68 NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
Mr. W. G. Mackmurdo had taken it in the years 1863-5, at Felstead, Essex ; Mr.
J. N. Young in 1880, at Clumber, Notts. ; Lieut. G. F. Mathew, in 1886, at
Harwich; I found two old specimens in the British collection in the Museum at
Taunton, which had almost certainly been taken in the West of England. In
1890 it was found also at Wicken Fen and at Burswell, a silvery white specimen
being secured at the former place. Besides the localities already mentioned, it
has been met with at Purfleet, Benfleet, and St. Osyth, in Essex, and at Chappel
and Bures, in Suffolk. In all probability its range in this country is far from
being yet known, but its metropolis is evidently in Essex and Suffolk. Is shows
a partiality for the embankments which protect the cultivated land from the
inroad of the high tides which flood the salt marshes. Here it flits about, or sits
on the coarse sea-side grasses, or on blossoms of thistle or Lotus corniculatus,
indicating rather sluggish habits, yet flying swiftly when disturbed. Further
inland it seems to frequent chalky hillsides and marshes. Abroad, it has a wide
range throughout the greater part of Europe, Northern Asia, and Northern
Africa. Kirby says that it occurs in meadows in July and August, and that he
has seen it most commonly along paths by the side of cornfields." As noted in
The Essex Naturalist (vol. vi., p. 141), the larva feeds from April to June on
Triticium repens and its var. littorale, and other coarse grasses occurring on the
sea-walls.—ED.
Ancient Pit at Coggeshall.—A somewhat absurd rumour was lately
spread by some of the Essex papers respecting the discovery of a pit containing
charcoal, some fragments of pottery, and bones, at Coggeshall, namely, that
the relics were the charred remains of Thomas Hawkes, a martyr of the tenth
century. Our member, Mr. G. F. Beaumont, F.S.A., thus describes the pit and
its contents : "The recent discovery in the Vicarage Field, Coggeshall (No. 297
Ordnance Survey), consisted of a bowl-shaped hollow, about 9 feet 6 inches in
diameter at the top, and about 5 feet in diameter at the base and having a depth
of 5 feet. At the bottom was a layer of charred wood, 2 inches in thickness, and
above it a few inches of flint and other stones, which had been discoloured by the
action of heat ; the remainder of the pit was filled in with soil. At the base of
the pit I found a small piece of coarse, partially-baked, pottery, and a few frag-
ments of bone. These remains were insufficient to enable me to form a definite
opinion as to the date or object of the original excavation. It appears to be of
similar character to excavations at Roxwell, near Chelmsford, which Mr. R. W.
Christy discovered in 1887, and described (Essex Naturalist, i. 82) as
'mysterious holes filled with black earth, mingled with charred wood and pieces
of pottery.' The Roxwell pits were circular, about 5 feet in diameter at the sur-
face, and 2 feet at the bottom, some being as much as 5 feet deep, and most of
them about 3 feet. . I do not think there is sufficient evidence to lead to the con-
clusion that the pit was made by the Roman Agrimensores to serve as a Botontinus,
although that was originally the idea which presented itself to me. It certainly
was not used for baking purposes, as the sides showed no traces of heat. It may
have been made for sepulchral purposes. The suggestion that it marks the site
of the martyrdom of Thomas Hawkes is too fanciful, for to support Such a theory
it must be assumed that the persecutors dug a hole 5 feet deep, placed the stake
therein, burned the martyr, carefully moved the ashes, re-excavated the hollow,
placed the ashes at the bottom, a layer of the burned stones above, and then
refilled the pit with earth." We understand that Mr. Beaumont has since been