Notes and Letters on the Natural History of Norfolk Part 9

"_My third letter Sept xiii._"

Sr I receaued your courteous Letter and with all respects I now agayne salute you.

The mola piscis is almost yearely taken on our coast [_see Note 58_]

this [last _crossed out_] year one was taken of about 2 hundred pounds wayght diuers of them I haue opened & haue found many lyce sticking close vnto thier gills whereof I send you some.

In your pinax I find onocrotalus or pellican [_see Note 25_] whether you meane those at St. James or others brought ouer or such as haue been taken or killed heere I knowe not. I haue one hangd up in my howse wch was shott in a fenne ten miles of about 4 yeares ago and because it was so rare some conjectured it might bee one of those which belonged vnto the King & flewe away.

Ciconia rar hue aduolat. I haue seen two [_see Note 14_] one in a watery marsh 8 miles of, another shott whose case is yet to bee seen.

[See Appendix D.]

Vitulus marinus. _In tractibus borealibus et Scotia_ [_see Note 53_]. no raritie upon the coast of Norfolk at a lowe water I haue knowne them taken asleep vnder the cliffes. diuers haue been brought vnto mee. our seale is different from the Mediterranean seale. as hauing a rounder head a shorter and stronger body.

Rana piscatrix I haue often known taken on our coast & some very large [_see Note 59_].

Xiphias or gladius piscis or sword fish wee haue in our seas [_see Note 55_]. I haue the head of one which was taken not long ago entangled in the Herring netts the sword aboue 2 foot in length.

Among the whales you may very well putt in the spermacetus [_see Note 51_] or that remarkably peculiar whale which so aboundeth in spermaceti.

about twelve years ago wee had one cast up on our sh.o.a.re neer welles wch I discribed in a peculiar chapter in the last edition of [_Fol. 41_] my pseudodoxia epidemica. another was diuers yeares before cast up at Hunstanton. both whose heads are yet to bee seen.

Ophidion or at least ophidion nostras [_see Note 69_] co[=m]only called a sting fish hauing a small p.r.i.c.kley finne running all along the back, & another a good way on the belly, with little black spotts at the bottom of the back finne if the fishermens hands bee touched or scrached with this venemous fish they grow paynfull and swell the figure hereof I send you in colours they are co[=m]on about cromer see Schoneveldeus de Ophidiis.

Piscis octogonius or octangularis answering the discription of Cataphractus Schoneveldei [_see Note 66_] only his is discribed with the finnes spread & when it was fresh taken & a large one howeuer this may bee nostras I send you one b.u.t.t I haue seen much larger which fishermen haue brought mee.

Physsalus [_see Note 89_]. I send one which hath been long opened & shrunck & lost the colour when I tooke it upon the sea sh.o.a.re it was full & plump answering the figure & discription of Rondeletius. there is also a like figure at the end of [Rondeletius _crossed out_] m.u.f.fetus I haue kept them aliue b.u.t.t obserued no motion [b.u.t.t _crossed out_] except of contraction and dilation when it is fresh the p.r.i.c.kles or brisles are of a brisk green & Amethest colours--some call it a sea mous.

Our mullet is white & imberbis [_see Note 63_] b.u.t.t wee haue also a mullis barbatus ruber miniaceus or cinnaberinus somewhat rough & b.u.t.t drye meat. there is of them maior & minor resembling the figures in Johnstonus tab xvii Rotbart.

Of the Acus marinus or needle fishes [_see Note 64_] I haue obserued 3 sorts. The Acus Aristotelis called heere an Adderc.o.c.k Acus maior or Garfish with a green verdigris backbone the other saurus Acui similis Acus sauroides or sauriformis as it may be called much answering to the discription of saurus Rondeletij in the hinder part much resembling a makerell opening one I found not the backbone green Johnstonus writes nearest to it in his Acus minor. I send you the head of one dryed b.u.t.t the bill is broken I haue the whole draught in picture. this kind is more rare then the other wch are co[=m]on & is a rounder fish.

[_Fol. 41 verso._] Vermes marini are large wormes [_see Note 91_] found 2 foot deep in the sea sands & are digged out at an ebbe for bayt.

The Avicula Maialis or may chitt [_see Note 29_] is a litle dark gray bird somewhat bigger then a stint which co[=m]eth in may or the later end of April & stayeth about a moneth. A marsh bird the legges & feet black without an heele the bill black about 3 quarters of an inch long they grow very fatt & are accounted a dayntie dish.

