THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 
315 
Mr. E. T. Newton exhibited a metacarpal bone of an ox, from near 
Cromer, which had been curiously gnawed by rodents. 
Mr. Nicholson exhibited a nest of Vespa germanica, which he had taken 
from the clayey bank of a pond at Oak Hill, Woodford, on October 24th, 
1920. He also exhibited specimens of various parasites or commensals 
of wasps and their nests, including the beetle Metescus paradoxus, larvae 
of another beetle, a species of Cryptophagus , some mites ( Glycyphagus ), 
the ichneumonid Sphecophaga vesparum, and the dipteron Volucella 
pellucens. 
The President exhibited a large series of British lichens which, as dupli¬ 
cate specimens from the national collection, had been that morning granted 
to the Club’s Museum by the Trustees of the British Museum. 
Mr. J. H. Owen then gave a lecture entitled “ Further Notes on the 
Sparrow-Hawk,” which he illustrated by a series of some 80 lantern photo¬ 
graphs of exceptional merit. At the close of a very interesting lecture, 
a discussion ensued, in which Messrs. Miller Christy, Glegg, Horn and 
Thompson, and Miss Hibbert-Ware, took part ; and Mr. Owen replied to 
the numerous questions asked. 
A hearty vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Owen for his lecture, and 
the meeting terminated. 
EASTER VISIT TO COLCHESTER (527th Meeting). 
Thursday, 24TH March to Monday, 28th March, 1921. 
By various routes and at different times on the appointed Thursday, 
the Members of the party made their way to the Red Lion Hotel in the 
High Street until, as Chaucer has it:—■ 
“ At night was come in-to that hostelrye 
Wei nyne and twenty in a companye 
Of sondry folk ”— 
the “ house party ” who formed the nucleus of our Club meetings in this 
ancient town—the oldest in England—which regards London as its younger 
sister. 
An early start was made on the Friday morning (a few enthusiasts 
were already afoot and sightseeing before breakfast !) when Mr. Alderman 
Gurney Benham, F.S.A., who throughout the visit acted as a most admir¬ 
able “ guide, counsellor and friend,” came to our Hotel to take charge of 
the party soon after 9 o’clock, and was introduced to the Members. 
The proceedings commenced in glorious weather with a visit to Holy 
Trinity Church, and the monument therein to Dr. William Gilberd, the 
famous Elizabethan scientist, physician to Queen Elizabeth, and pioneer 
in the science of magnetism and electricity. Passing by Scheregate the 
company made their way to St. Botolph’s Priory Church ruins which 
were seen to great advantage in the brilliant sunshine. Mr. Gurney 
Benham here gave an account of St. Botolph’s Priory and its church, 
mentioning that the parochial church of St. Botolph existed before the 
Priory in Saxon times and that in connection with it was a community 
of priests. About the year 1093 this community decided to form a priory 
fo the Augustinian Order, and this foundation, the first of the Order in 
