76
NOTES.
rooks, apparently aware of some impending change, deserted their old home for
another wood near by; and, though the trees have not been taken down, they
have never yet returned to them?—(Mrs.) J. Smith, Great Saling.
An Albino Coot at St. Osyth.—Mr. A. B. Farn, of Mount Nod, Green-
hithe, writes in the "Zoologist" for April :—"On June 1st, 1891, I received in
the down and in the flesh an Albino Coot, Fulica atra, from the neighbourhood of
St. Osyth. It was probably not more than four or five days old. The crimson
and yellow hair-like processes on the head were as in an ordinary immature Coot
of similar age. The legs were pale orange and the eyes red. With these
exceptions the bird was white. Retaining the crimson and yellow on the head
appears to me to be a curious circumstance."
Salmon and Salmon Trout at Heybridge.—We take the following from
the "Essex Weekly News" of April 8th, 1892 :—"On Sunday morning, George
Clarke captured a salmon trout at the mouth of the locks at Heybridge Basin,
where the Chelmer Navigation joins the river Blackwater. The tide was low at
the time, and Clarke caught the fish with his hands, lying bodily on it in order to
secure his prey. The fish scaled 10 lbs.
"On Monday afternoon, a well-known fisherman named Hayward, while
working his nets above Fullbridge, caught a splendid salmon weighing 22 lbs.
The fish made a bold stroke for his liberty, and soon broke through the net; but
Hayward, aided by the ebbing tide, was enabled to get him into the net once
more and to keep him there till transferred to his punt.
"The fish were sold to Mr. O. A. French, fishmonger, Maldon, and pronounced
by him to be in excellent condition, meeting with a ready sale,"
Paludestrina (Hydrobia) jenkinsi.—An interesting note, by Mr. B. B.
Woodward, F.G.S., etc., on the radulae of P. jenkinsi, Smith, and P. ventrosa,
Mont., with illustrations of each, appears in "The Annals and Magazine of
Natural History," for May, p. 376. The differences which obtain in the shape
and number of the teeth give an additional confirmation to the validity of the
new species. In P. jenkinsi the number varies from 420 to 490; whilst P.
ventrosa shows from 280 to 315. Reference is also made in the note to my
figure of P. jenkinsi in E. N., iv., p. 214.—Walter Crouch, May 3rd, 1892.
Stratiotes aloides at Great Saling.—I find that this plant still grows in
the pond near Pattiswick Hall as described by Gibson in his "Flora of Essex."
I have known it to grow there for nearly fifty years.—(Mrs.) J. Smith, Great
Saling.
Roman and British Coins found near Epping. — Mr. Benjamin
Winstone has sent us the following extracts from the "Gentleman's Magazine,"
for 1821 (page 66), which he thinks likely to be of interest in connection with
enquiries as to the character and age of the various pre-historic remains in the
neighbourhood. Mr. Winstone has kindly presented the block of the coin here
given :—
"Mr. John Barnard of Harlow, Essex, has favoured us with a British coin