The Zoologist— November, 1867. 979 



he follows them to Fairyland, and is seen no more by mortal eye: 

 other similar legends are quoted by Simrock in the work I have so 

 often alluded to. 



Wild Boar.— In the Scandinavian myths the wild boar is the 

 emblem or personification of the sun, an honour which, as already 

 noticed, it shares with the stag. Hence the boar is also an emblem of 

 fertility, and even yet the Germans say, when the ripening corn waves 

 in the breeze, "the boar passes through it." Boar's flesh was a 

 favourite dainty with most of the northern nations, and was assigned 

 to the gods and heroes as their food in Walhalla. The memory of 

 the "swine" as a Scottish " beast of venery n lives in the lines— 



v Bilhope-braes foi bucks and raes, 

 Carit-rigs for swine, 

 And tarras for a gude bull-trout, 

 If it be ta'eu in time." 



This is quoted by Sir Walter Scott, as. " an old rhyme which celebrates 

 the places in Liddesdale remarkable for game; the bucks and roes as 

 well as the swine are now extinct, but the good bull-trout is still 

 famous." The very eommon belief that pigs in swimming cut their 

 own throats with their sharp fore-hoofs is rather mysterious in its 

 origin ; in real life the pig is no bad swimmer. 



- ,. . . , Edward R. Alston. 



ftlockbrtggs, Lesinahagow, N. B.,, 

 October, 1867. 



(To be continued.) 



Errata.— -At Zool. S. S. 883, line 2nd,/or "squaring" read "squeezing"; same 

 page, second line from the bottom, for " scalets" read " scalds." S. S. 934 lines 6lh 

 and 10th, /or "one" read "anc"—E. R. A. 



Ascension : Wide-awake Fair and the Turtle Ponds* 

 By Dr. C. Collingwood, F.L.S. 



In this communication I shall only refer to the barren, lava-strewed 

 part of this island, which has its special poiuts of interest quite apart 

 from the verdure-clad heights of Green Mountain, an account of which 

 latter, from the pen of Mr. T. Baines, appeared in the ' Leisure Hour ' 

 for September. 



The aspect of the island from the sea is not a little remarkable, 

 owing to its peculiar red colour and desolate aspect. Sloping rocks of 



