NOTES.
115
known, but Mr. Andrews in the "Zoologist" for 1860 (vol. xviii., p. 7,053), has
given some details which are worth quoting :—" In shoal water or a low tide these
fish may sometimes be seen in pairs, side by side, apparently stationary on some
rocky stone. At this time the ova—the capsules being but-imperfectly matured—
are liberated from the female, and received into the abdominal sac of the male,
the male fish having the power of expanding the lappings of the sac and attaching
the ova by a highly viscid or glutinous secretion. As the process of maturation
advances, the capsules of the ova enlarge, forming hemispherical depressions in the
sac, and eventually the pouch is forced open by the full development of the ova
and the extrication of the young."—Ed.]
The "Burnt" or "Red" Hills in Mersea.—" Through all the low
flat coast land of this region [Mersea], above the saltings, or pasture overflowed
by high tides occasionally, are scattered at irregular intervals large, broad, cir-
cular mounds of clay burned to brick-red, interspersed with particles of charcoal.
A few fragments of bone are found in them, relics of the meals of those who
raised these heaps, but they cover no urns, and enclose no cists, they contain no
skeletons They were never intended as funeral monuments, and are quite
different from the hoes or barrows, which stand on high land, and which were
burial mounds. The burnt or red hills are always situate at high water mark ;
near them, below the surface of the vegetable deposit, are multitudes of oyster
shells. Near them also are sometimes found, sunk in the marsh, polished chert
weapons. Who raised these mounds? For what purpose were they reared ?
These are questions which cannot be answered satisfactorily. One thing is cer-
tain. An immense amount of wood must have been consumed to burn such a
mass of clay, and the country must then have been more overgrown with timber
than at present. Many of the mounds are now enclosed in fields by sea walls
which hold out the tide, the plough has been drawn over them, and the spade has
scattered them over the surface, colouring a whole field brick-red, and making it
rich for the production of corn. There is no better manure than a red hill. But
why were these mounds so laboriously raised ? The tradition of the marsh -
dwellers is that they were platforms for huts, the earth burned as a preventive
to ague*. It is curious that in the marshy regions of central Africa, the natives
adopt a precisely similar method for their protection from miasma. But why men
dwelt in such numbers on the saltings remains undetermined. Whether they
lived there to burn the glasswort for nitre, or to steam the sea-water for salt, or
to take charge of oyster grounds, is uncertain. Fragments, very broken, of
pottery, are found in these heaps, scattered throughout them, but not a specimen
of a perfect vessel. The burnt hills are built up on the old shingle of the shore,
with no intervening line of vegetable matter, the growth of the marsh has been
later and has risen above their bases, and has partly buried them." From
"Mehalah, a Story of the Salt Marshes," by Rev. Baring-Gould (1880).
The Mollusca of Essex.—Having undertaken to prepare a list of the
Land and Freshwater Shells found in the Epping Forest district, I should be
grateful to any one who would take the trouble to collect and forward speci-
mens for identification, or furnish me with any information on the subject.
The different species should be kept separate, if possible, in pill boxes, to
prevent breakage, with a number on each box. Opposite a corresponding number
on a list sent with them, should be stated, the precise locality where collected,
with an indication of the habitat (whether on trees, amongst moss, on the
haves of water plants, or under stones, or felled timber, etc.), and the abundance
or otherwise of the species in the particular locality mentioned. I may add that
a little book which I published some years ago, entitled "Rambles in search of
Shells," contains very accurately coloured figures, with hints likely to be useful
to inexperienced collectors.—J. E. Harting, Natural History Museum, Crom-
well Road, S.W.
*It has been suggested that possibly one use at least of these "burnt" or "red" hills was to
afford a safe retreat for cattle or sheep when the surrounding marshes were overflown, Camden
in his "Britannia" (1610), writing of "the Isle Canvey," says, it is "so low that often times
it is quite over flowen, all save hillocks cast uppe, upon which the sheepe have a place of safe
refuge.''—Ed.