THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



79 



after previous efforts had failed, a cop- 

 ious supply of water had been dis- 

 covered by aid of the divining rod ! 

 This form of divination is supposed to 

 be referred to in Ezekiel, where it is 

 unsparingly condemned, as in xxi. 13, 

 " Because it is a trial, and what if the 

 sword contemn even the rod " ; and 

 also in Hosea iv. 12, "My people ask 

 counsel at their stocks, and their staff 

 declareth unto them/' and in the next 

 verse the people are said to burn 

 " incense under oaks, and poplars, and 

 elms, because the shadow thereof is 

 good." 



The name of elm is the English 

 equivalent of the name, which with a 

 change in the primal vowel, runs 

 through all the Celtic and Teutonic 

 dialects : thus, in Celtic it is ailm, and 

 stands for the letter A in the Gaelic 

 alphabet; in the Scandinavian, almr ; 

 Saxon, ellm; Russian, Mm; Dutch, 

 olm ; and German, ulm ; thus playing 

 upon the whole gamut of the vowels. 

 In Gaelic and Irish it is called " leam- 

 ham," or " leamh" one derivation of 

 which is from " ul" to burn, from its 

 use as firewood ; whilst another mean- 

 ing of "leamh" is "tasteless, insipid," 

 alluding to the uses of the inner bark. 

 The Latin ulmus, which is Pliny's 

 name for the elm-tree, and adopted as 

 the botanic name, has been explained 

 as the last syllable, mus, meaning an 

 instrument, material, or means by 

 which something is done; and the 



first syllable as the ul of ulcus, sore, 

 and ulcisci, punish, in allusion to the 

 common use of rods of elm for whip- 

 ping slaves. The name of vjgch-elm 

 has been explained as referring to its 

 use for making the chests or boxes 

 called by the old writers wyches, from 

 the French huche and the Anglo-Saxon 

 hwcecce, which is the ancient name for 

 Ark of the Covenant, made by Moses, 

 whilst an old writer refers to the ark 

 of Noah:— 



" And alle woned in the whichche, the wylde 



and the tame," 

 and it came to be generally used for 

 boxes used for keeping provisions : — 



" His hall was full of bacon flytches, 

 His chambre charged was with wyches, 

 Full of egges, butter, and chese." 



INSECTS WHICH PEED ON 

 ELM. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 



April : — 



Zeuzera aesculi, in the wood, h 



Cossus ligniperda, do., and every month 

 May:— 



Crocallis elmguaria 



Oporabia dilutata 



Tortrix ribeana, in rolled leaves 

 ,, heperana, ,, „ 



Ptycholoma lecheana 



Grapholitha trimaculana 



Gelechia fugitivella 



Coleophora badiipennella, in a case 



Ceriostomata vittella 

 June : — 



Thecla W-album 



Liparis chrysorrhea, h 



Ennomos angularia 



