Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/419

 ii s. vii. MAY 24, 1913.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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long. The second figure of a creature " pedibus hirtis & colon's amethystini " might conceivably represent a Nereid worm, and the indication of the text is more definite.

Was not Scolopendra cetacea a monstrously large type of the same kind of creature, the latter name having simply the significance of cetus (any large sea animal) ? If so, it might be identified with the " creeper," Nereis or Alitta wrens, which, ranging in length from 1 ft. to 3 ft., is the largest of the European Nereid worms. Further, the colour of this gigantic worm is a deep purple, with iridescence varying from dark blue to greenish tints on the upper surface, while the under surface and sides are a pale iridescent flesh colour, sometimes tinged with blue. These colours agree exactly with Johnston's description quoted by your correspondent.

The ancient diagnosis, then, so far as its items are recognizable, points fairly clearly to the fact that Scolopendra cetacea was a Nereid worm, and, further, that it may have been the rare British, Norwegian, and N. American species, Nereis virens, Sars.

JAMES RITCHIE.

Edinburgh.

The marine scolopendra is a fabulous creature. In Holland's * Pliny ' it is thus described :

" These Scolopendres of the Sea, are like to those long earewigs of the land, which they call Centi- pedes, or many-feet. The maner of the fish is this, when she hath swallowed an hook, to cast up all her guts within, untill she hath discharged herselfe of the said hooke, and then she suppeth them in again."

Du Bartas copies all this. Miss Phipson ('Animal Lore of Shakespeare's Time') thinks Spenser's " Bright Scolopendraes arm'd with silver scales " refers to the sea- serpent. In the ' Pseudodoxia ' (III. xv.) Sir Thomas Browne has a note on the true scolopendra, or centipede, correcting the assertion that it has two heads.

C. C. B.

OLD-TIME CHILDREN'S BOOKS AND STORIES (11 S. vii. 310, 356, 374). A few odds and ends may be added to MR. HTJMPHREYS'S list. 'English Children in the Old Time,' by Miss Elizabeth Godfrey, contains a good deal of information (not always quite accu- rate, however). Mr. John Ashton's ' Eigh- teenth - Century Chapbooks ' and a kindred w T ork privately issued by Mr. Reader (now of Charing Cross Road), ' Banbury Chap- books ' (o.p.), cover one branch of this literature. Mr. E. V. Lucas has written

some valuable prefaces to Lamb's children's books, and also to the Centenary Edition of Ann and Jane Taylor's ' Original Poems,' and to two collections of old stories ' For- gotten Tales of Long Ago ' and ' Old - fash- ioned Tales.' Other extremely interesting prefaces are Col. Prideaux's (to * Mother Goose's Melody,' a reprint), Mr. Whitmore's (to an American reprint of ' Mother Goose's Melody'), Mr. Austin Dobson's (to Miss Edgeworth's tales : reprinted, with a paper on Kate Greenaway, inter alia, in ' De Libris '), Miss Palgrave's (to ' The Fair- child Family ' ), Mr. Andrew Lang's (to his edition of Perrault's 'Fairy Tales'), Mr. Saintsbury's (to Marmonters ' Moral Tales '), and Mr. Ja.cobs's (to ^Esop and to his own charming fairy-tale volumes). Mr. Salmon also wrote a small book on the subject ; but I am at present away from books of reference, and cannot give its title.

Fairy-tales, of course, have received end- less treatment as folk-lore. Nursery rimes have also been traced in the same way : the best works on them are those of Halliwell- Phillipps and Miss L. Eckenstein.

The Prefaces to Mr. Tuer's two books already mentioned contain references to many magazine articles.

One personal correction. I exhibited part of my collection at Olympia, as MR. HUM- PHREYS says. (Mr. Owen's wonderful array of coloured books of 1800-30 ought to be mentioned.) But I am not " head of the firm " of Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. That position is, and I hope long will be, held by my father, Mr. J. W. Darton.

The firms which specialized in children's books were Newbery (1740 onwards : after- wards Harris, and finally Griffith, Farran) ; Dean & Munday (about 1790 ; now Dean & Son : Mr. F. G. Green, head of that firm, is a diligent collector and writer on the subject) ; Darton & Harvey (1787 onwards) ; Tabart; Wallis ; Hatchards (for whose continuity MR. HUMPHREYS is sufficient evidence) ; Godwin ; Lackington. Of course the " adult " publishers also pub- lished children's books. Newbery was the pioneer : the activities of the rest all began about the end of the eighteenth century.

The lives of many writers for children have been written, and contain much information : the chief are Maria Edge- worth (many biographies), Ann Taylor (Mrs. Gilbert), Mrs. Sherwood, the Lambs, the Howitts, " Peter Parley " (the authentic Parley, Samuel Goodrich), Mrs. Cameron, and Mrs. Trimmer. F. J. HARVEY DARTON.

33, Cheyne Row, Chelsea, S.VV.