240 
THE ESSfeX FIELD CLUB. 
a sheet some nine inches thick, which is coated with a growth of living 
Pellia and an aquatic moss Hypnum riparhim, the moss having its stems 
and leaves thickly incrusted with the limy matter. A few broken frag¬ 
ments of freshwater and land shells, as Unio and Helix nemoralis, and an 
Oitrea washed from the Boulder Clay were found associated in the deposit, 
and a few decomposed leaves and what appear to be caddis-tubes were 
seen imbedded in it. 
The mass is loosely coherent and readily falls apart when saturated 
with water, more consolidated portions being cemented with iron oxide ; 
when drv it is more coherent. The deposit presents a more or less evident 
stratified structure, the re-deposited lime showing a minutely fibrous 
texture, some specimens are made up of small brecciated fragments of 
chalk, and a little sand occurs intermixed. 
In a drainage ditch or “ grip ” above Pengymill the deposit was found 
as a white unctuous marl or highly calcareous clay. 
The river Can during its eight-mile course from its source to the east 
of High Roothing down to Pengymill has a fall of some 133 feet, equal to 
one in 318, and flows exclusively over Boulder Clay, which, in the district, 
as is well known, contains large numbers of chalk fragments ; the erosion 
of this calcareous matter by the stream provides the material for the de¬ 
posit, any accidental obstruction to the free flow of the stream (still fairly 
rapid at the spot whence the specimens were dug from the bed of the 
river) probably forming a nucleus for the aggregation of the limy matter 
in a particular spot. In one specimen a flint is seen to have served as a 
nucleus. 
Mr. Thompson has placed specimens in the Museum. 
Papers Read.—In the absence of the authoi, Mr. Cole read a paper 
by Mr. C. E. Britton, entitled “ Autumn Botany at Clacton, Essex.” 
Mr. Britton very kindly presented specimens of some of the more 
interesting plants to the Club’s Herbarium, which were exhibited, and 
a vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Britton for the paper and specimens. 
Report of the Club’s Delegate of the Conference of Local Scientific 
Societies, British Association, Birmingham, 1913. —Mr. Joseph Wilson, 
F.R.M.S., presented the following Report:— 
The chairman for the year was Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, F.R.S., who 
presided at the first meeting held on Thursday, nth September 1913, and 
gave an interesting address on Utility and Selection. 
Sir George Fordham, the Vice-Chairman, informed the meeting that 
an invitation had been received from the French Association for the Ad¬ 
vancement of Science, to hold next year’s conference at Havre, while the 
Association met there, and by a majority of the delegates the invitation 
was accepted. The meetings will last for a week, commencing on 4th 
August 1914. 
The second meeting of the Conference was held on Tuesday, 18th 
September, Sir George Fordham being in the chair. He reported the 
Council’s approval of the decision of the delegates to meet at Havre in 
1914. 
Mr. A. R. Horwood, of Leicester, read an interesting paper on ” Scientific 
