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NOTES AND QUERIES, [ii s. viu. AUG. 9, 1913.

SAND - PICTURES (11 S. viii. 69). MB. HTJTCHINSON will find an interesting account of sand - paintings in ' Knight's Penny Cyclopaedia/ under the article ' Zobel, Benjamin.'

In this it is stated that Zobel was born at Memmingen in 1762, came to London in 1783. and became acquainted with Mor- land and with Schweickhardt, " table-deco- rator " to King George III., to which office Zobel succeeded. A silver plateau was placed upon the dining - table, and the decorator put figures of flowers, birds, and animals made of coloured sand on it ; these were renewed every day. The idea occurred to Zobel that he could possibly make permanent figures, which he accom- plished by means of a paste, the chief in- gredients of which were gum arabic and spirits of wine. He called this method of painting marmo-tinto. The Duke of York possessed the largest collection of these sand paintings, which were sold at Oatlands with his other pictures. I do not know the date of the sale, but the Duke died in 1827. Other owners of sand-paintings were the Duke of Northumberland and Sir Willoughby Gordon.

I have three 'specimens, which formerly belonged to my grandfather, Mr. Samue] Sherrington, of Great Yarmouth. The subjects are dray horses (28 in. by 20 in.) and a lion and a tiger (a pair, 12 in. by 10 in.). STEPHEN J. ALDRICH.

New South gate.

My recollection of talks some years ago with a member of the Zobell (I think the name was spelt thus) family is that the sane artist was father of the engraver, who was father or grandfather of my informant.

WALTER JERROLD.

Hampton-on-Thames.

SCOTT: STANHOPE (11 S. vii. 409). have been informed by an eminent authority "that he has no doubt that the Stanhope alluded to was the Hon. Col. James Stan hope, third son of Charles, third Earl Stan hope."

According to Lodge's * Peerage,' Col Stanhope Was born 1788, and died 6 March 1825. F. C. WHITE.

' GREAT HISTORICAL PICTURE OF THE SIEGE OF ACRE ' (11 S. vii. 227, 292). Thi was Porter's first large picture. Joh Britton, who does not mention the date o its exhibition, tells us that he painted th whole in six weeks, and that a series of larg etchings was made of it by Schiavonetti. MARGARET LAVINGTON.

THE CROOKED BILLET" (11 S. viii. 50).- I am indebted to MR. T. W. HUCK for the ollowing information :

" In Pigot & Co.'s ' National, London, and 'rovincial Directory for 1832-3-4. ' there are- ix Crooked Billets mentioned, one of which is robably the one required. In 1832 it was ccupied by Wm. Garrett, and is situated at, King Street, Tower Hill (near the Mint). In, 865 a Crooked Billet Tavern, which also still xists, is recorded at 10, Crooked Lane, leading, rom King William Street to Miles Lane." n here are also Crooked Billets at 43, King )avid Lane, E. ; 93, Hoxton Street, N. ; and J2, St. George Street, E. Probably Lar- vood's ' History of Signboards ' would give ,ome information, but I have not got it. ! think there has been a note in ' N. & Q. T n this subject. J. ARDAGH.

["The Crooked Billet," as a sign for inns, was- discussed at 10 iS. ix. 190, 452; x. 38, 77.]

" SCOLOPENDRA CETACEA " (11 S. vii. 347,

410, 517,). I am extremely beholden to- RITCHIE for his suggestion that the Scolopendra cetacea of the ancients is well dentifiable with some Nereid worm. In- deed; a certain species of Nereidians, some 6 ft. long, and inhabiting coral reefs near this town, goes under the name Umi- mukade (lit. sea -centipede). Apparently it is not very rare, and is frequently taken together with the corals destined to the manufacture of quicklime ; but as it soon decays then, I could never meet one in its natural state. Doubtless in such huge Nereid worms originated the old Japanese narratives of monstrous .centipedes that attacked dragons in a sea or lake (see my letters on ' The Centipede -Whale ' in Nature, 18978), as well as the Chinese record of a ponderous centipede stranded on the seashore of Kwang-chau in .A.D. 745, which is said to have given from its legs only altogether 120 kin ( = 1591b.) of edible flesh. Com- pare with this an account of the palolo, a marine Nereid esteemed a great delicacy in Samoa, in George Brown's ' Melanesians and Polynesians,' 1910, p. 135.

From Bostock and Riley's ' The Natural History of Pliny ' (note 30, at p. 452, vol. ii., in "Bonn's Classical Library") I see Cuvier had already hit on the identity of the marine scolopendrae with the Nereid worms, though from points somewhat different from DR. RITCHIE'S. There we read :

" The animal, Cuvier says, which is here men- tioned as the scolopendra, is in reality of the class of worms that have red blood, or annelids, such, for instance, as the Nereides of larger size. These, having on the sides tentacles which bear a strong resemblance to feet, and sharp jaws, might, he