NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 201
crab weighs 21/4lbs. I have presented the pair to the Ipswich Museum." In
the next week's issue, Mr. R. Aldous, of Brightlingsea, Essex, writes:—"I
have in my possesion a crab which has upon its back shell eight oysters of
from 2in. to 21/3in. across their shells. This crab was caught on the oyster
grounds of Tershilling, in the North Sea, by one of the Brightlingsea oyster
smacks. Oyster experts pronounce these oysters to be two years old." On
these observations the Editor of the Field remarks:—"It is generally
supposed that crabs and lobsters moult their shells annually, as the only
means by which they can increase in size. If the age of the oyster referred to
by Mr. Hunt was accurately judged at four years, or, as in Mr. Aldous'
example, at two years, it would go to prove either that crabs do not moult
annually, or that an oyster is able to detach itself from the object to which it
first became attached, a feat which most people would regard as an
impossibility."
BOTANY.
Symphytum officinale, var. patens, Sibthorpe, at Brentwood.—On read-
ing one of the back numbers of the Essex Naturalist (vol. x., p. 401) I saw that
the purple-flowered form of Symphytum officinale is spoken of as not then to be
claimed as an Essex plant. Very likely, however, it has been found in the
county since, but in any case it may be of interest to you to know that in a
field close by here, there are several plants of it. It grew so luxuriantly last
year (1898) that, though cut close to the ground about the end of June as it
overran the crops, by August I found some of it in flower again. The pale
yellow form was found in a ditch near East Horndon. I send a specimen of
each form for the Club's Herbarium, but I am sorry to find that brown stains
have appeared in the flowers ; it seems impossible to avoid them.—(Miss)
Amy M. Horton, "Mascalls," Brentwood, December nth, 1899.
Notes on Essex Plants.—Possibly the following notes on some plants
mentioned in the last part of the Essex Naturalist (ante pp. 146-7) may be
of some interest :—
Bupleurum rotundifolium is erratically abundant in our district. I have it
noted in my local register as occurring in fields at Stebbing, Lindsell, High
Easter, and the Roothings. Wherever it occurs it is I think in these
localities, abundant.
Epipactis latifolia.—I have this noted down for woods and springs at Felsted,
High Easter, and Dunmow, but occurring sparingly.
Lemna gibba.—Dunmow and High Easter.
Lemna polyrrhiza.—Felsted and Little Leighs.—(Rev.) Edward Gepp,
M.A., School House, Felsted.
Epipactis latifolia, Sw.—(Ante p. 147). This plant used to grow on
both banks of the Ching brook between Whitehall Road and Chingford
Hatch, Epping Forest, but I have not seen it since the early eighties. I do
not remember the particular sub-species to which the plants I observed
belonged.—F. W. Elliott, Buckhurst Hill.
GEOLOGY.
Saline Constituents of Chalk-derived Waters in Essex.—At the
meeting of the British Waterworks Engineers in London, on June 5th, 1899,
our member, Dr. J. C. Thresh, Medical Officer of Health to the Essex County
Council, read a very interesting paper under the above title. Dr. Thresh