FINDS IN GREY CHALK. 



Some recent finds in the Grey Chalk in the Adit under construction in the Folkestone Water 

 Works Pumping Station at Skeete, Nr. Lyminge. 



In the early part of September, 1953, a new Adit was started in B Shaft at the Folke- 

 stone Waterworks Pumping Station at Skeete. 



The shaft, 158 ft. deep, penetrates into the Schloenbachia Varians Lone of the Grey 

 Chalk (Lower Chalk) which in this zone, is very hard but fairly rich in fossils. I have 

 recovered approximately 12 fossils of which 3 are good specimens, the most common one 

 being Ostrea Conica. Others are Lima Plicatula, Terebratula, and two varieties of 

 Inoceramus. Quartz and nodular Iron Pyrites have also been found. 



These specimens have, by permission of D. H. B. Reynolds, Esq., m.a., m.i.c.e., and 

 the Directors of the Folkestone Waterworks Co., been offered to and accepted by the 

 Folkestone Museum. 



W. A. Hill, d.s.m. 



LONG PURPLES. 



Ophelia in her madness wove fantastic garlands " Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies and 

 long purples." That liberal shepherds give a grosser name, But our cold maids do 'dead 

 men's fingers' call them." 



"jLong purples" are generally considered to be the Early Purple Orchis, (O. mascula), 

 and this name certainly suits their rich purple flowers, but " dead men's fingers " definitely 

 does not : no part of the plant is suggestive of this horrid name, which incidentally is 

 still in use. (Whatever the other name given by " liberal shepherds " may have been, 

 it was evidently too gross even for Shakespeare to repeat!) 



The plant in question was more likely to be the Spotted Orchis, (O. maculata). Recently 

 I had 6ccasion to examine a root of this Orchid, and its parchment coloured divided roots 

 are uncannily hke tiny dead hands with spread fingers, whereas those of O. mascula are 

 brown and oval, rather like small artichokes. The flowers of the Spotted Orchis, {O. 

 maculata), are usually pale lilac, but sometimes quite a deep mauve, the flower spike is 

 shorter than that of the Early Purple, though occasionally it may be several inches long : 

 the flower stalk is a foot or more high, so that it is a taller plant than average specimens 

 of the Early Purple. 



It looks as though " Long Purples " and " dead men's fingers " are separate plants, 

 and that at some time both names were attached to the Early purple. Orchis mascula, 

 which continued to be called " dead men's fingers " without reference to its structure. 



The other flowers in the garland give little clue as to time of flowering, which would 

 have solved the problem, though they suggest early summer, when the Spotted Orchid is 

 in bloom, rather than spring time, when the flowers of the Early Purple are found. 



Vera F. P. Day, n.d.h., f.r.h.s. 



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