NOTES — ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 20I 



crab weighs 2jlbs. I have presented the pair to the Ipswich Museum." In 

 the next week's issue, Mr. R. Aldous, of Brighthngsea, Essex, writes: — "I 

 have in my possesion a crab which has upon its back shell eight oysters of 

 from 2in. to 2^in. across their shells. This crab was caught on the oyster 

 grounds of Tershilling, in the North Sea, by one of the Brightlingsea oyster 

 smacks. Oyster experts pronounce these oysters to be two years old." On 

 these observations the Editor of the Field remarks : — " It is generally 

 supposed that crabs and lobsters moult their shells annnally, as the only 

 means by which they can increase in size. If the age of the oyster referred to 

 by Mr. Hunt was accurately judged at four years, or, as in Mr. Aldous' 

 example, at two years, it would go to prove either that crabs do not moult 

 annually, or that an oyster is able to detach itself from the object to which it 

 first became attached, a feat which most people would regard as an 

 impossibility." 



BOTANY. 



Symphytum officinale, var. patens, Sibthorpe, at Brentwood. — On read- 

 ing one of the back numbers of the Essex Naturalist (vol.x., p. 401) I saw that 

 the purple-flowered form of Symphytum officinale is spoken of as not then to be 

 claimed as an Essex plant. Very likely, however, it has been found in the 

 county since, but in any case it may be of interest to you to know that in a 

 field close by here, there are several plants of it It grew so luxuriantly last 

 year (1898) that, though cut close to the ground about the end of June as it 

 overran the crops, by August I found some of it in flower again. The pale 

 yellow form was found in a ditch near East Horndon. I send a specimen of 

 each form for the Club's Herbarium, but I am sorry to find that brown stains 

 have appeared in the flowers ; it seems impossible to avoid them. — (Miss) 

 Amy M. Horton, " Mascalls," Brentwood, December nth, 1899. 



Notes on Essex Plants. — Possibly the following notes on some plants 

 mentioned in the last part of the Essex Naturalist {ante pp. 146-7) may be 

 of some interest : — 



Bupleurum rotiaidifolium is erratically abundant in our district. I have it 

 noted in my local register as occurring in fields at Stebbing, Lindsell, High 

 Easter, and the Roothings. Wherever it occurs it is I think in these 

 localities, abundant. 



Epipactis lati folia. — I have this noted down for woods and springs at Felsted, 

 High Easter, and Dunmow, but occurring sparingly. 



Lemna gibba. — Dunmow and High Easter. • 



Lemna polyrrhiza. — Felsted and Little Leighs. — (Rev.) Edward Gkpp, 

 M.A., School House, Felsted. 



Epipactis latifolia, Sw. — {Ant^ p 147). This plant used to grow on 

 both banks of the Ching brook between Whitehall Road and Chingford 

 Hatch, Epping Forest, but I have not seen it since the early eighties. I do 

 not remember the particular sub-species to which the plants I observed 

 belonged. — F. W. Elliott, Buckhurst Hill. 



GEOLOGY. 



Saline Constituents of Chalk-derived Waters in Essex. — At the 

 meeting of the British Waterworks Engineers in London, on June 5th, 1899, 

 our member. Dr. J. C. Thresh, Medical Officer of Health to the Essex County 

 Council, read a very interesting paper under the above title. Dr. Thresh 



