68 NOTES — ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 



Mr. W. G. Mackmurdo had taken it in the 3-ears 1863-5, ^t Felstead, Essex ; Mr. 

 J. N. Young in 1880, at Clumber, Notts. ; Lieut. G. F. Mathew, in 1886, at 

 Harwich ; I found two old specimens in the British collection in the Museum at 

 Taunton, which had almost certainly been taken in the West of England. In 

 1890 it was found also at Wicken Fen and at Burswell, a silvery white specimen 

 being secured at the former place. Besides the localities alread}- mentioned, it 

 has been met with at Purfieet, Benfleet, and St. Osyth, in Essex, and at Chappel 

 and Bures, in Suffolk. In all probability its range in this country is far from 

 being 3'et known, but its metropolis is evidently in Essex and Suffolk. Is shows 

 a partiality for the embankments which protect the cultivated land from the 

 inroad of the high tides which flood the salt marshes. Here it flits about, or sits 

 on the coarse sea-side grasses, or on bloscoms of thistle or Lotus corniculatus , 

 indicating rather sluggish habits, yet flying swiftly when disturbed. Further 

 inland it seems to frequent chalky hillsides and marshes. Abroad, it has a wide 

 range throughout the greater part of Europe, Northern Asia, and Northern 

 Africa. Kirby says that it occurs in meadows in July and August, and that he 

 has seen it most commonl}^ along paths by the side of cornfields." As noted in 

 The Essex Naturalist (vol. vi., p. 141), the larva feeds from April to June on 

 Triticium repens and its var. littorale, and other coarse grasses occurring on the 

 sea-walls. — Ed. 



Ancient Pit at Coggeshall. — A somewhat absurd rumour was lately 

 spread by some of the Essex papers respecting the discover}- of a pit containing 

 charcoal, some fragments of pottery, and bones, at Coggeshall, namely, that 

 the relics were the charred remains of Thomas Hawkes, a martyr of the tenth 

 century. Our member, Mr. G. F. Beaumont, F.S.A., thus describes the pit and 

 its contents : " The recent discovery in the Vicarage Field, Coggeshall (No. 297 

 Ordnance Survey), consisted of a bowl-shaped hollow, about 9 feet 6 inches in 

 diameter at the top, and about 5 feet in diameter at the base and having a depth 

 of 5 feet. At the bottom was a la}'er of charred wood, 2 inches in thickness, and 

 above it a few inches of flint and other stones, which had been discoloured by the 

 action of heat ; the remainder of the pit was filled in with soil. At the base of 

 the pit I found a small piece of coarse, partially-baked, pottery, and a few frag- 

 ments of bone. These remains were insufficient to enable me to form a definite 

 opinion as to the date or object of the original excavation. It appears to be of 

 similar character to excavations at Roxwell, near Chelmsford, which Mr. R. W. 

 Christy discovered in 1887, and described (EsSEX NATURALIST, i. 82) as 

 ' mysterious holes filled with black earth, mingled with charred wood and pieces 

 of pottery.' The Roxwell pits were circular, about 5 feet in diameter at the sur- 

 face, and 2 feet at the bottom, some being as much as 5 feet deep, and most of 

 them about 3 feet. I do not think there is sufficient evidence to lead to the con- 

 clusion that the pit was made by the Roman A grimensores to serve as a Botoniimts, 

 although that was originally the idea which presented itself to me. It certainly 

 was not used for baking purposes, as the sides showed no traces of heat. It may 

 have been made for sepulchral purposes. The suggestion that it marks the site 

 of the martyrdom of Thomas Hawkes is too fanciful, for to support such a theory 

 it must be assumed that the persecutors dug a hole 5 feet deep, placed the stake 

 therein, burned the martyr, carefully moved the ashes, re-excavated the hollow, 

 placed the ashes at the bottom, a layer of the burned stones above, and then 

 refilled the pit with earth." We urderstand that Mr. Eeaun:ont has since been 



