MR. HARDT ON THE TURNIP FIT. 359 



scribed as having a most dreary effect. These animals like- 

 wise dwelt in the precipitous sea-banks between Gunsgreen 

 and Fairneyside. Below a place named Blaikie, once a moor, 

 there are several holes in the banks, still called the Cat-holes, 

 which were the head-quarters of the wild cats that prevail- 

 ed there, while the surrounding tract lay unimproven, and 

 tenanted by its wild game. It is now cultivated, and the cats 

 extirpated ; but it is only wituin a recent period that the 

 last of them was killed. 



I need scarcely advert to the impressions these animals 

 have left in popular language, and familiar comparison. " To 

 turn the wull cat," is to be able to hang from a transvrese 

 beam by the hands and feet, and then recover the upright 

 position. " She has een like a wull cat," is an expression 

 much less flattering to rustic beauty, than the Greeks attri- 

 buted to the empress of their mythology, when they bestow- 

 ed on her the eyes of an ox ! 



Note on Remedies for the Turnip- Fly amongst the Ancients^ end 

 on the Turnip-Fly of New Holland^ with Notice of a New 

 Genus and Species of Diptera, By Mr. James Hardy. 



In looking over my notes, I find that in my paper on Tur- 

 nip Insects, I have omitted to state that the ancients, who, 

 particularly the Romans, were well acquainted with the cul- 

 ture of the Turni]), had recourse to several of the expedients 

 resorted to in modern times as preservatives against the 

 " fly." Columella, for this purpose, recommended the dust of 

 chambers or soot to be sprinkled with water, and mixed with 

 the seed on the night previous to its being sown. He also 

 mentions that, as a remedy against insects, Democritus di- 

 rected that seeds should be anointed with the juice of the 

 herb sedum (house -leek, or perhaps one of the stone-crops well 

 known for their acrid properties). " This," adds he, " I have 

 found to be true from experience. But as the sowing of this 

 plant is not very great, I have more frequently used soot and 

 the above-mentioned dust, and have thereby well enough se- 

 cured the plants from injury. Palladius recommended the 



