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THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
Mr. Ross showed a gathering of the myxomycete, Physarum nutans, and of its
variety leucophaeum, from Epping Forest.
The President showed some Romano-British pottery fragments from a camp-
site near Little Hadham. Herts. ; these included a circular disc of dark-grey
ware, made by chipping and rubbing down the base of a vessel, and suggested
that it may have been used as a quoit.
Mr. Thompson exhibited two spherical flint-stones, both from the Loughton
district, probably derived from the so-called "cannon-shot gravels" of the
glacial deposits of Norfolk, and described their mode of formation by swirling
water in hollows in hard rocks ; he referred to the similar examples in the well-
known "glacier garden" at Lucerne and to others he had himself noticed in hard
Devonian limestone on a rocky foreshore near Ilfracombe at low water.
The Curator showed a further selection of views of Colchester buildings from
the Pictorial Survey collection.
A paper on the Status of the Hoopoe over a period of a Century (1839 to
1938), by Mr. Wm. E. Glegg, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U., was, in the absence of the author,
read by the Hon. Sec. Miss Lister exhibited a stuffed specimen of the bird in
illustration of the paper, and several members joined in the subsequent discussion.
Mr. D. J. Scourfield, I.S.O., F.L.S., etc., read an account of the Nannoplankton
of Bomb Crater Pools in Epping Forest and demonstrated the mode of capture
by the use of a centrifuge, and answered several questions arising therefrom.
The meeting adjourned shortly before 4 o'clock
ORDINARY MEETING (842nd Meeting).
SATURDAY, 29TH JANUARY, 1944.
Held, as usual, at "Brooklands," 37, Churchfields, Woodford, at 2 o'clock,
this meeting was attended by 32 members : the President was in the chair.
The meeting was devoted to exhibits and short communications by members.
Miss G. Lister exhibited and described a series of her drawings illustrating the
development of frog-tadpoles, from the first segmentation of the ovum to the
differentiation of the embryo and so to the fully formed tadpole and its hatching.
Miss Prince showed and described several of the less-common Essex plants,
such as Trifolium fragiferum, Hydrocotyle vulgaris with its minute flowers,
Menyanthes trifoliata and Melampyrum pratense.
Mr. Crouch exhibited a rare book which described and figured the former
wall-paintings in Essex House (formerly Grove House), Woodford ; he also
outlined the history of this house.
Mr. Graddon sent for exhibition a living specimen of the showy discomycetous
fungus Sarcoscypha coccinea, from Cheshire : he mentioned that this species
had twice been noted from Essex, the first time by John Ray in his "Synopsis,"
1690 : it was also recorded by the late Dr. Cooke in the Essex Naturalist, vol. II.
as occurring on twigs at Epping and Chelmsford.
Mr. W. Howard sent up from Devonshire some interesting notes on the flora
of Martinhoe in N. Devon, which were read by the Hon. Secretary.
Mr. Main showed and described some of his photographs of various insect-
larvae in their burrows, including the Small Elephant Hawkmoth, Dytiscus
marginalis. Hydrophilus piceus, Geotrupes typhaeus and Gryllus campestris.
Mr. Ross showed flies bred by him from the Spangle Gall and Artichoke Gall
of the oak : and he reported a total of 55 species of mycetozoa found by him
during 1943 in Epping Forest.
Mr. Scourfield exhibited a drawing of the waterflea, Daphnia pulex, and living
examples of this species and of D. magna, and also gave an account of the formation
of their winter-eggs or ephippia.
Mr. Syms showed living specimens of the Cellar Beetle, Blaps mucronata, and
described his experiences in working out their life-history from the egg onwards.
The meeting adjourned slightly before 4 o'clock.