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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. vn. JAN. 26, 1907.

Jov the Registrary, the title of which heads this notice It represents history, erudition, and enter- tainment all in one. We have here, in fact, a lively account of a college "row" between Johns and Trinity nearly 300 years ago, with the depositions taken during the punitive proceedings which

TB e <>ccasion of the riot was a play at Christmas time in the Hall of Trinity, and the pretext the difficulty of getting into that college and finding seats. Ill-feeling between the Trinity men and the Johnians is, however, regarded as the basis of the affair, two of the latter being especially unpopular. The " stagekeepers " mentioned are recognized by Mr Clark as stewards of the performance ; they carried links to give light on a winter's evening, and these they used as weapons of offence. Oxley, a

Johnian, complained that "a stagekeeper hnkt

him sore, striking him with the flame of his linke upon his hand ; and stroke at his face which lighted .on his breast." He also got a blow over the face with a club, which "made his face black and blue divers dayes after." A good deal of stone-throwing followed, and a self-elected champion of Trinity went through the long passage (which then con- tinued the Great Gate) into the street, and holding .a dagger by the point, shouted out in Homeric style : " Where be these Johnians ? Is there none -of the rogues will answer a man? Zounds, I will throw my dagger amongst them.',' The dagger, however, seems to have been hidden when the vice- Chancellor appeared to quell the riot, which broke out again as soon as he went into Trinity.

The further operations ended in favour of John's, but cannot be exhibited here, as they depend on features of the buildings of Trinity not now in ex- istence. All is, however, made clear in the paper by a map of 1592. A porter of John's threw down the battlements of the garden wall at Trinity, for which feat he was ordered to be put into prison and then into the stocks.

The interest of this splendid rag is obvious. Shakespeare himself may have heard of it. The B. A. of this time is mentioned without his Christian name with the addition of "Sir," which represents the Latin "Dominus" still familiar in the abbrevia- tion " Ds." at Cambridge. This recalls Sir Oliver Martext in 'As You Like It.' Jane Hall on oath swore that she heard two scholars say : ' ' Heer wilbe ould scuffling at this end of the town within these three or foure nights ; for we heare that ther ar stones prepared to fling from the towers." This popular use of "old" is that of a porter in 'Mac- beth,' II. iii. : "If a man were porter of Hell-gate, he should have old turning the key."

A careful appendix collects what is known as to the academic career, profession, &c., of the persons implicated.

A Text-Book of Fungi. By George Massee. (Duck- worth & Co.)

Mu. M ASSKK is a recognized authority on his subject, which he has here treated with admirable thoroughness, supplying references to various scattered papers of importance to the expert. The book is not for the general reader, but for .students who are concerned with the morpho- logical, biological, and physiological sides of the subject. Any one who reads it carefully cannot fail to be struck with the ingenuity and patience which modern investigators have brought to bear on fungi. The author deals, inter alia, with their means

of reproduction, their behaviour under theRontgeri and Becquerel rays, and interesting phenomena of parasitism (artificially induced) and luminosity. The last feature may account for some hitherto un- explained lights in wild places.

The style of the book is indifferent. We cannot help regretting the uncouth words which technical science has produced, and which are enough to make a cultivated reader stare and gasp. The volume has abundant illustrations concerning what is now generally called the "life-history" of representa- tive fungi, and concludes with a lucid account of modern classification. The practical side of the subject is exhibited in an important chapter on ' Legislation and Disease.' The author states that parasitic fungi are responsible for an annual loss which exceeds 150,000,000^. The potato blight is an old enemy of the cultivator ; maize smut is now common in Europe; and deleterious fungi pre- viously unknown to this country are being per- petually imported with seeds. Some of our readers may recall a recent order issued concerning the American gooseberry mildew, which has crossed the Atlantic, being introduced by some mysterious means to a new field of vigour. We think that it would be worth while to examine living plants at the port of entry for conspicuous diseases. Unfor- tunately, in many cases, e.g., in bulbs, the mycelium of the fungus is concealed from view.

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X. Y. Z. ("Snakes in Iceland or Ireland") See the quotation* at 8 S. i. 183.

W. B. HELMER. Forwarded.

ERRATUM. A nte, p. 47, col. 1, 1. 22 from foot for " Hervey " read Harvey.

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