NOTES. ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 277 



Hops in Essex. — Mr. J. Holden MacMichael contributed 

 the following extracts from The St. James's Evening Post of 

 September 26, 1738, to a recent number of Notes and Queries : — 



This is to give Notice, 

 As there is a Fair annually kept at Halstead in Essex, on the 18th Day of 

 October, and the principal part of the Hops in Essex growing in and near 

 the said Place, it is thought Convenient by the Planters and Dealers in Hops, 

 that the same should be used as an Hop-Fair : This is therefore to acquaint 

 the Publick, that for the futuie it will be kept as an Hop-Fair ; and to 

 encourage the Planters, the Lord of the Manor has consented that Groundage 

 shall be gratis the first Year ; and as the Town is now clear from the Small- 

 Pox, it is hoped that there will be a considerable many Chapmen. 

 N.B. Also Butter and Cheese. 



It seems worth while to place this on permanent local record 

 in these pages. 



Possibly some of our members may meet with further 

 references to hop-growing in the county — another lost industry 

 of Essex. — I. Chalkley Gould, Loughton, October 5th, 1906. 



INSECTS. 

 The Felted Beech Coccus (Cryptococcus fagi) in 

 Epping Forest. — Evidence of the presence of this insect pest 

 on some of the beech trees near the " Wake Arms," Epping 

 Forest, was noted during the present summer (1906). The bark 

 of the infected trees has a felted white substance on it, which, if 

 seen during the winter, might be mistaken for snow. An 

 examination of a small flake under the microscope shows it to 

 consist of filaments of a waxy substance, in which may be 

 found yellowish hemispherical masses about one twenty-fifth of 

 an inch in diameter. These are the bodies of adult females of 

 the Beech Coccus — a member of the family of Scale-insects 

 (Coccidae). The female surrounds herself with filaments of 

 waxy material, which serve as a protective covering. The 

 insect obtains food by sucking juices from the tree through a 

 long tube. The males have not yet been discovered — the mode 

 of reproduction being parthenogenetic. The adult insect is 

 incapable of locomotion, possessing neither legs nor wings, but 

 the tiny larvae, which are furnished with three pairs of legs, are 

 very active. They crawl over the tree trunk, usually settling 

 down near the bodies of their parents, and adding to the mass of 

 secretion. They are sometimes blown away by the wind or 



