74 



Notes— Diptera and Botany. 



Some of the corticolous and lowland paludal species of 

 Cheshire will probably never be found elsewhere in the 

 province ; West Lancashire will also, perhaps, always retain 

 a preponderance of the xerophilous species, restricted to its hills 

 of Scar Limestone ; and the sandhill tracts of South Lancashire 

 will probably always furnish a few species not to be found in 

 the smaller similar areas to the North and South. Eliminating 

 these exceptional districts, the three vice-counties present many 

 identical features, which would lead us to infer that the list of 

 species common to all our sub-divisions will be largely increased 

 by further investigation. 



NOTES— DIPTERA. 



Cefery Fly: Ravages in North Lancashire. — I believe this district 

 has, too, paid the penalty. Many trenches which I saw last autumn were 

 completely ruined by Tephritis onopordinis; in one Ulverston garden, where 

 the veg-etable was grown for market, almost all was unfit for use. All the 

 same, it is almost certain nothing - will be done to remedy the infliction, 

 or even to attempt such, in the coming- season. — S. L. Petty, Ulverston, 

 3rd February 1900. 



Food of the Common Bluebottle: a Query. — This season I received 

 some scores of young- Pheasants, Partridges, and Grouse which had died of 

 enteritis, from England, Scotland, and Ireland. These, after examination 

 and dissection, were buried in my garden at a good depth. In August and 

 September the larvag of the Common Bluebottle {Calliphora erythrocephala 

 Mg.) were to be found just under the soil by the hundred. I sent them to my 

 friend, the Rev. A. Thornley, who kept them to maturity. As they were 

 never found deep enough to feed on the decaying game, as I carefully 

 ascertained, on what did they feed? I cannot understand. — E. Adrian 

 Woodruffe-Peacock, Cadney, Brigg, 9th February 1900 



— 



NOTE— BOTANY. 



Cow Parsnip: Phyto-philology in Lincolnshire. — This plant 

 {Heracleum Sphondylium L. ) in Lincolnshire rejoices in many names. To 

 one, 'Cow-Bumble,' I want to call attention on account of its philology. 

 The true 'Hemlock' of Lincolnshire is Chcerophyllum sylvcstre, and the 

 plant which heads this article is the Cow Hemlock or Humlock, Humleck, 

 Humlick, Humble, Anumble or Bumble. All these forms are to be heard 

 used by the country folk. ' I'm a getherin' Humbles fer th' rabbits,' is not 

 an uncommon phrase in the spring of the year. The chang-e from Hemlock 

 to Humble or Bumble can be equalled in our dialect. Who but a native 

 could imagine that the simple abbreviated Christian name Pot was short 

 for Ferdinand. Yet it comes about by the following changes: — Ferdinand, 

 Ferdin, Ferden, Ferdum, Ferdon. The next transition is the change of the 

 Fer into Fod ; this again turns into Pot, and thus leaves Pottun, Potten, 

 Pottin, Pottan, which is finally shortened into Pot — the well-known house- 

 hold utensil. In my experience this can only be equalled by the local 

 farrier, who, when writing a receipt in which bichromate of potash was 

 used, wrote it 'Bitch's comet of pot-arse.' The surname Drayton passes 

 through similar changes, becoming Dratton, Ratton, Rat'un. My native- 

 village Bottesford is another example to the point ; in speaking and writing 

 we hear and see these different forms, Bottsford, Bottsforth, Bottsfurth, 

 Bottsworth, Bottswath, and Botsfud.— Max Peacock, Cadney, Brigg, 



13th February 1900. 



Naturalist. 



