.'Queries a?id Answers. ^4^^l 



Great Ash-coloured Shrike, Wryneck, Nuthatch, Grosbeak, Bullfinch, 

 Lesser RedpoJe, Pipit Lark, Grasshopper ditto, Wheatear, Marsh Tit- 

 mouse, Cole Titmouse, Sand Miirten, Quail, Bustards, Curlew, and almost 

 any kind of water birds. Any of these I shall be glad to buy, or receive 

 in exchange for others. — H. Burney. Near Wallingfordy Berks, June 26. 

 1831. — A letter addressed " H. B., Post Office, Wallingford, Berks," will 

 be immediately answered. 



A Dictionarj/ of British Entomohgi/. — Sir, I see by your last Number, 

 (p. 278.) that your correspondent " Frank Plain," in the name of the 

 unlearned, among whom he is pleased to class himself, " frankly calls upon 

 the veterans in the science for a Dictionary of British Entomology^ with 

 derivations, accentuations, and reasons of application, &c." I beg most 

 heartily to join him in this request. Such a work as he suggests is much 

 wanted, and, if well executed, would be of the highest utility, not merely 

 to the unlearned, but even to fair classical scholars. The enormous multi- 

 plication of genera in modern days has induced the necessity of construct- 

 ing a corresponding number of new names. These names are often derived 

 from the Greek language, and from words by no means of everyday occur- 

 rence ; so that even the learned are often obliged to turn to their lexicons, 

 and after all, perhaps, to remain in doubt, if not in ignorance, as to the sig- 

 nification in particular instances. The task of committing to memory a 

 long list of hard names is much diminished, and becomes, indeed, a pleasur- 

 able occupation, when their meaning is known, and the propriety of their 

 application apparent. And here I cannot help expressing my regret that 

 the master-builders in the science of natural history should not have 

 attended a little more to euphony in their nomenclature. Some names of 

 modern manufacture, in botany as well as entomology, are so cacophonous, 

 and almost unutterable, that they do require some considerable counter- 

 balancing advantage to justify their admission to general use. It would be 

 superfluous to produce examples, as they must occur in abundance to every 

 one at all acquainted with recent scientific works. Except in particular 

 cases, where it is intended to do honour to the memories of eminent men, 

 I do not see any reason why the naturalists of this country, at least, in 

 describing a new insect or plant, should choose to encumber it with a name 

 as difficult to be pronounced by English lips as the sesquipedalian name of 

 some Russian chieftain, consisting of perhaps eight or ten consonants to a 

 vowel. At the same time I am fully aware of the difficulty of inventing a 

 large number of new names, which shall be at once appropriate and free 

 from every objection. But I am straying from my subject, and occupying 

 too large a space in your pages ; I will therefore conclude by again express- 

 ing my earnest hope that Frank Plain's suggestion will be attended to, and 

 that some " veteran " will ere long present us with a " Dictionary of 

 British Entomology." Yours, &c. — -B. Coventry, May \0. \^S\. 



Trade in Snakes in the Fens of Cambridgeshire. — Sir, Professor Henslow 

 mentions the circumstance (p. 279.) of a trade in snakes having been car- 

 ried on by the fenmen in Cambridgeshire, who sold them, when skinned 

 and dried in the sun, to a London agent, at the rate of one shilling per 

 dozen ; but he states that this profitable trade has ceased, and that it was 

 not known to what purpose the snakes were applied. Is it not probable 

 that they were procured on account of their supposed medicinal virtues ? 

 The fat or grease of vipers, it is well known, was believed to possess pecu- 

 liar properties ; and we have often heard of viper broth as a specific for one 

 disease or another. The fat of the common snake might be equally effi- 

 cacious, or perhaps might be substituted for that of the less abundant species, 

 the viper. It is not, I think, more than fourteen or fifteen years since I 

 happened to be in the late Mr. Dickson's shop in Covent Garden (an ex- 

 c-ellent gossip-shop, by the way, for naturalists), shortly after a viper had 

 been brought in from the country, which Mr. Dickson had purchased in the 



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