THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 207
of which there are still traces, is marked close to Stansgate
Wick, on the east side of the channel, separating it from Ramsey
Island. Christy suggests that the date (1772) is wrong, as the
only map on which this decoy seems to be marked is Chapman
and Andre's, which was published in 1777.
(To be continued).
THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB—REPORTS OF MEETINGS
ORDINARY MEETING (830th Meeting).
SATURDAY, 31ST OCTOBER, 1942.
This, the first meeting of the winter session, was held at "Brooklands," 37,
Churchfields, Woodford, at 2 o'clock on the above date, when 25 members
attended : the President was in the chair, and welcomed those present.
Miss E. Noble, of "The Rowans," 139, Hermon Hill, South Woodford, E.18,
was elected a Member.
The President exhibited some roughly circular discs of false "Samian" ware
and dark grey ware, of Romano-British date, broken down bases of pots, which
he suggested might have been used in some game, such as quoits. He showed
somewhat similar discs of Neolithic pottery which he had found at Walton-on-Naze
Miss G. Lister exhibited and described a specimen of a rare myxomycete,
Oligonema nitens, found in Epping Forest on the occasion of the Club's ramble
a fortnight before : this is a new record for Essex, which now boasts 105 species
of these most interesting little organisms. Oligonema resembles a Trichia in
external appearance, but its microscopic characters differentiate it.
Mr. G. Dent sent some observations on the recent increase of the Black Rat
in East London : also on the small Heronry at "Hylands," near Chelmsford,
which has been used intermittently for some years past. This last Spring (1942)
there were six nests there.
Mr. Glegg contributed a note on the possibility of the Black Redstart,
Phoenicurus ochrurus gibraltariensis, becoming established as a regularly breeding
bird in Britain.
Mr. Graddon sent for exhibition a specimen of the discomycete, Cyathicula
coronata, on a dead nettle-stem from Cheshire. This fungus is characterised
by its elegantly toothed margin to the cup. Mr. Graddon has been able, by
microscopic observation, to confirm Massee's suggestion (in his British Fungus
Flora, iv. 272) that the spores of this species become septate when fully mature.
C. coronata has been recorded once from Epping Forest.
Mr. Main exhibited living larvae of glowworms, also those of the Oil Beetle,
Meloe proscarabaeus, whose life history he detailed.
Mr. Ross showed and described flies bred from the "pea galls" of rose leaves,
genus Rhodites, together with illustrations of the galls themselves.
Mr. Scourfield gave an account of a new British fish-industry from the Lake
District. Following detailed study of the habits of juvenile Perch in Lake
Windermere, it was decided, as a War measure, to trap the young perch in specially
contrived traps, let down into the lake without bait, which proved so successful
that the resultant "haul" of fish were canned in oil like sardines and put on
the market as Perchines.
Mr. Syms gave a talk on the British Cockroaches and others brought to this
country in banana-crates, and exhibited mounted specimens of all these forms.
Mr. Thompson exhibited elm-bark showing the burrows of Scolytus destructor,
and described their formation by the parent beetle and its progeny. He also
showed a selection of views of old West Ham from the Pictorial Survey collection.