dorsetshire,
Isle of Wight, and now Essex must be added to the list of counties in which it
occurs. Mr. Boulenger points out ("Zoologist," vol. ix., p. 267), that in addition
to the well-known peculiarities which "distinguish the Palmated Newt from the
common species, but which apply to the males only, may be added the total
absence in the former of pigment on the throat, this region being of a transparent
flesh-colour, a character which affords an excellent criterion for the distinction of
the two allied species in either sex."—Ed.