204 NOTES ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 



Laburnum Seeds Poisonous. — Lieut.-Col. A. C. Arkwrighl, Thoby Priory, 

 Mountnessing, writes as follows : — " As it does not seem to be generally known 

 how poisonous laburnum seeds are, I think my experience may be of some use as 

 a warning to others. On the evening of Friday, Sept. 25th, some clippings of a 

 laburnum tree were thoughtlessly placed where some young stock could reach 

 them, and on Saturday morning nearly the whole herd had apparently been feast- 

 ing on the seed pods. All were in a partly dazed state. Three were lying on the 

 ground motionless, and while the remainder were being driven to the homestead 

 six more dropped. Up to the present, in spite of all remedies, one has died, two 

 are lying in a hopeless state, and four more are prostrate and in a critical condition. 

 Every muscle of those affected seems paralysed. The warning may be of some 

 service to others." 



New Well at Felstead. — A well section has just been exposed at Felstead, 

 which is in some respects interesting and worthy of note. The section is as fol- 

 lows : — 



Feet. 

 Surface soil and Boulder Clay '....... S 



Brick Earth i 



Boulder Clay, verj' chalky and compact ..... 8 



,, darker ........ 2 



Very sandy, buff-coloured clay ...... 3 



Dark earth, resembling garden-soil, with minute fragments of 



flint and chalk (not bottomed) ...... 2 



21 



It will thus be seen that the whole section consists of Drift deposits, and there 

 is no trace in the depth reached of the underlying London Clay. The two feet of 

 " darker " Boulder Clay yields fragments of Gault Shale, but in other respects the 

 rock to that depth is quite normal. 



The veiy sandy, buff-coloured clay I take to be the equivalent of Glacial gravel 

 and sand. The dark earth at the bottom resembling garden soil is a puzzle. It 

 certainly has no possible relation to London Clay, and could not have been imme- 

 diately derived therefrom. On the other hand, in being apparently destitute of 

 sand it has no relation to its overlying bed, and cannot be conceived to have any 

 relation to it. The minute particles of chalk and flint seem to imply its near rela- 

 tion to a Boulder Clay ; but how it was formed and deposited in its present place 

 there seems to be no evidence to show. 



The well is about i^ miles north-east of Felstead village, and near the railway 

 arch on the Braintree Road. — J. FRENCH, Felstead, September 14th, 1891. 



" Hill Gravels North of the Thames."— Messrs. H. W. Monckton and R. 

 S. Herries have a paper under the above title in the last part of the " Proceedings, 

 Geologists' Association " (vol. xii., pp. 108-114), which contains matter of interest 

 10 Essex geologists. Sections of these gravels at Billericay, Norton Heath, the 

 Epping Hills, Coopersale Common, &c., are described, the latter showing a par- 

 ticularly good exposure of AVestleton Beds. 



The " Fault " at Wickham Bishop. — With reference to a proposal recently 

 before the County Council that the asylum site at Wickham Bishop should be 

 sold, in spite of a satirical remonstrance from some members that the Council 

 would thereby be parting with a potential coal-field, Mr. W. H. Dalton, F.G.S., 

 writes as follows: — "With respect to the proposed re-sale of the land acquired 

 some 3'ears ago at Wickham Bishop as a site for an additional Lunatic As^dum, 



