THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 41
Prof. Meldola, after commenting upon the implements exhibited by the
author, said that he quite accepted their authenticity as true Palaeoliths, and
congratulated Mr. Johnson on having been able to supply the first evidence
from that district of the existence of man as a contemporary of the extinct
animals whose remains had in former years been so frequently discovered in
the Uphall pits.
Mr. Edward Lovett gave a demonstration of the employment of fish-
hooks of wood in France, similar to the hooks from the Essex coast,
described in volume x. of the Essex Naturalist. Mr. Lovett exhibited
specimens in illustration of his remarks, and also presented specimens to the
Museum (see Mr. Lovett's paper in the present part, ante, pp. 28-31).
Prof. Meldola, said that the spirit of conservatism which had led to the
retention of such ancient customs was either a blessing or the reverse, accord-
ing to the point of view from which it was considered. Although, from an
industrial standpoint, the persistence of a custom because our fathers did so
before us was a disaster so far as concerns national progress, yet from an
anthropological point of view such survivals were often of great value, and
the use of wooden fish-hooks at the present day, as made known by Mr.
Lovett's observations, was a most interesting case linking a modern imple-
ment with a very remote antiquity. The author seemed to him to have been
fortunate enough to have secured the evidence just at the vanishing stage in
this country, and in view of the rapid disappearance of all such ancient
methods and traditions it was a bounden duty of observers to record similar
facts whenever they came across them in the interests of anthropological
science.
Mr. E. J. Lewis gave a summary of an extensive paper on the "Oak-
Galls and Gall Insects of Epping Forest" which he had prepared for the
Essex Naturalist. Mr. Lewis exhibited a long series of coloured drawings
from his own pencil, in illustration of the subject.
[Mr. Lewis's paper will be published in a succeeding part of our journal.]
Prof. Meldola said that he was particularly interested in Mr. Lewis's
paper, and was much struck by the modest way in which the author had
brought forward a very valuable contribution to the county natural history.
He thought that the list drawn up would form a natural and fitting sequel to
Mr. E. A. Fitch's paper on the "Galls of Essex" published in the early
years of the Club ("Transactions of E.F.C," vol. ii., pp. 98-156). He remem-
bered well the sensation caused in this country on the announcement by Dr.
Adler that certain Gall Insects which had been placed by systematists in
different genera were cyclical forms of the same species, and he fully con-
curred with Mr. Lewis that in such cases both forms in the alternating
generations should be referred in nomenclature to one genus only. With
regard to the origin of the two forms from the point of view of the evolutionist
he thought that in the light of the analogy with the Daphnias it was more
probable that the bisexual form was the parent form and that the asexual
form had been evolved from this. The researches of Weismann on the
Daphnias where a somewhat similar alternation was observed had led that
author to the conclusion that the sexual form was the parent form.