THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 37 



Books Presented. — The translation of Z)<'J/r/;'v/('/(', ]iublis]ie.l by the Gilbert 

 <"lub, ])rcsented by Professor Meklola, and the supjilemental volume of A^otc'S by 

 the Editor, Prof. Silvanus Thom})son, F.R.S. ; Ao-r/cu/fu/a/ GeoJofi;v, presented 

 by the Author, Mr. Primrose McConnell, B. So. ; Reminiscences of a Yorkshin' 

 Naturalist, by the Executors of tlie Authors, the late Prof. \V. C. Williamson, 

 F.R.S. , and Catalogue of Essex Books^ etc.y in i/ie library of Augustus 

 Cunningtoii^ presented by his Executors. Thanics were retu;ned for these 

 <Ionations. 



The " Essex Skipper Butterfly." — Mr. W, Cole exhibited and presented 

 to the Museum a series of Hesperia lineola recently taken on the Essex Coast by 

 ^Ir. B. Ct. Cole and himself. The insect was first recognised as a British species 

 by Mr. F. W. Hawes from the examination of specimens taken in July, 1888, at 

 St. Osyth, Essex (Essf:x Naturalist, iv. 191, and v, 107). 



Moths Killed by Bats. — Mr. Cole also exhibited a number of fragments of 

 wings of moths, supposed to have been killed by bats (see '' Notes" in present 

 part). 



ii |The President said that the exhibit was interesting in view of the study of the 

 relation between insects and their enemies. 



; ^ Brown-tail Moth. — Another exhibit was a ^\)QZ\\\\Q.\\cii Porthesia chrysorrhea 

 empaled upon the s])ine of a furze-bush by one of the Butcher-birds. Mr. Cole 

 made some remarks on the caj^iture of this moth by sparrows, which are embodied 

 in a " Note " on another page. 



Essex Cephalopoda. — Mr. Cole placed on the table specimens of the five 

 species of this group known to occur in the Essex waters. They had been 

 obtained by himself off" the coast, and by Mr. Goodchild from the deeper jiarts of 

 the North Sea. The s]:)ecies were : — Octopus vulgaris, Loligo forhesi {^vulgaris, 

 JeftVevs), L. media, Sepiola scandica [-^zrondeleti, Jeffreys) and Sepia officinalis 

 (the cuttle-fish). The specimen of Sepia was very small, as is usually the case with 

 those found near tlie Essex coast, although fine examples of the " bone " were 

 often picked up on the sands after storms. The specimens of the Octopus 

 and the Squid were from near the Dogger Bank. 



^Ir. Walter Crouch said that it was very interesting to see all the Essex 

 s:)ecies of Cuttle-fishes in one view. He pointed out that the specimen of the 

 S juid exhibited was smaller than the one dredged up from the Crouch river in 

 LS91, which had come into his possession, and which he had described in the EssF.X 

 Naturalist (Vol. xi., 87). This specimen measured 14I inches long in the 

 body, and from the end of the body to the extreme tips of the long arms, 

 2 feet 5 inches. He. had attempted to preserve this specimen, but without success. 



Essex Marine District. — In reply to a remark by Mr. Whitaker, who 

 "congratulated the Club on having annexed the North Sea," Mr. Cole said that 

 in the Museum he projiosed to take as Essex specimens those found in the North 

 Sea up to a line drawn midway between Essex and the Continent, and this would 

 include the Dogger Bank. This plan was in accordance with recommendations of 

 the Committee of the British Association " For the purpose of considering the 

 question of accurately defining the term • British ' as applied to the Marine Fauna 

 and Flora of our islands." The lOO-fathom contour line, the natural boundary 

 •on the N. and \V., was non-existent off our shallow coast, and therefore the only 

 available boundary for the Eastern " Shallow-water District " was as above 

 defined (See Essex Nat. ii., 40, and Laver's Mamnujls and Fishes of Essex, 



P- 13)- 



