LETTERS TO MERRETT. 6/ 



of the vpupa [see Note 35] diuers have been brought 

 mee & some I haue obserued in these parts as I 

 trauuyled about. 



The Aquila Gesneri I sent [aliue adde(i above'\ to 

 Dr. Scarburg [see Note 3] who told mee it was kept in 

 the colledge it was brought mee out of Ireland. I kept 

 it 2 yeares in my howse I am sorry I haue only one 

 father of it to send you. 



A shooing horn or Barker from the figure of the bill 

 & barking note [see Note 38] a long made bird of white 

 & blakish colour finne footed, a marsh bird & not rare 

 some times of the yeare in marshland, it may upon vewe 

 bee called Recuruirostra nostras or Auoseta much re- 

 sembling the Auosettae [species crossed out'\ species in 

 Johnstonus tab (54). I send you the head in picture 



[A smeared out] stone curliews I haue kept in large 

 cages [see Note 37] the [y] haue a prettie shrill note, not 

 hard to bee got in some parts of norfolk. 



[Fol. 42 ] Haue you Scorpius marinus Schoneueldei 

 [see Note 68] 



haue you putt in the musca Tuliparu muscata™ 



That bird which I sayd much answered the discription 

 of Garrulus Argentoratensis [see Note 49] I send you 

 it was shott on a tree x miles of 4 yeares ago. it may 

 well bee called the Parret Jay or Garrulus psittacoides 

 speciosus. the colours are much faded, if you haue it 



1* It seems impossible to identify this insect ; Merodon narcissi has been 

 suggested, but Mr.Verrall, whom I consulted says, " certainly not Merodon, 

 which probably was not known in Britain until about 1870," and suggests 

 the small fly Nemopoda. Mr. Bloomfield writes that the only fly of which 

 he has seen any mention as having a musky or " excellent fragrant odour " 

 is Sepsis cynipsea, which Kirby and Spence state on the authority of De 

 Gear, " emits a fragrant odour of heaum " (balm) ; this species is very 

 nearly allied to Nemopoda. Several Bees, for instance the Genus Prosopis, 

 emit a strong scent of balm, and it is possible that Browne may have used 

 the term "fly" in what is even now a popular sense, and that really some 

 species of Bee may have called forth his remarks. It will be noticed that 

 at p. 74 he speaks of it as a " small beelike flye." 



