216 MUSEUM NOTES NO. VI.
Chamomile (Anthemis tinctoria). There were many Evening
Primroses, too, and one Great Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus),
which may have come as seeds from neighbouring gardens,
but, from their positions, I am inclined to think not. By no
means the least interesting feature of this "paradise" was the
extraordinary way in which certain species were grouped in
separate patches
It will be noticed that a fair proportion of the species enu-
merated are more or less common in the eastern counties, and I
think it may be safely assumed that the seeds from which they
sprang came with the sand, shingle, and other materials, and that
these were brought from one or another of those counties by the
Great Eastern Railway, which serves the whole district.
A most astonishing fact has yet to be told. When
I paid an expectant visit to the estate in 1906, not a vestige
of the unusual plants was to be seen. The "jungle,"
corncockles, cudweed and belt of goosefoot had absolutely
vanished, and their places were occupied by grass, a few common
small weeds, docks, and thistles. Why this should be I am at a
loss to understand, but conjecture that, in the interval between
the dying-down of the plants and the time when the seeds they
had dropped should have germinated, the grass and local weeds
spread over the whole available surface, preventing such germina-
tion or smothering any growths which may have been able to
start.
MUSEUM NOTES No. VI.
X. THE GENERAL REFERENCE HERBARIUM.
ABOUT the middle of the summer of 1910 our Member,
the Rev. A. C. Morris, B.A., most kindly undertook with
Mr. Whitehead's assistance, the collation and arrangement
of the collections of Flowering Plants and Ferns in the Museum.
This work was steadily carried on from week to week, and is
now fairly finished, so far as museum work can ever be deemed
to be "finished." Mr. Morris has drawn up the following notes
which will be very useful for those consulting the Herbarium.
The principal collections incorporated are the following :—
Shenstone Collection. Presented by Mr. J. C. Shenstone, F.L.S. (See
Essex Naturalist vol. xi., 223).