204
NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
Laburnum Seeds Poisonous.—Lieut.-Col. A. C. Arkwright, 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 :—
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 very 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 11/4 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
to 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 Westleton 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 years ago at Wickham Bishop as a site for an additional Lunatic Asylum,