624 
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 
3s., and the year ends with a balance against the 
Treasurer — surely this should not be. 
The Report from Breydon, of which Society Mr. H. P. 
Frederick of Yarmouth is Hon. Secretary, gives no particulars 
of the work for 1907, but the benefits conferred by the Watcher 
on this favourite resort of Water- fowl are well known, and its 
work is continued through the whole of the close time ; it is, 
therefore, to be hoped that Mr. Frederick’s appeal for 
increased subscriptions to make good the loss by death and 
otherwise may not be in vain. — T. S. 
Forest-Bed Seeds. — Mr. Clement Reid, F.R.S., in letter 
to the Honorary Secretary writes as follows : “I wish some 
of the Norfolk Naturalists would help with the collecting of 
Forest-Bed Seeds, especially from Pakefield and West Runton. 
We should be glad to determine them. By Mrs. Reid’s new 
method of washing (explained at the Linnean Society last 
night, 6th Feb., 1908), the collection is rendered much easier. 
All that is needed is to boil the lumps of clay or peat with 
plenty of washing soda, pour into a sieve, and then hold under 
the tap till the water runs clear. The contents of the sieve 
can be placed in clean water, with a little preservative (alcohol 
or formalin) and bottled for future examination. 
There is no need to dry the material ; and by this method 
peats — formerly thought hopeless — are perfectly disintegrated, 
so that delicate seeds and even portions of leaves are washed 
out uninjured. The West Runton peat has never been 
properly examined, but is likely to yield species unknown 
at Pakefield.” 
Mammalian Remains. — On December 2nd, 1907, Mr. J. C. 
Stevens sold the extensive collection of fossil mammalian 
remains formed by the late Mr. James Backhouse of York. 
The chief lot was a lower jaw of the Machaerodus, or Sabre- 
toothed Lion, from Kessingland, of which remains in the 
Forest-Bed are exceedingly rare, only one or two teeth being 
known before the finding of this jaw, which was described 
