360 THE ESSEX NATURALIST
At 6.15 p.m. a formal meeting under the chairmanship of Mr. H. J.
Hastings was held. The outing was discussed and a list of flowering plants
numbering 75 was submitted by Miss Male and Miss Johnson. This list
was a comparatively small one, due to the fact that the ground covered was
not of a very varied nature and many of the plants seen were not yet in
flower due to the lateness of the season. A Meadow Brown and a Small
Tortoiseshell butterfly were seen.
Visit to Burnham-on-Crouch (986th Meeting)
SUNDAY, 26 JUNE, 1955
At 11.15 a.m. a party of 46 who had travelled by coach and car to
Burnham assembled at the Fisheries Laboratory of the Ministry of Agricul-
ture, Fisheries and Food and were welcomed by the Director, Dr. A. H.
Cole. Dr. Cole addressed the members outside the entrance and explained
in outline the work of the Laboratory, which was concerned with the
inshore fishing industry in general and with oysters in particular. He then
told the party that they were welcome to inspect the establishment as they
wished, for in each laboratory displays and demonstrations attended by a
specialist had been arranged to show the research being carried on.
Dr. Cole demonstrated examples of shell disease in oysters, with special
reference to a fungus disease, and explained methods of control which were
being tried.
Dr. R. W. Butcher (co-author of Further Illustrations of the British
Flora) was working on uni-cultures of marine algae, and his methods,
coloured drawings and his lucid explanations were much admired. In an
adjoining laboratory, methods of the culture of algae were seen.
The life history of the pink shrimp or Aesop prawn (Pandalus montagui)
and a parasitic infection of this crustacean were most ably demonstrated
by Mr. M. N. Mistakidis, while in another laboratory Mr. B. T. Hepper
was exhibiting the life history of the mussel parasite Mytilicola intestinalis
and methods of control.
Mr. G. D. Waugh had arranged exhibits to illustrate the growth of the
oyster and two of its pests—the Australian barnacle (Elminius modestus),
which is a, post-war arrival to our shores and is spreading rapidly, and the
rock-boring polychaete worm Polydora ciliata. On display also was appara-
tus used to record the direction and speed of underwater currents.
The problems presented by the presence of the American whelk tingle
or oyster-drill (Urosalpinx cinerea) and the common red starfish (Asterias
rubens) were described and demonstrated by Mr. D. A. Hancock, who was
also working on whiteweed (Sertularia cupressina). An important local
industry has developed in the preparation of this hydroid to be sold as the
so-called everlasting sea-fern for decorative purposes.
Exhibits dealing with the sanitary control of shellfish showed clearly the
strict and effective methods adopted to ensure that shellfish were clean
and safe before marketing was permitted. These precautions were
explained by Mr. P. C. Wood.
In large and small aquaria members were able to see many of the marine
animals upon which research work is carried out, and the famous jar con-
taining the hydra-tuba stage of Aurelia maintained for 29 years by our
member, Mr. F. J. Lambert (see E.N. 28, p. 280). Two large tanks showed
a derelict and a cultivated oyster bed for comparison. The various items
of gear and equipment such as beam trawls, grabs, plankton nets and
pumps, nets and dredges, were on display in the store and workshop, and
members of the staff were available to answer members' questions.