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THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
A quantity also occurred of the most interesting little mollusc, Truncatella
truncatula (=montagui), adhering to the under side of large stones on the
"hard." These are not common, and Mr. Crouch believes they have never before
been recorded on the Essex coast.
One of the most curious finds which he exhibited to those interested was a
specimen of the slipper-limpet Crepidula fornicata, which he found dead, but
adhering to an old oyster shell, not a native. On enquiry, he found that
American oysters were brought over, and laid down here to fatten, and that
would of course account for a shell which is not European being found on this
coast.
The party then crossed the ferry to Brightlingsea, a town devoted to the
fishing industries and to yachting, there being an excellent harbourage. An
informal tea was taken at the "Royal Hotel" (in which building there is quite a
little local Museum, accumulated by the landlord's son), and then the members
made for home, some by train, some on cycles, and some in boats to Mersea and
elsewhere.
Saturday, October 10th, 1891.
The Twelfth Annual Cryptogamic Meeting was appointed to be held on this day
in Hatfield Forest, and the circulars had been issued to members. A few days before
the meeting, the somewhat sudden death of our member, Mr. J. Archer-Houblon,
of Hallingbury Place, in whose grounds the meeting was to have been held,
compelled the issue of a notice postponing the meeting. The weather becoming
broken up, it was found impossible to organise another meeting during the
autumn, and consequently, to the great regret of the officers and many members
of the Club, the sequence of the Annual Fungus Forays was broken.
Ordinary Meeting, Saturday, November 7th, 1891.
The 128th Ordinary Meeting was held in the Public Hall, Loughton, at
seven o'clock, Mr. E. A. Fitch, President, in the chair.
The Librarian read a list of the books and pamphlets bought or presented
since the last meeting, and votes of thanks were passed to the several donors.
Mr. C. Oldham exhibited boxes of insects, including many aberrations of
species of Lepidoptera, captured by himself during the past summer. Among
other moths was a specimen of Apamea ophiogramma taken in the forest near
Woodford on the 20th of July last.
Mr. Walter Crouch exhibited on behalf of Dr. Murie, specimens of the small
Decapod, Sepiola atlantica, taken off Leigh, Essex, in August last.
Mr. A. J. Jenkins read a paper entitled : "Notes on the Mollusca of the
Thames Estuary, with a List of the Species Observed" (printed, ante, pp. 220-
232). In illustration of his paper, Mr. Jenkins exhibited a fine collection of the
species of shells found in the marshes bordering the Thames on the Kentish
and Essex shores, comprising eighteen fresh-water forms, six brackish-water,
and nineteen land-shells. The author showed how much of interest was to be
found in this "terra incognita"—one of the most interesting shells being the
little Hydrobia jenkinsi (named after Mr. Jenkins), which was first noticed in the
Essex marshes, and which is at present found nowhere else in the world but in
the brackish ditches by the Thames estuary.
Both Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Fitch spoke of the immense injury now being done
to animal and vegetable life by the gradual perversion of the Thames into an