THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 17
Mr. F. C. Gould exhibited a specimen of a goose recently shot by Mr. Plater
at the mouth of the Blackwater, which appeared to be the North American race
of the Brent Goose, called the "White-bellied Brent" (Bernicla brenta, var.
glaucogaster). The bird is sometimes met with among the ordinary Brent Geese
on the Essex coast, but is much rarer.
The late Col. Russell gave a very interesting account of the Brent goose in
Essex in some letters addressed to Mr. Cordeaux, and which were published in
the "Zoologist" for 1890, pp. 59-69. [See also Seebohm's "Birds" vol. iii.,
p. 508.]
Mr. Walter Crouch exhibited a small case, containing some sprays of skeleton
leaves from specimens collected in Loughton and Epping Forest—the Wild
Service Tree, Poplar, &c., and the flowers of Canterbury Bells. All were prepared
by Edward C. Day, of Poplar, who has long been noted for such preparations,
and for which, many years ago, he took two Bronze Medals—one in 1865 at St.
Mary's, Whitechapel, and again in 1866 at the Agricultural Hall.
Mr. Crouch also exhibited a print of an exceedingly rare shell, Pleurotomaria
adansoniana, which was recently exhibited at the Zoological Society. The genus
is an exceedingly interesting one, abounding in fossil species, some 1,156 having
been described, of which 226 have been found in British deposits, but was not
known in a recent condition till 1855, Since that date four species have been
taken, and the specimen figured is only the fourteenth of the genus yet found,
and came from deep water off the Island of Tobago. It is much to be regretted
that no recent shell has yet been placed in the Collection of the British Museum.
The few specimens known fetch exceedingly high prices, being not only rare but
beautiful. The interior is of beautiful pearly texture, and the exterior rich in
pattern and colour. The most curious feature is the long opening or slit, which
in the present specimen extends half way round the outer whorl of the shell; but
the animal not having yet been preserved or known to naturalists, the use of
this slit is conjectural. Probably, however, a siphon, or a portion of the
mantle of the animal protrudes from the opening, or some special arrangement of
the breathing process. Strangely enough, the nearest ally, morphologically, is
the tiny form of Scissurclla, a specimen of which, S. crispata, from deep water off
the Devon coast, was exhibited under the microscope, showing the small slit, and
the delicate sculpture of the shell. Mr. Crouch also showed an enlarged drawing
of the living animal and shell.
Mr. F. H. Varley exhibited specimens of Agaricus ostreatus, a species of edible
fungus, which had grown during the late severe weather on a mountain ash tree
in Mrs. Yeates' garden in Buckhurst Hill. It was interesting to find that an
apparently delicate fungus could survive in the open during severe frost.
Mr. C. B. Sworder sent for exhibition a fine Neolithic stone-hammer or axe-
head found near Epping, in 1888, in a heap of stones picked off the fields by the
farm-labourers.
A "Note on some Ancient Remains at Epping, Essex," by Mr. C. B. Sworder,
was read in his absence by Mr, Lockyer. The paper treated of the discovery of a
supposed Romano-British potter's kiln at Epping. Specimens were exhibited in
illustration of the paper.
The Secretary read for the author, Mr. W. Whitaker, F.R.S , extracts from a
paper on "Some Essex Well-sections," being the third of a series, and bringing
up the number of well-sections published in the Essex Naturalist to 276.
Mr. George Massee had been announced to give an address on "The Study of
C