Queries and Answers. 189 



fication necessary, in reference to the statement quoted above, 

 that it inhabits " dry sandy heaths." Pennant, in the last 

 (fourth) edition of his British Zoology, vol. iii. p. 24. pi. 2., 

 gives a figure of the natterjack ; and Shaw also gives one in 

 his Zoology, vol. iii. p. 149. tab. 43. 



The natterjack was found by Sir Joseph Banks in Lincoln- 

 shire, afterwards by Pennant on Putney Common. It appears 

 to be by no means rare at Blackheath, or in the fens of Cam- 

 bridgeshire; and in a collection to which we have access are 

 specimens from Suffolk and Dorsetshire. — S. T. P. 



Is a Monastery, or the Site of one, to be found contiguous to 

 every Piece of Water in which Graylings abound. ? — Sir H. 

 Davy remarks, in his Salmonia, that the grayling (/Salmo 

 thymallus L.) is principally found in rivers near which any 

 great monastery formerly stood ; and he gives as the reason 

 for this, that it was under the patronage of the monks, from 

 being the favourite fish of St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan. To 

 the instances here given, I may add, that it is plentifully found 

 in the river Ure, near the site of Jervaulx Abbey. I should 

 be obliged to any of your correspondents who could either 

 confirm or contradict this idea. Probably Linnaeus applied 

 the epithet thymallus to this species, from its peculiar odour 

 when first caught, somewhat resembling that of wild thyme 

 ( Thymus Serpyllum). I may here remark, that, notwith- 

 standing the declaration of Walton (vol. i. p. 219.), that this 

 fish " lurks close all winter, but is very pleasant and jolly 

 after mid April, and in May, and in the hot months," 

 the grayling is decidedly a winter fish, being in perfection 

 in December, and going off in April, when it spawns. — 

 M.P. Sep. 8. 1832. 



Thecla quercus, the Purple Hairstreah retires into the 

 Earth previously to its assuming the Pupa State ,• a very extra- 

 ordinary mode of proceeding for one of the diurnal lepidop- 

 tera : yet such was the case with several caterpillars of this 

 insect taken in the neighbourhood of Plymouth this season, 

 all of which retreated below the surface of the earth placed 

 in the bottom of the breeding-cage for the reception of other 

 pupae of its class, and have since produced the imago. Mr. 

 Stephens has observed a difference of form and habit in 

 Thecla rubi from its British congeners ; but neither himself 

 nor Miss Jermyn has mentioned this singular transformation 

 of T. quercus. Has he ever reared the species, which is 

 not an uncommon one in many parts of England? or, do indivi- 

 duals of this genus occasionally deviate from their ordinary 

 mode of undergoing their last metamorphosis ? If so, the fact 

 is very remarkable, and ought not to be omitted in systematic 



