575 
Correspondence — E. JET., the late 2Ir. Edw. Wood. 
COEEESPOlTDEirCE. 
THE LATE MR. EDWARD WOOD, J.P., F.G.S. 
Sir, — Your obituary notice (Geol. Mag. Oct.) of the late Mr. 
Wood, of Richmond, omits a circumstance in his life which the 
writer may not have known — but which ought not to be left un- 
recorded. 
Mr. Wood was a man with a warm and feeling heart ; and some 
years ago, when it was the fashion for ladies to wear seabirds’ wings 
in their hats, gangs of merciles6 ruffians used to put out in boats 
from the coast towns of the north-east of England for the purpose 
of capturing the birds (which breed on Flamborough Head) while 
sitting on their nests. Not satisfied with this, they would often 
tear the wings from the bodies, retaining only the former, and 
throwiug the latter into the sea. 
Düring Mr. Wood’s geological excursions he became a witness to 
this revolting practice, which he determined if possible to put an end 
to. He foresaw that unless this was done the whole race of sea- 
birds on that coast would be exterminated. He immediately put 
himself in communication with gentlemen of influence in that part 
of the country, described with natural indignation what he had seen 
with his own eyes, and obtained their aid in bringing the matter 
before members of Parliament. He also went up to London and 
had interviews with members of the Government and of both 
Houses of Parliament, and at length had the satisfaction of seeing a 
Bill carried into law, for the protection of seafowl during the 
breeding season. All who love the feathered tribes, therefore, owe 
a debt of gratitude to Mr. Wood, of Richmond, Yorkshire. 
Dublin, 1 ith October, 1877. E. H. 
TRIPARTITE ORIGIN OF THE BOULDER-CLAYS OF THE NORTH 
WEST OF ENGLAND. 
Sir, — From repeated examinations of a number of constantly 
varying sections around the estuaries of the Dee and Mersey, I have 
been led to adopt the theory of a tripartite derivation of the con- 
stituents of the two Boulder-clays — the normal sand and coarse grit 
from the local Triassic, Permian, and Carboniferous sandstones ; the 
abnormal clay (of which the deposits mainly consist) from “ mud ” 
issuing from beneath glaciers (chiefly in the Lake Distriet) when 
they descended as low, or nearly as low as the sea-level ; the equally 
abnormal erratic stones transported and dropped into the slowly 
accumulating clay by floating coast-ice, the sea having been too 
shallow to float icebergs, which indeed would either directly or 
indirectly have disturbed the surface of the middle sand (which, 
away from the mountains, almost invariably indicates the prevalence 
of extremely tranquil conditions) when the upper clay began to be 
deposited. The clay may have been partly worked up from the 
local shales and so-called marls, but its wide distribution, general 
uniformity of character, and great amount, are clearly incoinpatible 
with the idea of its having been mainly of local derivation. 
