BATS axis LIZARDS. 85 



It would not be at all strange if your bat, wbich you bav© 

 procured, should prove a new one, since five species have 

 been found in a neighbouring kingdom. The great sort 

 that I mentioned is certainly a nondescript : I saw but one 

 this summer, and that I had no opportunity of taking. 



Your accoimt of the Indian grass was entertaining. I am 

 no angler myself; but inquiring of those that are, what 

 they supposed that part of their tackle to be made of, they 

 replied, " of the intestines of a silkworm." 



Though I must not pretend to great skill in entomology, 

 yet I cannot say that I am ignorant of that kind of know- 

 ledge : I may now and then perhaps be able to furnish you 

 with a little information. 



Tlie vast rain ceased with us much about the same time 

 as with you, and since we have had delicate weather. 

 Mr. Barker, who has measiu*ed the rain for more than thirty 

 years, says, in a late letter, that more rain has fallen thia 

 year than in any he ever attended to ; though, from July, 

 1763, to January, 1764, more fell than in any seven months 

 of this year. 



LETTEE XXIII. 



TO THE SAME. 



Selborne, Feb. 28, 1769. 

 Dear Sir, — It is not improbable that the Gruernsey lizard 

 and our green lizards may be specifically the same ; all 

 that I know is, that when, some years ago, many Gruernsey 

 lizards were turned loose in Pembroke college garden, 

 in the university of Oxford, they lived a great while, 

 and seemed to enjoy themselves very well; but never bred. 

 Whether this circumstance will prove anything either way, 

 I shall not pretend to say. 



I return you thanks for your account of- Cressy-hall ; but 



do 90. This is much to be regretted ; for it is one of our most interesting 

 birds of passage, and its arrival is hailed with pleasure by those -who watch 

 its cuiious habits and instincts. — Ed. 



