304 



THE ESSEX FIELP CLUB. 



Old Bow Bridge was a most interesting structure for it was here (at the 

 straight ford or Stratford ferry) by repute that the first arched or bow bridge 

 was erected ; which old Leland termed " a rare piece of worke, for before the 

 time the like had never been seen in England " while this was described as 

 " very ruinous " and in need of repairs in 1366; and thus since the closing of 

 the ancient road which passed through the old ford, about a mile northward, 

 has formed for at least 800 years the great highway between London and our 

 county. 



A similar view taken from the same position is reproduced on page 21 of 

 "The History of the parishes of East and West Ham " by Katharine Fry, 

 published in 1888. This picture, however, shows the Bridge after partial 

 demolition ; and also the wooden one which carried the traffic during the 

 period of reconstruction. 



Mr. Howard also made some interesting remarks on the history of the 

 Bridge and the ancient highway into London. It was suggested that the 

 history of this highway and the bridges of the Lea might well form the 

 subject of a paper in the Essex Naturalist. 



Mr. A. S. Kennard gave an account of a paper by himself and Mr. B. B. 

 Woodward, F.L.S., entitled " Notes on the Mollusc Paludestriiia jcnkinsi, 

 Smith, in Essex and elsewhere " 



This paper is printed in the present part of the Essex Naturalist. 



A cordial vote of thanks was passed to the author.s for the paper. 



Mr. F. Enock, F.L.S., F.E.S., then delivered a lecture announced in a 

 humorous syllabus as " Aquatic Autocrats and Fairies" being an account of 

 the results of many years close observations made by the lecturer upon the 

 life-histories of Insects inhabiting ponds, some of whose habits and economy 

 have never before been fully worked out ; while the biology of others are 

 entirely new to science. And the lecture may be considered as of a local 

 character, because Mr. Enock informed his audience that the whole of his 

 " material " had been collected from the ponds in Epping Forest. 



The species noticed included the Great Carnivorous Water-beetle 

 (Dytlcus) belonging to the Coleoptera, the Water-scorpion {Ncpa cinerca)^ 

 Hydrometra, and the " Water-boatman ' (Notom-cta glaiica) all belonging to the 

 Bugs or Hemiptera. The transformations of one of the greater Dragon-flies 

 [Mschna] were demonsti-ated by a truly wonderful series of photographs show- 

 ing the gradual development of the nymph into the perfect dragon-fly. The 

 extraordinary habits of the minute aquatic parasitic Hymenoptera {Piesiicichia 

 and Polynema] were also described. The illustrations were, without exception, 

 the personal work of Mr. Enock, who had been enabled, after years of experi- 

 ments, to produce unique series of photographs from the living creatures 

 showing the individual transformation of the eggs, larvae and nymphs into the 

 perfect imagoes. It is probable that such photographs md\cs.i\nghy movement 

 the development of living insects has never before been thrown upon the 

 screen. 



