Cumberland, 563 



strongly, as to induce me to throw it away. The effluvium was 

 exceedingly nauseous, and seemed to me to be like that given 

 out by the weasel when irritated, but, perhaps, not quite so 

 strong. Its fine brownish yellow transverse bands give this 

 insect a handsome appearance, which gains for it in the case 

 many admirers, who, if acquainted with its skunklike * pro- 

 perties, would turn from it with disgust. I saw several trouts 

 which more fortunate or more skilful fishermen had caught. 

 They were ill fed, and discoloured : they were caught with an 

 artificial bait called roe, the roe of the salmon salted and pre- 

 served ; a pellet being about the size of a swan-shot, and two 

 or three stuck on the hook for a bait ; worm they would not 

 touch. Saw a swallow (jEfirundo rustica JL,) flying near 

 Cleator : a friend tells me he saw one on the eighth of this 

 month. 



22d. Observed a great number of tadpoles in the meadows. 



27th. Captured an excellent specimen of iStaphylinus ery- 

 thropterus. Saw Vaness« Vo in excellent preservation, and ' 

 very lively; also several Vaness/^ urticse, although the day 

 was cold, with a dry harsh easterly wind. Heard the cuckoo 

 this evening, for the first time. In procuring some minnows 

 as bait for trout, I observed a small species of eel fastened to 

 a stone ; some kind of lamprey. I also caught several small 

 trout, which I put into an old limestone quarry filled with, 

 water. I intended to keep this a secret, that I might have 

 the advantage all to myself. Notwithstanding the reputed 

 pugnacity of the stickleback, they live very peaceably and har- 

 moniously with the minnows ; at least, I see no symptoms of 

 disagreement : they received, as additional company, several 

 of the lampreys. 



28th. Early this morning, I was awakened by a tremendous 



* The skunk is a species of weasel, and a native of America. It defends 

 itself by the emission of an intolerable odour. A short description of it is 

 given inTurton's translation (vol.i. p. 53.) of Linnaeus's Systema Natur(s, 

 under the name of Tiverra mephitis. On the margins of bogs in the 

 United States of North America, a plant occurs, with fetid blossoms, 

 which the Americans denominate " scunck-weed ; " a starved blossom of 

 which, as compared with those produced in the American swamps, will be 

 found figured in Curtis's Botanical Magazine, t. 836. ; and a copy of the 

 same in Loudon's Encyclopcedia of Plants, p. 88. No. 1504, This plant is 

 the Dracontium foe'tidum of Linnaeus; has been called Pothos fce'tida; 

 and more recently, by the American botanist Nuttall, Symplocarpus foe'ti- 

 dus : from symploJce, connection, and karpos, fruit, the individual berries 

 being almost confluent. The plant is in the natural order ^roideae ; and the 

 -^''rum maculatum L., the " cuckoo pint," or " lords and ladies," of our 

 hedge-banks, will give a near idea of it; and the ^^rum Z)racunculus and 

 ^Vum Dracontium of our gardens, whose blossoms effuse the odour of 

 superlatively putrid carrion, will probably supply even an accurate sem- 

 blance of the odour of the blossoms of the scunck-weed. —• J. D, 



o o 2 



