150 MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS. 



of Mr. Combe, " in our applause he hears not the voice of a vain adulation, 

 but a feeble overture to the grand strain of admiration which a grateful pos- 

 terity will one day sound to his name." — From a Lecture on Phrenoloffi/, de- 

 livered at the Campsall Society for the Acquisition of Knowledge, by Mr. C. T. 

 Wood, jun. 



The advance which Phrenology has made within a few years, though gra- 

 dual, is most striking ; and the voice of him who speaks against the science 

 is listened to with surprise rather than, as before, that of its advocate. The 

 newspapers and other public journals, moreover, no longer raise their feeble 

 clamor to aid in its demolition. Probably, however, it is, even now, more to 

 the pecuniary advantage of a magazine, whether quarterly or monthly, to 

 ridicule than to support Phrenology : but the majority of these pursue the 

 wiser course of remaining altogether silent on the subject. — Ed. 



The Name "Garden Thriish," as applied to Turdus Musicus, 

 Auct In The Analyst, No. xviii., I find the name " Garden Thrush" pro- 

 posed to be substituted for Song Thrush. I should have given the name 

 Garden Thrush to the JNIissel Thrush : at least its habits here would warrant 

 such an appellation. I knew of five nests in gardens last year, and have al- 

 ready found one in a similar situation this year, snowy as it is. — Thomas 

 Allis, York, 3rd Mo. 24, 1837, «" The Naturalist (No. xi., for August), edited 

 by Neville JVood, Esq — [The Missel Thrush occasionally frequents gardens, 

 with the view of feeding on currants, gooseberries, &c. ; but it generally* 

 breeds in small plantations near houses, and is, on the whole, not much seen 

 in gardens; while, on the contrary, the species which we have named the 

 Garden Thrush seldom occurs out of them Ed.] 



Theory of Music. — It seems very odd that school-masters and music- 

 masters should have hit upon the most laborious and irksome method they 

 could posibly have devised for imparting to their pupUs a knowledge of the 

 " grammar" of language and music ; namely, by separating the theory from 

 the practice. That a pupil might write grammatically, both as regards lan- 

 guage and music, without having been told any one of the rules composing 

 grammar, is very certain, though at present seldom acknowledged. Some 

 eminent musicians and music-masters are for discarding theory altogether, 

 whether studied abstract edlj' or otherwise. The plan, no doubt, is feasible; 

 but if theory is to be retained, let it go hand in hand with practice, the two 

 being included in the same lesson, and much tedious and useless drudgery 

 will be spared, both on the part of master and scholar Ed. 



Tetracnemus diversicornis, Westwood This insect is figured in 



Charlesworth's (alias Loudon^s) Magazine of Natural History, vol. i., n. s., p. 

 258, with four branches to the antennce. When I first saw it, I thought it 

 was the same as my Ceraphron samicornis, being very similar as far as anten- 

 nae go. But mine is more like ]Mr. Curtis's figure of C. Halidayi, except that 

 it has only three branches to the antennse, and is scarcely more than half its 

 size. I took my specimen on a Birch at Knighton Heath, near Dorchester, 

 August 11, 1832; also Mr. Westwood's T. diversicornis on an Oak in Coombe 

 Wood, July 3, 1835.^J. C. Dale, Glanville's Wootton, Dorsetshire, May 30, 

 1837. 



IMusicAL Catechisms. — Hamilton has published various musical cate- 

 chisms ; amongst others one on the organ. We have a great horror of com- 

 pilations of this nature ; and the fact that a work of more value on the organ 



