190 Henry Scherren. 



thus : "Eber et Peucerus "boscades interpretantur anates 

 sylvestres, quibus rostra latiuscula et sima, color cinereus 

 nigredine variatus. Germanico dictas Mittelendten id est 

 médise magnitudinis anates." In the Yocahula of 1549 the 

 entry is singly " Bosca aquatica " ; but in that of 1552, the 

 only other which Gesner could have used, the entry runs : — 



ßocTKclSe?, quibus rostra latiuscula & li- ] ina, cinereus color 

 nigredine variatus, ìnittelent- | ten. 



It is only right to say that Prof. Newton has informed me 

 that there are a good many other passages in Gesner. 



There are copies of six editions in this country, 1549, 

 1552, 1558, 1559, 1570, and 1575. The first five are in the 

 British Museum Library ; the Bodleian has a copy of that of 

 1558, and Prof. Newton possesses one of 1575, which I have 

 not yet seen. 



I submit that the occurrence of the jest that pfaff, or 

 paplius, was another name for thè Caprimulgus, only to be 

 found, so far as I can ascertain, in Turner, who first gave it 

 currency, and in the List under discussion, is strong evidence 

 as to a common origin. 1 This probable conjecture is turned 

 into certainty by the testimony of the compilers of the 

 Vocabula. In their address to the reader they have specially 

 referred to the List of Birds (to be found in all the editions 

 known to me) : " Adclidhnus et volucrum adpellationes magna 

 ex parte collectas a viro doctissimo Anglo, amico nostro, qui 

 utinam cum et mari et f secundioribus fluminibus propior sit 

 etiam pisciuni nomina colligat." 



Only to William Turner can these words apply. To him, 

 therefore, must be given the credit of this List in its original 

 form in the edition of 1549 ; and the obligations of the 

 compilers did not end there, as will be seen from the short 

 extract from their edition of 1552. 



1 Since writing the above I hare found from Grimm's Wörterbuch that pfaff" 

 is still sometimes employed in the same sense, and that Brehni {Das Leben der 

 Vögel, 1861, p. 475) so used it. 



