278 



NOTE— COLEOPTERA. 



Bembidium nigricorne Gyll. in Yorkshire. — Yesterday (Aug. 16th) I had 

 the pleasure of taking an example of this elegant little ' Bembid ' at Shipley Glen, 

 at the roots of grass, but did not at the time distinguish it from its common ally 

 B. lampros Herbst. It is an addition to the Yorkshire beetle fauna. — J. W. Carter, 

 Manningham, Bradford, August 17th, 1889. 



NO TES—LEPID OPTERA. 



Deilephila galii at Sowerby Bridge. — On the 12th inst. a fine male 

 specimen of this insect was brought me ; it was taken at rest on a cauliflower in 

 a garden in this neighbourhood. — Walter Copley, Clough Terrace, Sowerby 

 Bridge, August 24th, 1889. 



Acherontia atropos Larvae at Alford, Lines. — Several larvae of the Death's 

 Head Moth (Acherontia atropos) have been found here this month. One, full-fed, 

 was brought to me to-day. — Jas. Eardley Mason, The Sycamores, Alford, 

 Lines., 17th August, 1889. 



NOTE—CRYPTOGAM1C BOTANY. 



Upper Teesdale Mosses. — In connection with the visit of Yorkshire 

 naturalists to Upper Teesdale, it will be of considerable interest to give a list of 

 mosses which have been gathered by Mr. R. Barnes during previous rambles in 

 Teesdale, and which are new records for the district : — Sphagnum acutifolium Ehrh. 

 and vars. deflexum Schmp. , tentte Braith., htridum Hiieb. ; S. squarrosum var. 

 teres Schp., S. snbsecundum var. obesitm Wils., Didymodon htridus Hornsch., 

 D. cylindricus Bruch and var. holtii Braith., D. sinuosus Wils. , Trichostonmm 

 mutabih' Bruch, T. crispuhtm Bruch, T.littorale Mitt., Barlmla recurvifolia Schp., 

 Rhacomitrium ellipticum B.& S. — Matthew B. Slater, Malton, Aug. 26th, 1889. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



A probable derivation of the word ' Mushroom ' is tentatively suggested to us by 

 Mr. Walter W. Strickland, who remarks that it is, however, more probable than 

 the one the dictionaries give, viz.: — from the French ' Mousse ' = Moss — which has 

 nothing to recommend it. If the one he suggests be the true one, it will give a 

 hint as to how mushrooms came to be an article of diet amongst Europeans. He 

 believes the word to be compounded of the cant or 'kennick' 'mush,' an umbrella, 

 and the gypsey word Rom. Gypsies, who are the relics of a low-caste Indian tribe 

 of great antiquity, give evidence of their Asiatic origin by traces of Phallic worship. 

 Thus they show great respect for the 'burroder koii' or 'Phallus major.' Now 

 the word ' Rom,' pronounced ' room,' which now means a husband, had originally 

 much the same meaning as ' koii,' which literally means a thorn, and is connected 

 with the Indian word 'ram.' The word 'mush-room' would consequently mean 

 ' umbrella-phallus,' an admirably descriptive name of the fungus in question. If 

 it be objected that the word 'mush' or 'mash,' as written in Borrow's Lavo-Lil is 

 ' kennick ' or cant, it may be remarked that Leland has shown many cant words 

 to be really originally Romany or Gypsey. He further observes that the Hainault 

 gypsies do not pronounce the word ' Mash ' but ' Mush.' ' What is Mush? ' said 

 one of them to him. ' Mush ! that's a man.' No ; moosh (Czech muz = man) is a 

 man,' was the reply. 'Mush is an umbrella.' And, lastly, gypsies are just the 

 very people most likely to introduce the practice of eating mushrooms. Leland 

 remarks upon their wonderful faculty for supporting themselves upon the wild 

 products of nature all the world over ; their acute open-air-bred instincts teaching 

 them what is wholesome and what is not. It may further be added that the first 

 eaters of mushrooms must have been strong-minded and not over nice. Who more 

 likely than a carrion-loving people to have been these primitive mushroom-eaters? 

 And if, lastly, it be objected that the Romans were great fungus-eaters, he still sees 

 no difficulty in supposing that it was the Romany who taught them to b e so. 



Naturalist, 



