88
THE ESSEX NATURALIST
Towards the end of March House-Sparrows showed an interest in the
nesting-hole and no special observations were made until 21st April when a
budgerigar was observed to be pulling out the sparrows' nesting material.
The budgerigars then took possession of the hole and two young were hatched
and flew in late May. Two more young, whether or not from the same pair,
were reared and flew later in the summer.
Mr. Wheeler then showed a collection of preserved marine animals taken
by him in the River Crouch.
Mr. Richard Ward showed a piece of planed wooden board from apparatus
which had been stained blue by chemicals used in a commercial process. One
surface of the board showed profusions somewhat reminiscent of the teeth of a
comb. He had not had time to investigate the phenomenon and hoped that
members would be able to explain it. After the specimen had heen passed
round a member volunteered a possible explanation. Illustrating his remarks
by sketches on the blackboard he suggested that the protruding teeth were
the medullary rays which had been swollen by rain as the board lay exposed
to the weather, the swelling had caused them to be forced out probably by
succesive wettings each of which had caused a little more protrusion. It was
apparent by the applause which followed the explanation that the members
considered it to be the correct one.
Mr. Belcher showed specimens of algae collected on the River Lea (see
page 60).
Dr. Budge then gave an account of observations which he had made upon
Saxon churches which exemplified the square root of three plan put forward by
Mr. Harley some years ago. (Essex Naturalist Vol. 28 page 275). He put for-
ward a theory as to the reason for the adoption of this proportion by the builders
of these churches and illustrated his remarks by ingenious working models.
Constructive comments upon Dr. Budge's theory were put forward by Mr.
Harley and Dr. Alvin (see pages 45 - 52).
Mr. Pettifer showed some old prints of the church and other buildings in
the parish of Danbury.
Mr. Kenneth Marshall, Curator of the Passmore Edwards Museum,
showed, on behalf of Mr. Bernard Ward, a specimen of Diderma simplex
Lister, a species of Mycetozoa recorded for the first time in Epping Forest
this year by Mr. Joseph Boss. The specimen, mounted by Mr. Bernard Ward,
had been presented to the Museum by Mr. Ross. A note on the species will
be found on page 61.
Mr. Marshall announced that he had been appointed Recorder of Archae-
ology for the district by the Ordnance Survey and requested that members
rinding objects of archaeological interest should communicate with him on the
matter.
He also announced that a number of books were being added to the
Museum Library and he would welcome suggestions from members as to
desirable books relating to the various subjects in which they were interested.
Dr. Alvin showed three herbarium sheets of species of Lactuca including
the rare L. saligna Linn. collected in Essex recently.
Mr. Pratt showed specimens of Elodea canadensis and Lagarosiphon major
(Ridley) C. E. Moss; the latter from Hollow Pond, Leytonstone, where it had
recently greatly increased so that many acres of the pond (formerly rather
barren of plant life) was now thickly colonized by this plant. It is a native
of South Africa, first recorded in this country in 1944 from Bedfordshire. It
now occurs in a number of localities and is thought to have been introduced
by those who grow it in aquaria as an oxygenating plant.
The meeting then closed and the members went down to tea in one of
the college rooms.