26o THE ESSEX FIELD CLUR. 



A quantit)' also occurred of tlic most interesting- little mollusc, Truncatella 

 truncatula {:=.monta^ui)^ adhering to the under side of large stones on the 

 " hard." These are not common, and Mr. Crouch believes they have never before 

 been recorded on the Essex coast. 



One of the most curious finds which he exhibited to those interested was a 

 specimen of the slipper-limpet Crepidula fornicata, which he found dead, but 

 adhering to an old oyster shell, not a native. On enquiry, he found that 

 American oysters were brought over, and laid down here to fatten, and that 

 would of course account for a shell which is not European being found on this 

 coast. 



The party then crossed the ferry to Brightlingsea, a town devoted to the 

 fishing industries and to yachting, there being an excellent harbourage. An 

 informal tea was taken at the " Royal Hotel " (in which building there is quite a 

 little local Museum, accumulated by the landlord's son), and then the members 

 made for home, some by train, some on cycles, and some in boats to Mersea and 

 elsewhere. 



Saturday, October ioth, 1891. 



The Twelfth Annual Cryptogamic Meeting was appointed to be held on this day 

 in Hatfield Forest, and the circulars had been issued to members. A few days before 

 the meeting, the somewhat sudden death of our member, Mr. J. Archer-Houblon, 

 of Hallingbury Place, in whose grounds the meeting was to have been held, 

 compelled the issue of a notice postponing the meeting. The weather becoming 

 broken up, it was found impossible to organise another meeting during the 

 autumn, and consequently, to the great regret of the officers and many members 

 of the Club, the sequence of the Annual Fungus Forays was broken. 



Ordinary Meeting, Saturday, November 7th, 1891. 



The 128th Ordinary Meeting was held in the Public Hall, Loughton, at 

 seven o'clock, Mr. E. A. Fitch, President, in the chair. 



The Librarian read a list of the books and pamphlets bought or presented 

 since the last meeting, and votes of thanks were passed to the several donors. 



Mr. C. Oldham exhibited boxes of insects, including many aberrations of 

 species of Lepidoptera, captured by himself during the past summer. Among 

 other moths was a specimen of Apamea ophiogramma taken in the forest near 

 Woodford on the 20th of July last. 



Mr. Walter Crouch exhibited on behalf of Dr. Murie, specimens of the small 

 Decapod, Sepiola ntlaniica, taken off Leigh, Essex, in August last. 



Mr. A. J. Jenkins read a paper entitled: "Notes on the Mollusca of the 

 Thames Estuary, with a List of the Species Observed " (printed, ante, pp. 2 20- 

 232). In illustration of his paper, Mr. Jenkins exhibited a fine collection of the 

 species of shells found in the marshes bordering the Thames on the Kentish 

 and Essex shores, comprising eighteen fresh-water forms, six brackish-water, 

 and nineteen land-shells. The author showed how much of interest was to be 

 found in this " terra incognita " — one of the most interesting shells being the 

 little Hydrobia jenkinsi (niimtd after Mr. Jenkins), which was first noticed in the 

 Essex marshes, and which is at present found nowhere else in the world but in 

 the brackish ditches by the Thames estuar}-. 



Both Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Fitch spoke of the immense injury now being done 

 to animal and vegetable life by the gradual perversion of the Thames into an 



