274? Short Commtmications : — 



expanded. When this lovely little plant fairly unfolds its 

 charms, its dewy leaves glistening in the sun, it may truly be 

 regarded as one of the brightest gems of Flora. Your cor- 

 respondent, Mr. Brown, appears duly to appreciate its " love- 

 liness." (VI. 469.) May I be allowed to add, that I should have 

 much pleasure in shaking that gentleman by the hand, and, 

 did circumstances permit, in accompanying him to the native 

 marshes of Scheuchzerm palustris, Carex helionastes, and 

 other rarities. Yours, &c. — W, T. Bree, Allesley Rectory, 

 Sept, 9. 1833. [Mr. Brown will please to observe the date.] 



The Sap of the Sycamore {A>cer Pseudo-Vlatanus L.) is sweet, 

 (V. 346.) — I used, when a boy, to cut notches in the syca- 

 more trees which used to shelter my father's kailyard (they 

 grew in two clumps, nine in one, seven in the other), and 

 sip the sap as it dropped from the wounds. — John Howden, 

 [Sugar is manufactured from the sap of several acers.] 



Affinities between Plants and S2ibjacent Rocks, (VI. 335. 424.) 

 — Neither the foxglove (Digitalis purpurea L,) nor the bil- 

 berry [Faccinium Myrtillus L."] ever, I believe, grow upon 

 limestone. The hills of limestone and gritstone in this neigh- 

 bourhood are of nearly the same altitude, and dip into each 

 other in a most singular manner. We have also large tracts 

 of uncultivated land, both of limestone and gritstone. Now, 

 the Digitalis grows so abundantly on the gritstone, from the 

 summit of the hills to the bottom, that I have, for years, been 

 in the habit of noticing that the different substrata may be 

 determined by the presence or absence of this plant; for I 

 have never seen a single plant on limestone, even where it has 

 grown abundantly, within a few hundred yards, upon the 

 sandstone. — TV, Cautrell, Wirksworth^ Derbyshire, Sept, 26* 

 ]833. 



Geology. — For Lacustrine Formations, among the Tertiary 

 Beds of this Part of the Country, but little search has been 

 hitherto made ; although there is every reason to believe that 

 they exist in several parts of Essex. Mr. Edward Charlesworth 

 of Ipswich lately pointed out to me a very interesting section of 

 one of these formations at Stutton, by the side of the river Stour, 

 about six miles south of Ipswich. It consists of a tenacious 

 grey-coloured clay in one part, and a greenish sand in another, 

 extending along the margin of the Stour to the distance of 

 about 1 00 yards. The tide, at high water, reaches the foot of 

 the cliff, which it occasionally undermines ; and it appears to 

 have made great encroachment upon the land, from the extent 

 of ooze in that part of the river. Some of the shells are 

 coloured by the red oxide of iron ; and the clay, in patches, 

 has a ferruginous appearance. It appears a locality that 

 would well reward an elaborate research. I have paid it but 



