1858.] ATROPA BELLADONNA. 591 



can see the storm coming ; but be this as it may, it is neverthe- 

 less true that the blackbird, which feeds on insects similar to the 

 food of the tlirush, sings before rain, although perched on some 

 low shrub in the middle of a copse. 



Mr. Yarrall, in his account of this bird, says, "It is also 

 called the holm-thrush, probably owing to its partiality to the 

 oak, from the top of which this thrush will sometimes continue 

 to repeat its song for an hour, and occasionally also has its nest 

 in the oak. A good botanist has reminded me that the red ber- 

 ries of the plant named Butcher's-broom {Ruscus aculeatus), which 

 grows in bushy commons, are called Holmberries, and as the 

 missel-thrush is a decided feeder on berries generally, it may 

 have acquired the name of holm-thrush from feeding on the 

 holmberry." 



Mr. Yarrall should have also been referred by the " good bo- 

 tanist " to the Holly [Ilex Aquifolium), which is also called Holm, 

 and ascertained whether the thrush feeds on the berries of this 

 tree, which is more common than the Butcher's-broom, and bears 

 berries more plentifully. I never saw the bird feeding on the 

 berries of the latter, nor do I believe the bird has any partiality 

 to the Oak, not even that called Holm Oak, which I take to be 

 the Evergreen Oak, called Quercus Ilex. S. B. 



ATROPA BELLADONNA (INSANE EOOT). 



Several notes have appeared on this subject in the ' Phytolo- 

 logist,' but nothing satisfactory to show that the Atropa Bella- 

 donna was the plant referred to by Shakespeare, and I observe 

 that one of the writers in the ' Phytologist ' states that this plant 

 is not found north of Yorkshire. Mr. Knight, in his edition of 

 Shakespeare, has a note on the words as follows : — " Henbane is 

 called Insana in an old book of medicine, which Shakespeare might 

 have consulted." I should much like to know what old book it 

 was, and also if the root of Henbane, taken internally, would 

 produce insanity or temporary delirium. 



[Since writing the above, I find, on referring to Mr. Irvine's 

 excellent work on British plants, recently published by Nelson, 

 London, that he considers the A. Belladonna to be the "insane 

 root,'' and I have no doubt he might refer your readers to some 

 work in which it is so called.] S. B. 



