38 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



[2°* s. X. July 14. '60. 



and decorate wells with crowns of the same. 

 Shaw, In his History of the Province of Moray, 

 says that heathenish customs were practised among 

 the jieople there, and cites as an instance that 

 "they performed pilgrimages to wells, and built 

 chapels in honour of their fountains." The prac- 

 tice of throwing flowers upon the Severn is a 

 remnant of the ancient custom, and alluded to by 

 Milton in his Camus thus : — 



'• The Shepherds at their festivals 

 Carol her good deeds loud in rustic lays, 

 And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream 

 Of pansies, pinks, and gaudy daffodils." — v. 849, 

 Dyer also, in his poem The Fleece, says : — 

 " With light fantastic toe the nymphs 

 Thither assembled, thither every swain ; 

 And o'er the dimpled stream a thousand flowers, 

 Pale lilies, roses, violets, and pinks, 

 Mixed with the greens of burnet, mint and thyme, 

 And trefoil, sprinkled with their sportive arms; 

 Such custom holds along th' irriguous vales 

 From Wreakin's brow to rocky Dolvoryn." 



At the village of Tissington, near Ashborne in 

 Derbyshire, the custom of well flowering was, and 

 is probably still, observed on every annivei-sary of 

 Holy Thursday. On this occasion the day is re- 

 garded as a festival, the villagers array themselves 

 in their best attire, and keep open house for their 

 friends. All the wells in the place, which are five 

 in number, are decorated with wreaths and gar- 

 lands of newly-gathered flowers disposed in va- 

 rious devices. Boards are sometimes used, cut 

 into different forms, and then covered with moist 

 clay, into which the stems of flowers are inserted 

 to preserve their freshness, and they are so ar- 

 ranged as to form a beautiful mosaic work. 

 When thus adorned, the boards are so .disposed 

 at the springs that the water appears to issue 

 from amidst beds of flowers. After service at 

 church, where a sermon is preached, a procession 

 is made, and the wells are visited in succession : 

 the psalms for the day, the epistle and gospel are 

 read, one at each well, and the whole concludes 

 with a hymn, sung by the church singers, accom- 

 panied by a band of music. Rural sports and 

 holiday pastimes occupy the remainder of the day. 

 (Vide Rhodes' Peak Scenery, p. 315.; also Gent. 

 Mag., Feb. 1794, vol. Ixiv. p. 115.; and Brand's 

 Popular Antiq., vol. ii. p. 266., for other references 

 to this custom of tap dressing.) 



R. WiLBRAHAM FaLCONER, M.D. 



Bath. 



Notes on Bugs (2"^ S. ix. 500.) — As this 

 generally tabooed subject receives notice at your 

 hands, allow me to liand you a Note supple- 

 mentary to that of your correspondent Jaydee. 

 What the ordinary English translation of the 

 word Ciniex was in the year 1635 will be evident 

 from the English version of Pliny by Dr. Hol- 

 land, published in that year. In the passage of 

 Pliny (Hist. Nat. lib. xxix. cap. 4.), where he 



speaks of the Cimex as an antidote against the bite 

 of serpents, and other poisons, the English render- 

 ing is as follows : — 



" As we may see for example in these punks or wall- 

 lice (the most ilfavoured and filthy vermine.of all other, 

 and which we loth and abhor at the very naming of 

 them), for naturally they are said to be adversative to 



the sting of all serpents, and folk ground their 



reason hereupon, because looke what day that Hens do 

 eat a wal-louce, the same day there shall no aspis have 

 pouer to kill them," &c. 



So that the word punaise took its place, for a 

 time at least, in the English language under the 

 form of punie (or punaise, as both forms occur 

 in Holland's Pliny), but was afterwards dropped 

 in favour of the term hug, which, as implying '' a 

 terror by night," was certainly appropriate. The 

 exact passage is, in Matthews' version (Day and 

 Seres, 1549), " So that thou shalt not nede to be 

 afrayed for any bugges by night." X. 



Armorial Bearings (2°* S. ix. 484.) — 1. 

 Fynderne (Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, and Staf- 

 fordshire),' ar. a chev. (another engr.) between 

 three crosses formee fitchee sa. Crest — an ox 

 yoke, or. (From. Burke's General Armoury, 1860.) 

 2. " Sable, a cross flory arg." I find Argent, a 

 cross flory sable, borne by family name of Adling- 

 ton, may be the difference reverse is occasioned 

 by younger branch. R. J. F. 



Storm Glass (2"'i S. ix. 343.) — The ingre- 

 dients of the composition contained in the tube 

 are two-and-a-half drms. of camphor, thirty-eight 

 grs. of nitre, dissolved In nine drms. of water, 

 seven drms. of rectified spirit, at a gentle heat. 

 The tube is closed with a cross cap, not entirely 

 excluding the air. — Beasley's Druggists' Receipt 

 Book. E. M. 



With reference to one-half of Exon's inquiry, I 

 think I can very well show that these instruments 

 are 7iot reliable in a scientific sense. At the re- 

 freshment room of Shoreditch terminus of E. C. 

 R. a few days ago I saw two of these (" storm ") 

 glasses, both alike and of the same maker, one on 

 either door-post with advertisement placards. I 

 remarked to the head of the department that they 

 were not much use, but he thought them capital 

 inventions ; and when I showed that it appeared 

 to be much more stormy on one side of the door 

 than the other, everybody seemed to be much 

 entertained with the remark. The little Instru- 

 ments were graduated with fine lines for obser- 

 vations, and the difference of the two was a full 

 inch. This, I believe, proves their inutility, ac- 

 cording to their names, because although a little 

 more draught at the door on one side than at the 

 other might, by change of temperature, cause 

 more of the solution in one glass than in the 

 other to solidify, the weather must have remained 

 the same. These glasses may give a rough Indi- 



