NOTES.
181
the vice-county area system for recording. Though arbitrary,
that system had been profitably used by botanists and concho-
logists and the blank maps for recording were available. Appeal
was made to the local societies for help in this and similar work.
A series of problems had been suggested for the consideration of
the societies and would be circulated in due course.
The last paper brought before the Conference was one by
Dr. Vaughan Cornish dealing with " The preservation of Crown
"Lands." There appears to be a danger that some of these may
be lost to the public as open spaces, since some, which were once
open, have now been enclosed and notices put up forbidding
access.
NOTES: ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
Fossil Oysters from an Unknown Geological Deposit at
Walton-on-Naze.—From time to time I have found fossil oyster shells,
of deep-sea type, on the foreshore at the Naze. Mr. A. Santer Kennard
agrees with me that they cannot come from the Red Crag, neither are
they London Clay fossils. There seems no doubt that they are thrown
up from the submarine erosion of some unknown Tertiary deposit upon
the sea-floor. Now that attention has been drawn to it one hopes that
further evidence may come to light either from material thrown up on the
foreshore or from dredging. Two examples have been placed in the Club's
Museum, and others in other museums.
S. Hazzledine Warren.
Arctic Skua at Chingford. — Whilst visiting Yardley Hill ou
August 21, 1938, Mr. R. McKenzie Smith and I observed an unusual bird
on the King George Reservoir. At that distance it was difficult to identify
the species but after watching the bird for a short time we decided that it
was a Skua. On one occasion when it settled on the water it was " tor-
pedoed," and driven off, by a Great Crested Grebe. Mr. W. A. Wright
was advised, and he visited the Reservoir a few hours later and definitely
identified the bird as an immature Arctic Skua (Stercorarius parasiticus).
The bird was seen again at the same place a week later. This appears to
be the first occurrence of the species in the Lea Valley.
Bernard T. Ward.
Recent Discoveries in the Lea Valley. — During the con-
struction of the new Reservoir near Chingford several Late Belgic, and
Romano-British pots, and also a bronze palstave, have been found near
Flanders Weir, just within the Essex county boundary. A series of oak
stakes, 8 feet long and pointed at both ends, arranged in a double row
and driven into the gravel of the old river-bed, was also discovered here
and, it is suggested, may have marked the limits of a ford or perhaps a