3-8 
THE ESSEX NATURALIST. 
panying the members of the Club were the Mayor of Colchester (Cr. Arthur 
J. Lucking,) Aid. Wilson Marriage (chairman of the Colne Fishery Board), 
Aid. Gurney Benham, Cr. Jarmin, Mr. Edgar Martin (a member of the 
Board), and Mr. G. L. Russell (manager), who superintended the arrange¬ 
ments. 
The Pyefleet steamed down to Colne Point, thus affording to the 
visitors a fine view of the estuary ; then, turning up-stream, dredges were 
put down and a heterogeneous assemblage of oysters, Crepidula fovnicata 
in only too great profusion, starfishes, sunstars, ascidians, etc., soon 
littered the decks. The visitors were told that the past oyster season had 
been a poor one, and indeed scarcely a dozen living oysters were brought 
up by the dredges. 
At Peewit Island, in the Pyefleet Channel, the visitors went ashore, 
and found a capital lunch awaiting them in the Fishery Board's Packing 
Shed, provisions having been sent in advance from the Anchor Hotel at 
Brightlingsea. 
After lunch the President referred to the honour paid to the Club 
By the presence of the Mayor of Colchester, who was their guest on the 
occasion, together with Mr. Alderman Marriage and the officials of the 
Colne Fishery Board. In reply, the Mayor thanked the President for his 
kindly welcome and for the hospitality shown him. Alderman Marriage 
■supplemented his worship’s remarks, and remarked humorously that 
he “ hoped we should be able to send a good order for oysters.” 
Some excitement was created by a high spring-tide, which invaded the 
Packing Shed, and covered the whole island, condemning the party to 
remain prisoners for an hour or more ; this enforced interval of idleness 
was utilized by several irrepressible individuals to be rowed over to Mersea 
Island, where a large number of coots was seen and some immature golden¬ 
eyes on a large mere. Other birds observed during the voyage on the 
Colne were black-headed gull, herring gull, cormorant, shelduck, mallard, 
curlew, redshank, lapwing, dunlin, ring plover, heron, and moorhen. 
In mid-afternoon the party re-embarked on the dredger and returned 
to Brightlingsea, where it arrived in a somewhat numbed condition from 
the cold wind which had arisen during the day ; however, warm fires and 
a substantial tea at the Ancho r Hotel quickly restored the circulation 
and revived the spirits of the visitors, and, after a ramble through the 
shipbuilding yard, the return journey was made to Colchester. 
In the evening, a reception was held at the Town Hall by the Mayor 
and Mayoress, when, in addition to the members of the Club, the guests 
included the Deputy-Mayor (Mr. A. Owen Ward), and various members 
of the Town Council. The borough regalia were exhibited and were des¬ 
cribed in detail by Alderman W. Gurney Benham. The objects exhibited 
included :— 
The mace, made in the 18th century (a.d. 1730) by melting up various 
earlier silver cups and other vessels ; its weight is i7lbs. 30ZS. troy, or 
i2lbs. avoirdupois. 
The Mayor’s chain of office, which was presented by a quaker to a former 
quaker-mayor. 
The Mayor’s theatre-ticket (date 1750), which afforded the holder free 
ingress to the borough theatre. 
