THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
37
Books Presented.—The translation of De Magnete, published by the Gilbert
Club, presented by Professor Meldola, and the supplemental volume of Notts by
the Editor, Prof. Silvanus Thompson, F.R.S.; Agricultural Geology, presented
by the Author, Mr. Primrose McConnell, B. Sc.; Reminiscences of a Yorkshire
Naturalist, by the Executors of the Authors, the late Prof. W. C. Williamson,
F.R.S., and Catalogue of Essex Books, etc., in the library of Augustus
Cunnington, presented by his Executors. Thanks were returned for these
donations.
The "Essex Skipper Butterfly."—Mr. W. Cole exhibited and presented
to the Museum a series of Hesperia lineola recently taken on the Essex Coast by
Mr. B. G. Cole and himself. The insect was first recognised as a British species
by Mr. F. W. Hawes from the examination of specimens taken in July, 1888, at
St. Osyth, Essex (Essex Naturalist, iv. 191, and v, 107).
Moths Killed by Bats.—Mr. Cole also exhibited a number of fragments of
wings of moths, supposed to have been killed by bats (see "Notes" in present
part).
The President said that the exhibit was interesting in view of the study of the
relation between insects and their enemies.
Brown-tail Moth.—Another exhibit was a specimen of Porthesia chrysorrhea
empaled upon the spine of a furze-bush by one of the Butcher-birds. Mr. Cole
made some remarks on the capture of this moth by sparrows, which are embodied
in a "Note" on another page.
Essex Cephalopoda.—Mr. Cole placed on the table specimens of the five
species of this group known to occur in the Essex waters. They had been
obtained by himself off the coast, and by Mr. Goodchild from the deeper parts of
the North Sea. The species were :—Octopus vulgaris, Loligo forbesi (=vulgaris,
Jeffreys), L. media, Sepiola scandica (=rondeleti, Jeffreys) and Sepia officinalis
(the cuttle-fish). The specimen of Sepia was very small, as is usually the case with
those found near the Essex coast, although fine examples of the " bone " were
often picked up on the sands after storms. The specimens of the Octopus
and the Squid were from near the Dogger Bank.
Mr. Walter Crouch said that it was very interesting to see all the Essex
species of Cuttle-fishes in one view. He pointed out that the specimen of the
Squid exhibited was smaller than the one dredged up from the Crouch river in
1891, which had come into his possession, and which he had described in the Essex
Naturalist (Vol. xi., 87). This specimen measured 143/4 inches long in the
body, and from the end of the body to the extreme tips of the long arms,
.2 feet 5 inches. He had attempted to preserve this specimen, but without success.
Essex Marine District.—In reply to a remark by Mr. Whitaker, who
"congratulated the Club on having annexed the North Sea," Mr. Cole said that
in the Museum he proposed to take as Essex specimens those found in the North
Sea up to a line drawn midway between Essex and the Continent, and this would
include the Dogger Bank. This plan was in accordance with recommendations of
the Committee of the British Association "For the purpose of considering the
question of accurately defining the term 'British' as applied to the Marine Fauna
and Flora of our islands." The 100-fathom contour line, the natural boundary
on the N. and W., was non-existent off our shallow coast, and therefore the only
available boundary for the Eastern "Shallow-water District" was as above
defined (See Essex Nat. ii., 40, and Laver's Mammals and Fishes of Essex,
p. 13).