THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 1 7 



Mr. F. C. Gould exhibited a specimen of a goose recently shot by Mr. Plater 

 at the mouth of the Blackwater, which appeared to be the North American race 

 of the Brent Goose, called the " White-bellied Brent " (Bernicla brenta, var. 

 glaucogaster). The bird is sometimes met with among the ordinary Brent Geese 

 on the Essex coast, but is much rarer. 



The late Col. Russell gave a very interesting account of the Brent goose in 

 Essex in some letters addressed to Mr. Cordeaux, and which were published in 

 the "Zoologist" for 1890, pp. 59-69. [See also Seebohm's "Birds" vol. iii., 

 p. 508.] 



Mr. Walter Crouch exhibited a small case, containing some sprays of skeleton 

 leaves from specimens collected in Loughton and Epping Forest — the Wild 

 Service Tree, Poplar, &c., and the flowers of Canterbury Bells. All were prepared 

 by E Jward C. Day, of Poplar, who has long been noted for such preparations, 

 and for which, many years ago, he took two Bronze Medals — one in 1865 at St. 

 Mary's, Whitechapel, and again in 1866 at the Agricultural Hall. 



Mr. Crouch also exhibited a print of an exceedingly rare shell, Pleiirotomaria 

 adansoniana , which was recently exhibited at the Zoological Society. The genus 

 is an exceedingly interesting one, abounding in fossil species, some 1,156 having 

 been described, of which 226 have been found in British deposits, but was not 

 known in a recent condition till 1855. Since that date four species have been 

 taken, and the specimen figured is only the fourteenth of the genus yet found, 

 and came from deep water off the Island of Tobago. It is much to be regretted 

 that no recent shell has yet been placed in the Collection of the British Museum. 1 

 The few specimens known fetch exceedingly high prices, being not only rare but 

 beautiful. The interior is of beautiful pearly texture, and the exterior rich in 

 pattern and colour. The most curious feature is the long opening or slit, which 

 in the present specimen extends half way round the outer whorl of the shell ; but 

 the animal not having yet been preserved or known to naturalists, the use of 

 this slit is conjectural. Probably, however, a siphon, or a portion of the 

 mantle of the animal protrudes from the opening, or some special arrangement of 

 the breathing process. Strangely enough, the nearest ally, morphologically, is 

 the tiny form of Scisstirella, a specimen of which, 6". crispata, from deep water off 

 the Devon coast, was exhibited under the microscope, showing the small slit, and 

 the delicate sculpture of the shell. Mr. Crouch also showed an enlarged drawing 

 of the living animal and shell. 



Mr. F. H. Varley exhibited specimens of Agaricus ostreatns,3. species of edible 

 fungus, which had grown during the late severe weather on a mountain ash tree 

 in Mrs. Yeates' garden in Buckhurst Hill. It was interesting to find that an 

 apparently delicate fungus could survive in the open during severe frost. 



-Mr. C. B. Sworder sent for exhibition a fine Neolithic stone-hammer or axe- 

 head found near Epping, in 1888, in a heap of stones picked off the fields by the 

 farm-labourers. 



A " Note on some Ancient Remains at Epping, Essex," by Mr. C. B. Sworder, 

 was read in his absence by Mr. Lockyer. The paper treated of the discovery of a 

 supposed Romano-British potter's kiln at Epping. Specimens were exhibited in 

 illustration of the paper. 



The Secretary read for the author, Mr. W. Whitaker, F.R.S , extracts from a 

 paper on " Some Essex Well-sections," being the third of a series, and bringing 

 up the number of well-sections published in the Essex NATURALIST to 276. 



.Mr. George .Mas^ee !iad been announced to give an address on " The Studv of 



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