240
THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
a sheet some nine inches thick, which is coated with a growth of living
Pellia and an aquatic moss Hypnum riparium, the moss having its stems
and leaves thickly encrusted with the limy matter. A few broken frag-
ments of freshwater and land shells, as Unio and Helix nemoralis, and an
Ostrea washed from the Boulder Clay were found associated in the deposit,
and a few decomposed leaves and what appear to be caddis-tubes were
seen imbedded in it.
The mass is loosely coherent and readily falls apart when saturated
with water, more consolidated portions being cemented with iron oxide ;
when dry it is more coherent. The deposit presents a more or less evident
stratified structure, the re-deposited lime showing a minutely fibrous
texture, some specimens are made up of small brecciated fragments of
chalk, and a little sand occurs intermixed.
In a drainage ditch or "grip" above Pengymill the deposit was found
as a white unctuous marl or highly calcareous clay.
The river Can during its eight-mile course from its source to the east
of High Roothing down to Pengymill has a fall of some 133 feet, equal to
one in 318, and flows exclusively over Boulder Clay, which, in the district,
as is well known, contains large numbers of chalk fragments ; the erosion
of this calcareous matter by the stream provides the material for the de-
posit, any accidental obstruction to the free flow of the stream (still fairly
rapid at the spot whence the specimens were dug from the bed of the
river) probably forming a nucleus for the aggregation of the limy matter
in a particular spot. In one specimen a flint is seen to have served as a
nucleus.
Mr. Thompson has placed specimens in the Museum.
Papers Read.—In the absence of the author, Mr. Cole read a paper
by Mr. C. E. Britton, entitled "Autumn Botany at Clacton, Essex."
Mr. Britton very kindly presented specimens of some of the more
interesting plants to the Club's Herbarium, which were exhibited, and
a vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Britton for the paper and specimens.
Report of the Club's Delegate of the Conference of Local Scientific
Societies, British Association, Birmingham, 1913.—Mr. Joseph Wilson,
F.R.M.S., presented the following Report :—
The chairman for the year was Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, F.R.S., who
presided at the first meeting held on Thursday, 11th September 1913, and
gave an interesting address on Utility and Selection.
Sir George Fordham, the Vice-Chairman, informed the meeting that
an invitation had been received from the French Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science, to hold next year's conference at Havre, while the
Association met there, and by a majority of the delegates the invitation
was accepted. The meetings will last for a week, commencing on 4th
August 1914.
The second meeting of the Conference was held on Tuesday, 18th
September. Sir George Fordham being in the chair. He reported the
Council's approval of the decision of the delegates to meet at Havre in
1914.
Mr. A. R, Horwood, of Leicester, read an interesting paper on "Scientific