138
NOTES —ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
have only resulted in a shifting of local material. The rate at which
the material was borne to the sea—the true measure of denudation—
is at no time known.
In puzzling out the history of Post-Glacial change the counties of
Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex are the volumes, so to speak, to be studied;
yet it is singular how much of these counties (compared to some
others) has been neglected by geologists.
The comparative poverty of the indigenous fauna and flora, not
only of England, but of Europe, can only be explained by reference
to Quaternary deposits.6 Thus in the small province just treated of,
we make out one important point, and that is the gradual amelioration
of climate. At first the conditions appear to be impossible for plant or
animal life. Later, they are shown to be very unfavourable, and even
in recent times those conditions were inclement, although greatly
improved ; and but for artificial aid they would be so now.
In connection with this poverty of plant and animal forms (which
may, however, have been exaggerated) we read of insular conditions
and other secondary causes; but we do not always or often consider
that that poverty might be inferred, and its true cause ascertained, by
the study of the ground under our feet.
NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
Cat Nursing an Otter, and Otters in Mersea.—On the 18th of April
a man brought us a baby otter, which his dog had found in a rabbit's hole in a
field called "Goyants," near Chapel End, East Mersea. The tracks of the
mother had been previously seen, and an old lady, it was reported, had been
much frightened by meeting the big beast in a neighbouring lane. "Goyants."
as we christened our pet, was a quaint old-world-like little animal, lively, and
occasionally pugnacious, and we were sanguine of rearing it as it took milk
freely. Home at Buckhurst Hill it seemed comfortable enough in its warm
basket before the kitchen fire. One morning we missed the otter, and after a
search the little creature was discovered safe and cosy in our very maternal cat's
basket, apparently on friendly terms with a solitary kitten. The cat must have
taken considerable trouble to transport the otter to her own bed, and very fond
and proud of her new kitten she seemed to be, judging from her self-satisfied
purring. All went well for a time, but, alas! one morning, three weeks after-
wards, poor little "Goyants" was found dead in the basket. No cause could be
found for the calamity, as the night before he had seemed as lively as ordinarily,
whistling vigorously when touched. I have had the animal preserved for the
Club's museum.
6 My authorities for the poverty of the European Flora were Prof. Wright's book on the
"Ice Age of America," and a paper by Grant Allen in the "Fortnightly Review" of some four
years ago.