252 NATURAL HISTORY NOTES CORRESPONDENCE. 



The best turf and corn harvests for many years. Barley a late but good 

 crop. Pastures on light soils as brown as possible on the 31st. South- 

 west Counties. — Wasps have been most abundant in the south-west 

 counties this summer, almost amounting to a plague in some districts. 

 During the month of August no less than 128 wasps' nests were destroyed 

 in the grounds and park at Menabilly, near Towey, Cornwall. The 

 effect of the severe winter of 1878-9 and 1879-80 are visible this summer 

 in many a Devon and Cornish orchard. Many fruit trees appeal to 

 have been killed, while some apple trees only came into leaf in July. 

 Many have shown no blossom at all, and great numbers have borne 

 little or no fruit. Similar effects were noticed after the winters of 

 1850-60 and 1860-61. 



CtftTcspiibcna. 



Beacon Stoop. — At page 231 1 gave Beacon Stoop as the highest point 

 in the county of Stafford. Its elevation has since been found to be 

 1,216ft. above the sea. The Roaches and Morridge are both higher, and 

 the mistake arose through trusting to an old map of the district. — 

 Clement L. Wragge. 



New Infusorian. — On the -4th of August last, I found in one of the 

 swags of the mines, near Bolton, an Infusorian which I did not recognise, 

 so I sent it to Mr. W. Saville Kent for identification, and I am pleased 

 to find that Mr. Kent takes it to be a new one allied to Bursaria. He 

 proposes to call it a Bursarella. Mr. Kent intends to give a figure and 

 description of it in his new manual of the Infusoria. — Thomas Bolton, 

 17, Ann Street, Birmingham. 



Foraminifera in the Carboniferous Limestone of Derbyshire. — On 

 reading Mr. Wilson's article in last month's number, (p. 220,) on the 

 above subject, I was surprised at the paucity of Foraminifera found 

 by him in the limestone of North Derbyshire, (Castleton,) in comparison 

 with the number from the southern part of the county, (Ticknall.) At 

 Ticknall Mr. Wilson finds sixteen species, (i.e., with two varieties,) but 

 at Castleton, including " other beds of limestone in the neighbourhood," 

 only three species. I have lately been making some sections of a lime- 

 stone from Miller's Dale, with the somewhat unusual appearance of 

 which I was particularly struck ; and as the locality, although in the 

 neighbourhood of Castleton, is more easily accessible than that pic- 

 turesquely situated little town, some of your readers may be desirous 

 of knowing it, so that they may obtain specimens. Judging, too, from 

 Mr. Wilson's results, this limestone is unusually rich, for, on a single 

 slide, I have succeeded in making out not only Valvulina palaotroehus 

 and Endothyra Bowmanni, but also E. ylobulus and Textularia eximia, the 

 former being only given for South Derby. I may add that the same 

 slice is considered to contain Trochammina incerta and Arcfuediscus 

 Karreri, but as I am not sure of these, and especially of the former, I 

 have not included them. Like Mr. Wilson, I am indebted to Mr. G. R. 

 Vine, jun., of Sheffield, for assistance in naming. The actual spot in 

 Miller's Dale where I obtained this limestone is marked by a small 

 waterfall, not far from which is an outcrop of much-decomposed toad- 

 stone (volcanic ash ?)— A. H. Scott White, 



