154 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 



On the motion of Mr. Crouch, which was seconded by Professor Meldola, a 

 cordial vote of thanks was passed to Mr. John Gaspard Fanshawe for the 

 permission so freely given to visit Parsloes, and the meeting concluded by 

 Professor Meldola tendering the thanks of the Club to the Directors of the day. 



The return ramble, as the evening shadows fell, was made across the fields and 

 market gardens by Upney Lane to Barking Station, and on the way the site of 

 " Jenkins " was pointed out. This was an earlier estate of the Fanshawes, and of 

 far greater importance, being valued at the death of Thomas Fanshawe in 1600, 

 at nearly ^2,000 a year. It passed out of the family in 1705. The house, which 

 is described by Smart Lethieullier, as " a very large, old timber house, moated 

 round, with gardens, etc.," was pulled down later on. The large fishponds and 

 traces of the terraces alone remain to mark the spot of this erstwhile important 

 manor. The modern house is known as " Manor Farm," the earlier name of 

 " Jenkins " being now entirely forgotten. 



British Woodlands. — It appears from a recent return that ten years ago 

 the woodland surface of Great Britain was computed at 2,458,000 acres. By the 

 year 1888 the acreage thus occupied had risen to 2,561,000 acres, and the measure- 

 ments taken in 1891 show a further advance to 2,695,000 acres. Of the 134,000 

 acres thus added to the appro.ximate woodland area of Great Britain, 96,000 

 acres are assigned to England, 31,000 acres to Scotland, and 7,000 acres to 

 Wales. The largest woodland area to be found in England is the county of 

 Hampshire, with 122,574 acres ; Sussex, with 122,073 acres comes secondi; while 

 the four counties of Hants, Sussex, Surrey, and Kent possess between them 

 nearly a fourth of the English woods and plantations. These four counties have 

 upwards of 11 per cent, of their surface thus occupied. In Scotland, Inverness- 

 shire has no less than 169,000 acres of woodland, this being the largest area of 

 woodland in Great Britain. 



The Porbeagle Shark (^Lamna cornuhka) near Harwich. — A specimen of 

 this shark, eight feet long, was exhibited in our market on Saturday last, October 

 8th. It is said to have been taken off Harwich, in a fishing net. On the east 

 coast it seems to be much more rare than on the southern and western coasts, and 

 the occurrence may therefore be worth recording in THE Essex Naturalist. 

 — Henry Layer, F.L.S., Colchester. 



[It is probable that the fish referred to by Dr. Laver is that noticed as follows 

 in the " Essex County Standard " for October 8th : — "On Sunday afternoon, Oct. 

 2nd, the fishing lugger ' Elizabeth Mary,' of Shoreham (Captain Eli Hayior), 

 came into harbour and brought with her a young shark which the crew captured 

 in their net while fishing for mackerel about 10 o'clock on Saturday night, and at 

 a distance of three or four miles from the Longsand Light. The men feeling 

 something heavy in their net, five of them were obliged to hold on, and with 

 great difficulty they managed to draw in their net and found to their astonish- 

 ment that they had landed a shark, which they found upon measuring to be 

 between nine and ten feet in length and several feet in girth, and weighing quite 

 five cwt. In the encounter with the animal their gaff was broken and their net 

 damaged to the extent of about £\. The shark had four rows of teeth, and 

 altogether looked a most formidable customer to tackle. On ^Monday morning 

 some of the crew of the lugger took the animal up to Ipswich for exhibition pur- 

 poses, and if possible to find a customer for it."] 