A Dorhawke a bird not full so bigge as a pigeon [_see Note 42_] somewhat of a woodc.o.c.k colour & paned somewhat like an hawke with a bill not much bigger then that of a t.i.tmouse [& very wide throat _added above_] known by the name of a dorhawke or prayer upon beetles, as though it were some kind of accipiter muscarius. in brief this accipiter cantharophagus or dorhawke [_a word smeared out_] is _Avis Rostratula gutturosa_, _quasi coaxans_, _scarabaeis vescens_, _sub vesperam volans_, _ouum speciosissim[=u]_ [_word smeared_] _excludens_. I haue had many of them & am sorry I have not one to send you I spoake to a friend to shoote one b.u.t.t I doubt they are gone ouer.

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 _added 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 fether 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 resembling 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 Tulipar[=u] muscata[108]

[108] 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 Geer, "emits a fragrant odour of beaum" (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."

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 before I should bee content to haue it agayne otherwise you may please to keep it.

Garrulus Bohemicus[109] probably you haue a prettie handsome bird with the fine cinnaberin tipps of the wings some wch I haue seen heere haue the tayle tipt with yellowe wch is not in the discription.

[109] Mr. Stevenson, whom very little relating to Norfolk Ornithology escaped, was well acquainted with Sir Thomas Browne's works, yet has in his "Birds of Norfolk" unaccountably overlooked this pa.s.sage, and remarks that Browne does not appear to have noticed this species; he however not only refers to it as above, but evidently describes it from his personal observation. It is a very uncertain winter visitor to this county, but on rare occasions makes its appearance in considerable flocks. A remarkable instance of this occurred in the winter of 1866-7, when Mr. Stevenson, as the result of the examination of a very large series, contributed an exhaustive paper on the plumage of this handsome bird to the "Transactions of the Norf. and Nor. Nat. Soc.," iii., pp. 326-344.

I haue also sent you urtica mas [_see Note 105_] which I lately gathered at Golston by yarmouth where I found it to growe also 25 yeares ago. of the stella marina Testacea which I sent you [_see Note 87_] I do not find the figure in any booke.

I send you a few flies[110] which some unhealthful yeares about the first part of september I haue obserued so numerous upon plashes in the marshes & marish diches that in a small compa.s.se it were no hard matter to gather a peck of them I brought some what my box would hold b.u.t.t the greatest part are scatterd lost or giuen away for memorie sake I writ on my box muscae pal.u.s.tres Autumnales [See Appendix D.]

[110] Mr. Verrall a.s.sures me that even in the present day it is quite impossible to recognise the species of Diptera described by persons unacquainted with the particular group, and that Browne's remarks would apply to hundreds of species. It is possible that an _Ephydra_ may be meant. This genus of small flies, says Mr.

Verrall, abounds in such places as Browne describes, but it is likely that other species were with them.

worthy Sr I shall be euer redie to serue you who am Sr your humble Seruant

THO BROWNE.

_Norwich, Sep 16. 1668._

No. IV.

"_The fourth Letter to Dr. Merrett Decemb xxix._" [1668]

[_Fol. 42 verso._] Sr I am very joyfull that you haue recouered your health whereof I heartily wish the continuation for your own and the publick good. And I humbly thank you for the courteous present of your booke.[111] with much delight and satisfaction I had read the same not once in English I must needs acknowledge your co[=m]ent more acceptable to me then the text which I am sure is an hard obscure peice without it.

though I haue not been a stranger unto the vitriarie Art both in England and abroad.

[111] This evidently refers to the gift of a copy of Merrett's Latin translation of Antonio Neri's _L'Arte Vetraria_ (Firenze, 1612, 4to), published under the t.i.tle of "The Art of Gla.s.s, translated into English with some observations on the Author," &c., in 1662, and a Latin edition in 1668.

I perceiue you haue proceeded farre in your Pinax. These few at present I am bold to propose & hint unto you intending G.o.d willing to salute you agayne.

A paragraph might probably be annexed unto Quercus. Though wee haue not all the exotick oakes, nor their excretions yet these and probably more supercrescences productions or excretions may bee obserued in England.

Visc.u.m--polypodium--Juli pilulae-- Gemmae foraminatae [formicatae?] folior[=u]-- excrement[=u] fungosum verticibus scatens-- Excrementum Lanatum-- Capitula squamosa jacaeae aemula.

Nodi--melleus Liquor--Tubera radic.u.m vermibus scatentia--Muscus--Lichen-- Fungus--varae quercinae.[112]

[112] The Rev. E. N. Bloomfield has most kindly a.s.sisted me in attempting to identify the Parasitic products of the Oak mentioned above:

_Visc.u.m_, is doubtless the Mistletoe.

_Polypodium_, the Common Polypody Fern.

_Juli pilulae_: "little b.a.l.l.s on the flower catkins." The Currant Gall, _Neurosterus baccarum_, which is the spring form of _N.

lenticularis_; Oliv.

_Gemmae foraminatae [formicatae?] foliorum_: "pimple-like buds on the leaves." Leaf-galls, such as the Silky b.u.t.ton, _N. numismatis_, Oliv., and the common Spangle, _N. lenticularus_, Oliv.