THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
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Mr. Nicholson exhibited, and made some remarks upon, a lantern
photograph of the Planet Mars.
The Curator exhibited some cases of Birds, which had recently been
presented to the Club's Stratford Museum by Miss R. Christy, of Broomfield.
These comprised specimens of Buff-backed Heron, Black-winged Stilt,
Avocet, Raven, Black Grouse m and f, Mallard, Carrion Crow, Oyster-
catcher, and Kingfisher : they had been set-up and cased by the late
Henry Doubleday, of Epping, and were purchased by a member of the
Christy family at the sale of Henry Doubleday's birds in 1873.
Mr. Thompson also exhibited a living Rudd, which was infested by
the fish-louse, Argutus foliaceus.
Mr. Scourfield (in the absence of the author), read a paper "On the
recent Occurrence of Halacanis, a rare water-mite, in Epping Forest," by
Mr. Charles D. Soar, F.L.S., F.R.M.S., and exhibited specimens of the
mite under the microscope.
The President then called upon Mrs. Annie R. Hatley, B.Sc., who read
a paper entitled "The Origin and Development of the Lea Valley," which
she illustrated by lantern diagrams and photographs.
Thanks were voted to the authors for their communications, and the
meeting adjourned.
CRYPTOGAMIC FORAY—CHINGFORD TO HIGH BEACH
(587TH MEETING.)
SATURDAY, 15TH NOVEMBER, 1924.
The Club's annual Cryptogamic Foray in Epping Forest was held this
year, as an experiment, in the Chingford district, it being thought that the
lower, damper ground thereabouts might yield a greater harvest of mosses
and hepatics, although at the expense of the lichens which flourish best
on the higher heaths and beechwoods. The hope proved to be fallacious,
however, and the district was found to be poorer in all departments than
are the upland districts farther north.
The conductors and referees for the day were as follow :—
For the Mosses and Hepatics, Mr. J. Ross and Mr. W. R. Sherrin, A.L.S.
For the Lichens, Miss A. Lorrain Smith, F.L.S., and Mr. R. Paulson,
F.L.S.
For the Fungi and Myxomycetes, Miss G. Lister, F.L.S.
Assembled at Chingford railway station at 10.34 o'clock, the party,
which numbered in all over 50 persons, struck across Chingford Plain into
the woodlands, which, as a result of the heavy rainfall of the preceding
days, were found to be uncomfortably wet underfoot. Notwithstanding
a certain amount of personal discomfort, however, the party tramped brave-
ly through the soddened undergrowth, led by Mr. Ross, who conducted us
to several of his well-known stations for the rarer forms of mosses, hepatics,
and myxies.
The headquarters were, as usual, the Roserville Retreat at Highbeach,
and here tea was taken soon after 4 o'clock. At the subsequent meeting,
held with the President in the chair, Sir Arthur Woodward referred to the
recent death of one of the Club's most famous honorary members, Sir