132 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
[No. 9. 
of it. It has certainly no more relation to the com- 
panion of St. Paul than to drunken Barnaby, though 
some have supposed it has. It is sometimes called 
Bishop Benebee, which may possibly have been intended 
to mean the blessed bee; sometimes Bishop Benetree, of 
which it seems not possible to make any thing. The 
name has most probably been derived from the Barn- 
Bishop ; whether in scorn of that silly and profane 
mockery, or in pious commemoration of it, must depend 
on the time of its adoption, before or since the Re- 
formation; and it is not worth inquiring. The two 
words are transposed, and bee annexed as being per- 
haps thought more seemly in such a connection than 
fly-bug or beetle, The dignified ecclesiastics in ancient 
times wore brilliant mixtures of colours iu their habits, 
Bishops had scarlet and black, as this insect has on its 
wing-covers. Some remains of the finery of the gravest 
personages still exist on our academical robes of cere- 
mony. There is something inconsistent with the popish 
episcopal character in the childish rhyme with which 
Bishop Barnabee is thrown up and dismissed when he 
happens to light on any one’s hand. Unluckily the 
words are not recollected, nor at present recoverable ; 
but the purport of them is to admonish him to fly 
home, and take eare of his wife and children, for that 
his house is on fire. Perhaps, indeed, the rhyme has 
been fabricated long since the name by some one who 
did not think of such niceties.” GABE. 
Sir,—In the explanation of the term Bishop 
Barnaby, given by J. G., the prefix “ Bishop” 
seems yet to need elucidation. Why should it not 
have arisen from the insect’s garb? The full 
dress gown of the Oxford D.D.—scarlet with 
black velvet sleeves — might easily have suggested 
the idea of naming the little insect “ Dr. Burn 
bug,” and the transition is easy to “ Dr. Burnabee,” 
or “ Bishop Burnaby.” These little insects, in the 
winter, congregate by thousands in barns for their 
long slumber till the reappearance of genial wea- 
ther, and it is not impossible that, from this cir- 
cumstance, the country people may have desig- 
nated them “ Barn bug,” or * Barn bee.” L. B. L. 
Sir, —I cannot inform Lecour why the lady- 
bird (the seven-spotted, Coccinella septempunctata, 
is the most common) is called in some places 
* Bishop Barnaby.” This little insect is sometimes 
erroneously accused of destroying turnips and peas 
in its larva state; but, in truth, both in the larva 
and perfect: state it feeds exclusively on aphides. 
IT do not know that it visits dairies, and Tusser’s 
“ Bishop that burneth,” may allude to something 
else; still there appears some popular connection 
of the Coccinellide with cows as well as burning, 
for in the West Riding of Yorkshire they are 
called Cush Cow Ladies; and in the North Riding 
one of the children’s rhymes anent them runs : — 
“ Dowdy-cow, dowdy-cow, ride away heame, 
Thy* house is burnt, and thy bairns are tean, 
And if thou means to save thy bairns 
Take thy wings and flee away !” 
* Thy is pronounced as thee, 
The most mischievous urchins are afraid to hurt 
the dowdy-cow, believing if they did evil would 
inevitably befall them. It is tenderly placed on 
the palm of the hand—of a girl, if possible— and 
the above rhyme recited thrice, during which it 
usually spreads its wings, and at the last word 
flies away. A collection of nursery rhymes relating 
to insects would, I think, be useful. 
W.G. M. J. Barker. 
[ We have received many other communications. re- 
specting the epithet of this insect — so great a favourite 
with children. Aticur and several other corre- 
spondents incline to L. B. L.’s opinion that it takes its 
name from a fancied resemblance of its bright wing- 
cases to the episcopal cope or chasuble. J. ‘1. reminds 
us that St. Barnabas has been distinguished of old by 
the title of bright, as in the old proverbial distich in- 
tended to mark the day of his festival according to 
the Old Style (21st June) : — 
“ Barnaby bright ! 
The longest day and the shortest night,” 
While F. E. furnishes us with another and happier 
version of the Norfolk popular rhyme: — 
“ Bishop, Bishop Barnabee, 
Tell me when my wedding be; 
Tf it be to-morrow day, 
Take your wings and fly away! 
Fly to the east, fly to the west, 
Fly to them that I love best!” 
The name which this pretty insect bears in the various 
languages of I:urope is clearly mythic. In this, as in 
other cases, the Virgin has supplanted Freya; so that 
Freyjuhena and Frouehenge have been changed into 
Marienvoglein, which corresponds with Our Lady’s 
Bird. There can, therefore, be little doubt that the 
esteem with which the lady-bird, or Our Lady’s cow, 
is still regarded, is a relic of the ancient cult. ] 
MATHEMATICAL ARCHEOLOGY, 
Sir, —I cannot gather from your “ Notes” that 
scientific archeology is included in your plan, nor 
yet, on the other hand, any indications of its ex- 
clusion. Science, however, and especially mathe- 
matical science, has its archeology; and many 
doubtful points of great importance are amongst 
the “ vexed questions” that can only be cleared up 
by documentary evidence. That evidence is more 
likely to be found mixed up amongst the masses 
of papers belonging to systematic collectors than 
amongst the papers of mere mathematicians — 
amongst men who never destroy a paper because 
they have no present use for it, or because the 
subject does not come within the range of their 
researches, than amongst men who value nothing 
but a “new theorem” or “ an improved solution.” 
As a general rule I have always habituated my- 
self to preserve every scrap of paper of any remote 
(and indeed recent) period, that had the appearance 
of being written by a literary man, whether I 
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