NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 133
strip extending for three or four feet, in an irregular mass. It
has a nodulose appearance, ochrey yellow or flesh colour. The
nodules produce long spines, which are covered by the hymenium
producing the spores. It has been forwarded from Chelmsford
by Mr. Fred. Chittenden, to the scientific committee of the
Royal Horticultural Society, and seems to be the first record of
its occurrence in Britain. There is a woodcut in Massee's Plant
Diseases (fig. 39). According to Thuemen, this fungus is very
frequently destructive to apple trees, and is presumably a wound
fungus, the spores entering through a wound, or fissure of the
bark, and soon becoming developed. An allied species, Hydnum
diversidens, was found on beech in Epping Forest a few
years ago.
From the same source, the flowers of Clematis jackmanni (?)
were sent, infested with a white mould, which has been named
Ovularia clematidis (Chitt.) forming whitish patches on the petals,
from 2 to 4 centimetres in diameter. The conidia are
elliptically cylindrical, with rounded ends 28—42x14—16
micromillemetres, and large for the genus.—M. C. Cooke,
LL.D., A.L.S., September, 1903.
Gigantic Mushroom.—The Daily Mail is responsible for
the following: "A pink-tinted mushroom over one foot in
diameter and weighing 2lb. 1oz. was picked by Mr. Death on
Snails Hall Farm, Billericay, Essex, yesterday morning,
August 25th." This was probably a specimen of Agaricus
arvensis, the "Horse Mushroom," which often grows to a great
size.
ANTHROPOLOGY.
The Relative Age of the Thames Valley Stone
Implements.—At the meeting of the Essex Field Club on
April 4th last, I exhibited a series of the various groups of
implements,—Eoliths, "Hill Group," "Acheulian," "Mousterian"
and "Rock Shelter,"—from various spots in the Thames Valley.
Mr. Hinton and I have been studying the gravels of the Valley
from a physical standpoint, and we have arrived at certain
conclusions as to their age. I have ventured to apply the results
of that work to the study of the stone implements found in these