Retrospective Criticism. fj 



which I succeeded in killing on Oct. 12. 1804. I was, at the 

 time, in company with a gentleman resident in the island, 

 who seemed to be familiar with the reptile, and informed me 

 that it was very venomous ; of which fact I entertain no 

 doubt. " Os armatum est veneno diro," observes Linnaeus, 

 in Fawia Suecica; he gives, as a synonyme, " Vipera anglica 

 nigricans " of Petiver : the animal, therefore, has long been 

 known as a native of England. On a transient view, this 

 species appears entirely of a uniform deep black colour, as 

 described by Linnaeus, " ater toto corpore ; " but, on closer 

 inspection, a row of angular spots, similar to that on the 

 back of the common viper (C J5erus) is discernible, being of 

 a still more intense black than the rest of the body. Li size, 

 shape, manners, and habits it seems exactly to resemble the 

 common species ; of which, 1 think, I have heard that it has 

 been sometimes considered only a variety, and from which I 

 am not aware that it differs, except in colour. 



The red viper, mentioned in VI. 399. 526., I should 

 suspect, was only the young state of the common species ; the 

 smaller specimens of which, I have observed, are generally of 

 a brighter colour than the full-grown ones, and have the 

 spots more inclining to red. — W. T, Bree, Alleslej/ jRectory, 

 Nov. 6. 1833. 



Leptocephalus MorrisVi Pennant (V. 313. 7*2., VI. 531.) 

 seems doomed to be never accurately represented by the 

 engraver. The cut, in VI. 531., which professes to be a 

 copy of my drawing, is defective in one most essential point : 

 the engraver has neglected to represent the pectoral fins, 

 and has rendered the lateral line too strong. The engraving, 

 with these exceptions, is very like the fish. —Henry Vietz 

 Deere. Nov. 15. 1833. 



The Authorship of the Prefixes, ^;ro, meso, and meta, to the 

 Limbs of Insects belongs to Mr. Newman ; not to Mr. Haliday. 

 I observe that Mr. Westwood has appended to some techni- 

 cal descriptions in VI. 495, notef, a remark expressly for 

 the purpose of depriving Mr. Newman of the merit of the 

 above prefixes, and of giving the said merit to Mr. Haliday. 

 Mr. ^e^m^njirst published the names in question at p. 400. 

 of the E7itomological Magazine (July 1. 1833). Mr. Haliday 

 has nowhere published them, that I can find. Indeed, at 

 p. 516. of the same magazine, published three months subse- 

 quently (Oct. 1. 1833.), he follows Meigen, in applying the 

 term metatarsus to the last articulatiorj of the tarsus ; so that 

 it is evident that Mr. Haliday not only did not originate these 

 terms, but declines employing them. — Lacon. Newcastle, 

 Nov. 5. ]833. 



