NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 271
The Colouring of some Essex Shells.—"At Tendring, Essex, there
was a large colony of Helix aspersa var. exalbida in our garden. The lack of
pigment was also very striking among Helix hortensis. The bands on these
shells were very frequently transparent instead of being dark. A lack of pig-
ment was shared also by many plants, notably sweetbriar, clover, docks, and
brambles. Lady Rothchild's head gardener at Ashton Clinton, Bucks, had
noticed the same thing there. He attributed it to excess of iron in the soil.
The well at Tendring was decidedly impregnated with iron. We noted also
that during the great drought of 1896-1897 the markings of the shells of Helix
aspersa were decidedly deeper in colour, being in some cases almost black
We had also a fine grape-vine in the garden, for which these snails had a
special weakness. The peculiarity in their eating of the fruit lay in that they
did not attack one berry and finish it, but ate straight across the bunch, so
straight in fact that this looked as it it had been cut with a razor. It may be
worth while to record a specimen of Helix nemoralis with a single black band
with an opaque white beside it on a pink ground."—(Rev.) E. Percy Black-
burn in Science Gossip for February, 1900.
BOTANY.
Silene anglica, var. quinquevulnera, L. (Spotted Catchfly) in
Essex.—Miss Dorothy Barber brought me a specimen of this pretty little
plant which she had found at Stanway. I am drying the plant for our County
herbarium in the Essex Museum of Natural History. This plant is probably
a casual. It is recorded as having been found in Suffolk and in Kent, but I
do not recollect that it has been listed for Essex. These casuals are interest-
ing, for sometimes they come to stay.—J. C. Shenstone, Colchester.
Vicia lutea, L. (Yellow-Vetch) at St. Osyth.—This rare and very
local plant has been found at St. Osyth by the Rev. John Vaughan. It
occasionally occurs upon the coast in many maritime counties of Great
Britain, but the only previous record for Essex appears to be that of Mr.
Fitch in 1892, who also found it under the Martello Tower on the St. Osyth
shore. It is possible that this rare plant is an over-looked native, or at any
rate an established "casual." See Essex Naturalist, vol. vi, p. 116.—J. C.
Shenstone, Colchester.
Setaria viridis, Beauv, at Witham.—Mr. Edwin E. Turner, of
Coggeshall, wrote on Oct. 2nd: "I send you a specimen of Setaria viridis. I
found it in a field of maize in Maldon Road, Witham, on September 16th.
This grass appears to be rare, although it was once recorded for the County
in Gibson's Flora, and also in English Botany."
MISCELLANEA.
Silting-up of Channels off the Essex Coast.—It is a very general
impression among the fishermen and yachtsmen in the Colne estuary that
some of the smaller channels between the mud and sandbanks are closing
up. Whether this is caused by the wearing away of parts of the coast, and
the deposition of the detrital matter in these small channels (as is an un-
doubted fact on the coast at East Mersea), is a matter which needs investiga-
tion. A suggestion, put forward by a correspondent in the Essex Standard,
that the phenomenon is partly the result of the present method of getting rid
of the solid matter of London sewage by throwing it into the sea, is worthy of