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NOTES.
Carex Goodenovii, Gray.—On Saturday afternoon, June 9th, during the
excursion of the Hackney Microscopical Society, I found at Woodford an interesting
form of Carex goodenovii. Gray. It has the terminal spike androgynous, with
male flowers at the base and apex. The specimen has been seen by Mr. Arthur
Bennett, F.L.S., of Croydon, who says that this form of C. goodenovii is not at
all common.—Robert Paulson, Upper Clapton.
The Bee Orchis (Ophrys apifera) in Essex.—Some correspondence which
has recently taken place in the "Essex County Chronicle" respecting the localities
for this plant in Essex may be worth summarising. "W. B. L." records finding a
specimen on July 15th on the railway embankment at Margaretting, and, in reply to
enquiries, Mr. Edwin E.Turner, of Coggeshall, says that the flower is "generally to
be found in several places on the lines of the Great Eastern Railway, with its com-
panion plant, Chlora perfoliata (the Yellow-wort). The localities are : between
Witham and Hatfield Peverel, at Stanway near Colchester, and also on the Wood-
ford, Loughton and Epping line, between Epping and Ongar. I saw one specimen
some years ago from a field near Marks Hall. Some years I have seen hundreds
of spikes, but as the appearance of our orchids for some cause or other is very
uncertain, it is often possible to search after it in vain ; as, for instance, this year
a solitary specimen was my only reward in several expeditions made for the express
purpose of securing it." Mr. G. Alan Lowndes, J.P., of Barrington Hall,
Hatfield Broad Oak, records finding a specimen "near Canfield Heart, on the
roadside leading from Hatfield Broad Oak to Dunmow, and several specimens
were found near Pawell's Farm, in this parish, by Miss Alice Mortimore, a very
intelligent botanist; "while Mr. Thomas Spurgin, the Manor House, Ongar, gives
a list of stations as follows :—" I have found it between Saffron Walden and Little
Walden, between Little Walden and Hadstock, on the road between Saffron
Walden and Strethall, between Saffron Walden and Ashdon, near St. Aylotts.
Of late years I have found it abundantly in the grounds of Little Laver Hall,
Ongar, sparingly in the lane leading from Berners Roding Hall to Willingale
Doe; also between Willingale Spain (Radley-green) and Norton-heath, and
abundantly on the railway embankment between Ongar and Epping, where, a
week or two since, a party of friends and myself gathered some hundreds. Gibson,
in his "Flora of Essex" records its being found near Littley Wood, between
Wenden and Arkesden ; near Bardfield, between Elsenham and Broxted ; near
Newport, between Henham and Chickney;at Halstead, Ballingdon, Great Leighs,
Great Canfield, near Broomfield, Chelmsford ; Fyfield, Writtle, near Epping, near
Harlow, Purfleet, Kelvedon, Braxted, Rivenhall, Felix Hall Park (with while
flowers), so that this curious flower is by no means uncommon in this country. In
a collection of wild flowers at our Horticultural Show, on July 18th, were several
fine specimens of the Bee Orchis gathered near here." In the new edition of
the "Flora of Hertfordshire" many localities are given, but the plant appears to
be everywhere rare in that county.—Ed.
"Danes" or "Denes."—"This valley [the "Valley of Rocks" on Exmoor]
or 'goyal' as we term it, being small for a valley, lies to the west of Linton,
about a mile from the town perhaps, and away towards Ley Manor. Our home-
folk always call it the 'Danes' or the 'Denes' ; which is no more, they tell me,
than a hollow place, even as the word 'den'is." From "Lorna Doone: a
Romance of Exmoor," by R. D. Blackmore.
Protection of Pallas's Sand Grouse.—At a meeting of the Norfolk and
Norwich Naturalists' Society, held in the Museum on the 29th of May, a letter
was read from Mr. Geoffrey Buxton, in which he desired to bring before the meet-
ing the question of the preservation of the Sand Grouse. After referring to the
recent immigration of these birds, Mr. Buxton said it would be a grievous pity
that they should be so entirely destroyed as they were in 1863, and expressed a
hope that if preserved they might become indigenous to this country. After some
discussion, it was resolved that letters, signed by the President, should be
addressed to a number of the principal landowners in Norfolk, urging them to
afford protection to these interesting birds.—[Communicated by Mr. J. H.
Gurney.]