COKRESPONDEN'CE . 



Corrrsponkncc. 



Mercurialis Perennis. — On October 16th this plaut was in blossom 

 in Streatley Woods, South Beds. Some scores of stamiiiate tiowers 

 were seen, but only two or three pistilhite ones. They occurred in a 

 clearing in the woods, on tlie N.W. side, where there is a sub-soil of 

 stiff clay. Associated with them were numerous primroses in blossom. 

 Possibly the excessive rains of August, with the subsequent compara- 

 tive beat, may have had some effect on the autumn blossoming of 

 these plants. — J. S.^undeks, Luton. 



Late Flowering. — On December '27th I found Mercitrialix pcrciuiit 

 (Dog's Mercury), abundantly in flower (staminate) at Marston Green, four 

 miles south of Birmingham. Hawthorn near was in full leaf. — Geo. E. 

 Harrison. On December 2'2nd a labourer showed me sjme branches of 

 hawthorn, covered with blossom, which he had brought from a village 

 near Worcester. — W. J. H. 



Botany of Malvern. — The following plants either new or rare in 

 the neighbourhood of Malvern have been met with during 1881 : — 

 Stacliys ainhigua, Sm., new ; Goleopsis versicolor. Curt., new : litiiiu'x 

 piilcher, Linn., rare ; R. sannuineua, Linn., rare ; AiKtclidris iilsiiKistritin. 

 Bab., new ; Carex a.viUari.'<, good, a curious congested variety ; C. 

 strigosa, Huds. ; C. distaiis, Linn. ; Festucd 7niiiirus, Linn., rare ; 

 Brachijpodium pinnatum, Beauv., rare. Also a remarkable very small 

 (white) flowered and apparently evergreen variety of Eosa Ktiilosa has 

 been found in the neighboui'hood, by Mr. A. D. Melvin. This Rose 

 has very small fruit, which had scarcely changed colour on November 

 17tb, when I last visited the bush. — E. F. Towndrow, Malvern Link. 



Qtjartzite Pebbles. — I should be pleased to communicate with 

 readers of the " Midland Naturalist " who live in neighbourhoods 

 whore the hard quartzite pebbles — petrified kidneys, as they are often 

 called — are largely broken up for road-mending or any other purpose. 

 The locality from whence these pebbles have come is one of the 

 unsolved problems in British geology. If local observers would 

 diligently look over the heaps of the broken pebbles and pick out any 

 containing fossils they would be aiding in the solution of this 

 question. — W. J. Harrison, 43, Golden Hillock Road, Birmingham. 



Leach's Petrel and Stormy Petrel in Oxfokdshiue. — A specimen of 

 the Fork-tailed or Leach's Petrel (FroceUnria Lecichii) was picked up 

 dead, and in a very emaciated condition, at Lower Heyford, in this 

 county, early in December. Al)out the same time a Stormy Petrel 

 ( Procellaria pelaifica) was procured near Oxford. These birds were, of 

 course, blown inland by the storm of the 27th November or there- 

 abouts. — Oliver V. Aplin, Banbury, Oxou, 1881. 



Curious Capture of a Pocharu. — On the night of the 9th inst., the 

 inmates of a house in this town were aroused by the smashing of glass 

 in an adjoining outhouse. On going into the place they found that a 

 duck (which was quite uninjured) had dashed itself through the 

 skylight. I went down to see the bird, and found a tine male Pochard 

 (Fidigula J'erina). A faint light was shining on the glass, which was 

 frosted over, and I imagine that the bird mistook it for a patch of 

 water, and accordingly pitched on it. — Oliver V. Alpin, Banbury, 

 Oxon, Dec, 1881. 



