138 NOTES — OKK'.INAL AND SELECTED. 



have only resulted in a shifting of local material. The rate at which 

 the material was borne to the sea — the true measure of denudation — 

 is at no time known. 



In puzzling out the history of Post-Glacial change the counties of 

 Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex are the volumes, so to speak, to be studied ; 

 yet it is singular how much of these counties (compared to some 

 others) has been neglected by geologists. 



The comparative poverty of the indigenous fauna and flora, not 

 only of England, but of Europe, can only be explained by reference 

 to Quaternary deposits.'' Thus in the small province just treated of, 

 we make out one important point, and that is the gradual amelioration 

 of climate. At first the conditions appear to be impossible for plant or 

 animal life. Later, they are shown to be very unfavourable, and even 

 in recent times those conditions were inclement, although greatly 

 improved ; and but for artificial aid they would be so now. 



In connection with this poverty of plant and animal forms (which 

 may, however, have been exaggerated) we read of insular conditions 

 and other secondary causes ; but we do not always or often consider 

 that that poverty might be inferred, and its true cause ascertained, by 

 the study of the ground under our feet. 



NOTES— ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 



Cat Nursing an Otter, and Otters in Mersea. — On the i8th of April 

 a man brought us a baby otter, which his dog l;ad found in a rabbit's hole in a 

 field called " Goyants," near Chapel End, East Mersea. The tracks of the 

 mother had been previously seen, and an old lady, it was reported, hid been 

 much frightened by meeting the big beast in a neighbouring lane. "Gojants." 

 as we christened our pet, was a quaint old-woi Id-like little animal, live-ly, and 

 occasionally pugnacious, and we were sanguine of rearing it as it took milk 

 freels'. Home at Buckhurst Hill it seemed comfortable enough in its warm 

 basket before the kitchen fire. One morning we missed the otter, and after a 

 search the little creature was discovered safe and cosy in our very maternal cat's 

 basket, apparently on friendly terms with a solitary kitten. The cat must have 

 taken considerable trouble to transport the otter to her own bed, and very fond 

 and proud of her new kitten she seem.ed to be, judging from her self-satisfied 

 purring. All went well for a time, but, alas ! one morning, three weeks after- 

 wards, poor little " Goyants " was found dead in the basket. No cause could be 

 found for the calamity, as the night before he had seemed as lively as ordinarily, 

 whistling vigorously when touched, I have had the animal preserved for the 

 Club's museum. 



6 My authorities for the poverty of the European Flora were Prpf. Wright's book on the 

 " Ice Age of America," and a paper by Grant Allen in the " Fortnightly Review " of some four 

 years ago. 



