Retrospective Criticism, 279 



I dare say Philo-Rusticus (p. 171.) is right about the 

 " great grey gull ; " and it is a most discreet thing of these 

 gulls to be so long in making up their minds as to what 

 species they will belong to. As may be seen in p. 111., I had a 

 glimmering of the state of the case. 



" The Daker" is a Name for the Corncrake, (p. 114?.) — I 

 observe, in p. 114., that, in order to make me speak intelli- 

 gibly, it is said, " daker [gallinule]." The daker is the 

 corncrake, well known to all countrymen for his midnight 

 and oft-repeated cry of craik craik, craik craik; a noise 

 which I have imitated so exactly, by drawing a bit of stick 

 backwards and forwards along the teeth of a pocket comb, 

 that I have brought the bird within a few yards of me. I 

 never heard the name of " gallinule" applied to this bird. — 

 JRusticus. Godalming, March 13. 1833. 



The Kittiwake in the Isle of Wight, as mentioned by Rusticus 

 of Godalming. (p. 28.) — May I ask Rusticus of Godalming, 

 whose communications I have read with very great pleasure, 

 whether he is quite certain of having met with kittiwakes in 

 the Isle of Wight ? I ask this, because I have heard of no 

 other instance of its having been shot so far south, in this 

 country. The kittiwake (Zarus Rissa) differs from the com* 

 iinon gull (Xarus canus) in wanting the hind toe, in the place 

 of which it has a small warty protuberance ; in plumage 

 there is but little difference; in size the common gull is 

 longer, the kittiwake, I believe, rather wider in the expansion 

 of its wings. — E. N. D. March 11. 1833. 



By the Mocking-Bird observed at Clitheroe, Lancashire, 

 (p. 72.) T. G., I presume, means the Curruca salicaria of 

 Fleming. Had he appended the systematic name to the 

 Lancashire one, he would not have left his communication 

 open to the following query, made to me by one to whom I 

 had lent my copy : — "Is the American mocking-bird (Tur- 

 dus polyglottis) a spring visitant to England?" — W, G. B. 

 March 22. 1833. [T. G., in Vol. V. p. 653., has identified 

 the " mocking-bird " of Clitheroe with the Curruca salicaria 

 of Fleming. — J. Z>.] 



Mr. Westwood's Choreia nigro-anea (p. 122.) is the En* 

 cijrtus hemipterus of Authors. — Mr. Westwood makes (p. 1.22.) 

 a genus and species, namely Choreia nigro-ae N nea, of the 

 female of a well-known insect, Encyrtus hemipterus. Is not 

 this carrying name-making a little too far ? I would also 

 ask what novelty there is in Mr. Westwood's summary of 

 " the probable number of insect species" [p. 116 — 120.]?- — 

 Lacon. Newcastle, March 12. 1833. 



The Scent of Anemone nemorbsa L., and. Tris persica L. 



t 4 



