THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 49 



Mr. Cole thought that Mr. Wilson's specimen more probably had 5ome con- 

 nection with the preparation of corn for food, and that it was really the crusher 

 of a quorn.' He had obtained some years ago a pestle of apparently the same 

 kind of stone (? Hornblendic Granite or Hornblendic Gneiss), from a few feet 

 below surface at Loughton. This was described and figured by Mr. VVorthington 

 Smith in The Essex Naturalist, vol. ii., p. 4. 



Mr. T. V. Holmes, F.G.S., said that the stone looked like a round flint 

 pebble with those curious roughnesses over its surface so common in flints picked 

 up on the seashore. It was very likely, as Mr. Cole had suggested, intended for 

 use as a pestle for grinding, in the gravel-pit where it was found there were no 

 stones like it, and he had no doubt it came from the surface, where it had been 

 buried through the growth of soil by the agency of worms, etc. It seemed to be 

 a perfectly natural stone, and the presumption that it had been used for an 

 artificial purpose depended largely, he thought, on the fact that the gravel of the 

 pit contained no stones at all like it. Had a certain percentage of the stones in 

 the pit resembled it, even approximately, it might well have been originally not 

 on, but in, the gravel, and probably have never been used by man. Being, as it 

 was, utterly unlike any stone in the gravel, it was much more probable that it 

 was brought down from elsewhere for some special purpose by human agency. 

 This last supposition, too, leaves the date an open question ; while as the surface 

 of the pit was apparently 180 to 190 feet above O.D., a human relic, in the 

 gravel, would probably have a truly tremendous antiquity. 



Mr. W. Cole exhibited some twigs of Black Currant invested with Scale-insects 

 (a species of Aspidiotiis'), which had occurred in great numbers on the bushes in a 

 garden in Buckhurst Hill. 



He also exhibited some specimens of British butterflies and moths, illustrating 

 the phenomena of true Dimorphism, and Seasonal-Dimorphism. 



Also some samples of naphthalene, compressed in the form of small cone?, 

 with fine metal points inserted, so that the preservative could be easily stuck in 

 insect cases, etc. 



Prof. Meldola had heard it stated that naphthalene was liable to cause 

 'grease" in specimens of lepidoptera. It was possible that this might be true, 

 and he should be glad to have the experience of collectors on the point. 



Mr. F. H. Varley read a note, " Tenacity of Life in a Gold Fish," and ex- 

 hibited a coloured drawing he had made in illustration of his remarks. {Vide 

 his note on another page.) 



Mr. Walter Crouch exhibited some Romano-British pottery which had been 

 1 ound on the 27th January, in the gravel pit on St. Swithin's Farm, Barking Side, 

 ibout one foot under the surface soil. One is a portion (about one-half) of a 

 'small round cinerary urn of red clay with rudely indented pattern. It measures 

 \\ inches in height, the greatest diameter being 6^ inches, the rim 5f , and the base 

 5 inches. The other, a small black pipkin, nearly perfect, 3 inches high, 4 inches 

 n diameter, the base 2f inches. A few other fragments were also unearthed. 

 \s already mentioned, when the Club visited the spot on July 1st last year {t'ide 

 |ESSE.X Naturalist, vii., pp. 104 — 7) nothing has been found there since March, 

 11892 ; and it is satisfactory again to come upon some relics of early occupation in 

 his high ground. 



J Curiously enough there is a specimen in the collection of stone implements in the Guildhall 

 "Useum, labelled " Pounder for preparing grain, roots, etc. Found in Moorfields, 1805," and 

 here is also another specimen from Suffolk.— Ed. 



