they spend their winters under the warm and sheltery shores of Gibraltar and Barbary2.

Scopoli's characters of his ordines and genera are clear, just, and expressive, and much in the spirit of Linnæus. These few remarks are the result of my first perusal of Scopoli's Annus Primus.

The bane of our science is the comparing one animal to the other by memory: for want of caution in this particular Scopoli falls into errors: he is not so full with regard to the manners of his indigenous birds as might be wished, as you justly observe: his Latin is easy, elegant, and expressive, and very superior to Kramer's3.

I am pleased to see that my description of the moose corresponds so well with yours.

I am, &c.

LETTER XXXIII.

TO THE SAME.

DEAR SIR,

SELBORNE, Nov. 26, 1770.

I WAS much pleased to see, among the collection of birds from Gibraltar, some of those short-winged English summer birds of passage, concerning whose depar

? This remark is not to be understood as limiting the residence of the rock swallow at Gibraltar to the winter only; but merely as indicating that it does not quit the neighbourhood of that place, like the other swallows, during the colder months. It is, in fact, stationary throughout the year. M. Risso states it to be stationary also in the more northern locality of Nice; where all the other swallows are, as in England, birds of passage. They arrive, he remarks, about the fifth of March, and depart about the tenth of October: a general observation which, as it is applied equally to all the species that in England differ so considerably in the length of their summer residence, would seem to indicate that M. Risso is less given to make precise entries in the Naturalist's Journal than was Gilbert White.-E. T. B.

* See his Elenchus vegetabilium et animalium per Austriam inferiorem, &c.

ture we have made so much inquiry. Now, if these birds are found in Andalusia to migrate to and from Barbary, it may easily be supposed that those that come to us may migrate back to the continent, and spend their winters in some of the warmer parts of Europe. This is certain, that many soft-billed birds that come to Gibraltar appear there only in spring and autumn, seeming to advance in pairs towards the northward, for the sake of breeding during the summer months; and retiring in parties and broods towards the south at the decline of the year: so that the rock of Gibraltar is the great rendezvous, and place of observation, from whence they take their departure each way towards Europe or Africa. It is therefore no mean discovery, I think, to find that our small shortwinged summer birds of passage are to be seen spring and autumn on the very skirts of Europe; it is a presumptive proof of their emigrations.

Scopoli seems to me to have found the Hirundo Melba', the great Gibraltar swift, in Tyrol, without knowing it. For what is his Hirundo alpina but the afore-mentioned bird in other words? Says he, "Omnia prioris" (meaning the swift); "sed pectus album; paulo major priore." I do not suppose this to be a new species. It is true also of the Melba, that nidificat in excelsis Alpium rupibus." Vid. Annum Primum.

My Sussex friend, a man of observation and good sense, but no naturalist, to whom I applied on account of the stone curlew (Edicnemus), sends me the following account: " In looking over my Naturalist's Journal for the month of April, I find the stone curlews are first mentioned on the 17th and 18th, which date seems to me rather late. They live with us all the spring and summer, and at the beginning of autumn prepare to

1 Cypselus Melba, ILL. (Cyps. alpinus, TEMм.) Stragglers of this species, the large white-bellied swift, have lately occurred, in three several instances, within the range of the British Fauna.-E. T. B.

take leave by getting together in flocks. They seem to me a bird of passage that may travel into some dry hilly country south of us, probably Spain, because of the abundance of sheep-walks in that country; for they spend their summers with us in such districts. This conjecture I hazard, as I have never met with any one that has seen them in England in the winter. I believe they are not fond of going near the water, but feed on earth-worms, that are common on sheep-walks and downs. They breed on fallows and lay-fields abounding with gray mossy flints, which much resemble their young in colour; among which they skulk and conceal themselves. They make no nest, but lay their eggs on the bare ground, producing in common but two at a time. There is reason to think their young run soon after they are hatched; and that the old ones do not feed them, but only lead them about at the time of feeding, which, for the most part, is in the night." Thus far my friend.

thing very analogous to the bustard, whom it also somewhat resembles in aspect and make, and in the structure of its feet.

For a long time I have desired my relation to look out for these birds in Andalusia; and now he writes me word that, for the first time, he saw one dead in the market on the 3rd of September.

When the Edicnemus flies it stretches out its legs straight behind, like a heron.

I am,

&c.

DEAR SIR,

LETTER XXXIV.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, March 30, 1771. THERE is an insect with us, especially on chalky districts, which is very troublesome and teasing all the latter end of the summer, getting into people's skins, especially those of women and children, and raising tumours which itch intolerably. This animal (which we call a harvest bug) is very minute, scarce discernible to the naked eye, of a bright scarlet colour, and of the genus of Acarus. They are to be met with in gardens on kidney beans, or any legumens; but prevail only in the hot months of summer. Warreners, as some have assured me, are much infested by them on chalky downs; where these insects swarm sometimes to so infinite a degree as to discolour their nets, and to give them a reddish cast, while the men are so bitten as to be thrown into fevers1.

The harvest bug, as it is termed, is a very minute mite: it has been figured by Shaw in his Naturalist's Miscellany, and also by Professor Duméril in the Atlas of the Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles. On account of its possessing only six legs Latreille removed it, (as well as other mites which are similarly circumstanced,) from among the great genus Acarus of Linnæus: in his classification it is the Leptus autumnalis. It seems, from the account given of it by M. Duméril, to be as

There is a small long shining fly in these parts very troublesome to the housewife, by getting into the chimneys, and laying its eggs in the bacon while it is drying: these eggs produce maggots called jumpers, which, harbouring in the gammons and best parts of the hogs, eat down to the bone, and make great waste. This fly I suspect to be a variety of the Musca putris of Linnæus: it is to be seen in the summer in farm-kitchens on the bacon racks, and about the mantel-pieces, and on the ceilings2.

common in France as it is in England. In the former country it is known by the names of rouget, derived from its colour, and of bête d' Août, and pique-Août, indicating the season of its appearance and the annoyance produced by it. It occurs there from the middle of July to the middle of September, and is most abundant in years of great drought and heat. The root of the hairs is its favourite place of attack, and the legs are naturally most apt to suffer from a creature that makes its first approach either from the ground or from low vegetables. They travel quickly on the skin, but are often stopped in their progress upwards by garters or other ligatures. The itching occasioned by their punctures is intolerable, and the large pimples produced by them are very apt to suppurate, if irritated by the scratching which they seem designed to provoke. Concentrated spirit or strong vinegar will destroy them; but such applications ought not, of course, to be resorted to if the skin has been broken. Similar annoyances, from similar causes, and even to a much greater extent than are here produced by the harvest mite, are recorded by Messrs. Kirby and Spence as occurring in South America and the West India Islands.

It has been suggested that as many of the mites are known to have, in the early stage of their existence, six legs only, and to acquire subsequently an additional pair, the harvest mite may perhaps be merely the young condition of a true Acarus: but of this no evidence has yet been adduced beyond the general analogy. The danger of reasoning from analogy in natural history has been hinted at by White in Letter XXVI.; but the consideration of analogous cases may sometimes be encouraged with the view of attracting attention to points in the history of animals which might otherwise be overlooked.-E. T. B.

2 Are not these jumpers, and the fly that is produced from them, identical with the hoppers of the cheese, the maggots which become in their final state the Tyrophaga Casei, HERB.? Their leaping powers are thus described by Messrs. Kirby and Spence. "These maggots have long been celebrated for their saltatorious powers. They effect their tremendous leaps-laugh not at the term, for they are truly so when compared with what human force and agility can accomplish-in nearly the same manner as salmon are stated to do when they wish to pass over a cataract,