134 NOTE ON PUNCTURED POTTERY FOUND AT FRYERNING.
and its object was undoubtedly to prevent cracking and twisting
from uneven shrinkage in the fire. This can be better seen in some
specimens of whole pots in the British Museum, in which the
puncturings occur mostly at the points of juncture of the handle
with the body of the pot, where there is the greatest thickness.
In the Fryerning specimens the holes are pretty evenly dis-
tributed down the handle, suggesting rather a survival of the custom,
or possibly to prevent twisting during firing.
The only remains of this practice in the making of Modern
pottery seem to be found in the custom of pricking the backs of
panels and the joints of honey-combed structures, to prevent bursting
of air-bubbles, warping and uneven shrinkage.
Mr. Franks, F.R.S., of the British Museum, tells me that the
Rotherly specimens are the only examples of Rom.-Brit. pottery
showing this peculiarity that have come under his notice ; but he
has frequently observed puncturing in Mediaeval pottery ; he has
never seen it in the earlier British wares.
Fig. 3. Portion of Pot Rim, Punctured, Romano-British. Rotherly Down, Wilts.
I have myself looked in vain among the early, thick-rimmed,
cinerary urns for this feature, where it would doubtless have been
of great practical value, and might have prevented many of the
cracks usually found on these ancient pots.
I have drawn two of the Fryerning specimens (figs, 1 and 2),
and have also reproduced a drawing (fig. 3) in General Pitt-Rivers'
book of a fragment from Rotherly for comparison with the Essex
examples.
With the Fritillaries in Essex.—This year, on May 31st, I captured a
remarkably dark and strongly-marked example of Argynnis euphrosyne, and on
June 18th, a specimen of A. selene, part of the ground-colour of whose forewings
is "under a cloud."—Charles Oldham, Chelmsford Road, Woodford, Oct., 1890