NOTES.—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
277
Hops in Essex.—Mr. J. Holden MacMichael contributed
the following extracts from The St. James's Evening Post of
September 26, 1738, to a recent number of Notes and Queries :—
This is to give Notice,
As there is a Fair annually kept at Halstead in Essex, on the 18th Day of
October, and the principal part of the Hops in Essex growing in and near
the said Place, it is thought Convenient by the Planters and Dealers in Hops,
that the same should be used as an Hop-Fair : This is therefore to acquaint
the Publick, that for the future it will be kept as an Hop-Fair ; and to
encourage the Planters, the Lord of the Manor has consented that Groundage
shall be gratis the first Year ; and as the Town is now clear from the Small-
Pox, it is hoped that there will be a considerable many Chapmen.
N.B. Also Butter and Cheese.
It seems worth while to place this on permanent local record
in these pages.
Possibly some of our members may meet with further
references to hop-growing in the county—another lost industry
of Essex.—I. Chalkley Gould, Loughton, October 5th, 1906.
INSECTS.
The Felted Beech Coccus (Cryptococcus fagi) in
Epping Forest.—Evidence of the presence of this insect pest
on some of the beech trees near the "Wake Arms," Epping
Forest, was noted during the present summer (1906). The bark
of the infected trees has a felted white substance on it, which, if
seen during the winter, might be mistaken for snow. An
examination of a small flake under the microscope shows it to
consist of filaments of a waxy substance, in which may be
found yellowish hemispherical masses about one twenty-fifth of
an inch in diameter. These are the bodies of adult females of
the Beech Coccus—a member of the family of Scale-insects
(Coccidae). The female surrounds herself with filaments of
waxy material, which serve as a protective covering. The
insect obtains food by sucking juices from the tree through a
long tube. The males have not yet been discovered — the mode
of reproduction being parthenogenetic. The adult insect is
incapable of locomotion, possessing neither legs nor wings, but
the tiny larvae, which are furnished with three pairs of legs, are
very active. They crawl over the tree trunk, usually settling
down near the bodies of their parents, and adding to the mass of
secretion. They are sometimes blown away by the wind or