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NOTES ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
The Skeleton of the Burnham Rorqual.—According to the "Essex
Weekly News" of July 1st, the skeleton of the Common Rorqual stranded in the
river Crouch on February I2th, 1891 (see Mr. Crouch's account in Essex
NATURALIST, v., pp. 124-128), and "which was ultimately purchased by Messrs.
J. S. Prior, Cook, Kendall, and other local gentlemen, has been undergoing a
thorough preservation process, rendering it milky white and beautifully clean.
The skeleton, which measures nearly fifty feet in length, has now been purchased
by Messrs. A. Newman and Bunting, who throughout Friday and Saturday had
it 'arranged' at the Public Hall for public inspection. A notice board announc-
ing the particulars attracted a good many strangers as well as inhabitants
to view the 'mortal remains,' which weigh about a ton. The skeleton was con-
veyed on Monday to Southend, where it will be exhibited in a marquee throughout
the season."
Pied Flycatcher (Muscicapa atricapilla) near Great Horksley.—On
Friday, May 6th, I was outside Great Horksley Plantation with papa, and I saw
a very pretty bird fly across the road. I told papa about it, but from my descrip-
tion he did not know what it was. When we were in the plantation we both saw
it catching insects. A day or two after we found that it was the Pied Flycatcher,
and it seems to be a rare bird in Essex. I thought that, perhaps, you would like
to have a notice of it.—(Master) P. Harwood, Colchester.
Caecilioides (Achatina) acicula among Human Remains.—At a meeting
of the Club on December 2nd, 1890, (E. N. vol iv, p. 227), I exhibited specimens
of this shell which had been found in vast numbers in a human skull, buried four
feet deep near East Tilbury Church. In the "Journal of Conchology," for April
(vol. vii., pp. 42, 43), the Rev. J. E. Somerville records the finding of quantities
of these molluscs in a small bottle or lachrymatory, found at a depth of ten or
twelve feet in a Roman cemetery at Ventimiglia, Italian Riviera. The shells
were, of course, dead, and of all sizes, some full grown, others young. M. Bonfils,
curator of the Mentone Museum, informed Mr. Somerville that he had also found
Caecilioides in the interior of earthenware pots from the Roman tombs.—W. COLE,
Buckhurst Hill.
Deiopeia pulchella at St. Osyth.—On June 6th, I took a specimen of
this rare moth at St. Osyth ; a few minutes later I saw another, but having just
swum a creek I was not prepared for it, or could easily have taken this also. In
September, 1874, when shooting, I saw two specimens of this rare species in a
stubble field at Birdbrook, in this county.—Edward A. FlTCH, Maldon. [This
insect was first captured in England in 1818, but with the exception of 1871, 1874,
1875, and 1876, when several specimens occurred, it has always been very rare
and sporadic. This year nearly a dozen specimens have been seen or captured in
such widely separated localities as Stamford Hill, N., Shorncliffe, Southsea,
Christchurch, Dover, and Staffordshire. It is to be hoped that the progeny of
these immigrants will make a good show in the autumn. It may be noted that
Myosotis appears to be the favourite food plant of the larva, and in confinement it
prefers M. palustris. A very interesting paper on the occurrence of the moth in
England, by Mr. R. South, F.E.S., will be found in the "Entomologist," for
June.—Ed.]