Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/539

 12 8. ii. DEC. so, i9i6.] -NOTES AND QUERIES.

53$

DE I.A PORTE FAMILY (12 S. ii. 448). I am very glad to answer RENIRA'S query,, and subjoin the genealogical details she asks for. The Dues Mazarin were as written never de Mazarin, as most people write them. Forneron (' La Duchesse de Portsmouth, T " p. 97) says: " Quand le commis du Chiffre met la particule, le ministre (Cardinal Mazarin) a soin de la biffer."

Armand Charles de la Porte, Due de la Meilleraye=rHortense Mancini, niece of Cardinal Mazarin. and Rethel-Mazarin et Mayence.

d) (2)

~T

I

1

Dec., 1685, Char-=pPaul Jules, = June 14, 1731,

Marie Charlotte,

Marie Anne, Marie Olympe,

lotte Felicite"

Due, &c. Francoise

b. March 28, 1662,

Abbess du

b. 1665.

Armando de

de Mailly,

d. May 13. 1729.

Lys.

=Sept. 30, 1681,

Durfort, dau. of

widow of

= Armand Jean

b. 1663,

Louis Christophe-

Jacques Henri,

Louis

de Wignerot du

d. 1720.

Gigault,

Due de Duras, Mareehal de

Phelypeaux, Marquis de la

Plessis, Marquis de Richelieu

Marquis de Bellefonds et de la

France,

Vrilliere.

(an interesting

Baillaye,

by Marguerite

marriage connect-

Governor of the

Felicite de Levis-

ing the tw > great

Chateau de

Ventadour.

Cardinals

Vincennes and

She died at Paris,

Richelieu and

" Premier iScuyer de-

Dec. 27, 1730,

Mazarin).

Mme. la Dauphine.'"

aged 58.

Guy Paul Jules^May 5, 1717, Louise Due, &c. Francoise de

Rohan, dau. of Hercule Meriade, Due de Rohan, Prince de Soubise, by Anne Genevidve

de Levis- Ventadour.

Charlotte=rJune 1, 1733, Emmanuel

Antoinette, only child and heir.

Felicite, Due de Duras et de Durfort, her cousin.

SNAKES AND Music (12 S. ii. 470). When in Queensland while my cousin was playing the piano in the drawing-room, opening out on to the veranda, I saw a snake glide in, and it at once placed itself in an erect posi- tion behind her chair. We allowed it to remain so for some minutes before dis- patching it. It wore a sleepy expression, but as if enjoying the music.

Upon another occasion, in the Bush, I had been playing the harmonium for some little time, and on my moving away from the instrument, a snake about 4 feet long emerged from under the pedals.

E. C. WlENHOLT. 10 Selborne Road, Hove, Brighton.

A few years, ago a friend of mine whd was in New Zealand went to see some of the curious native lizards of the country. Whether these creatures are now considered

Henri Jules Armande Felicite, An infant dau-

Mazarin, Due b. Sept. 3, 1691. who died

de Mayenne, = April, 1709, Louis de without bein^

b. March 12, Mailly, Marquis de Nesles, named,

1703, by whom she was mother Dec. 23, 1699,

d. June 28, of the famous four sisters though aged 1715. who were all mistresses of 18 months !

Louis XV. :

1. Louise Julie, Comtesse de Mailly ;

2. Marie Anne, Duchesse de Chateauroux ;

3. Pauline Felicite, Comtesse de Vintimille ; and:

4. The Duchesse de Lauragais. .

Their mother had been the mistress of the- minister Louis Henri, Due de Bourbon, by whonv she had Henriette de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Verneuil, Comtesse de Laguiche.

GERY MILNER-GIBSON-CULLTJM, F.S.A.

to be true lizards I am not certain. Their- structure is in some respects very archaic j yet notwithstanding the out-of-date type of their organization, they are sensitive to- music. The people who owned the speci- mens seen by my friend explained that they would not leave their hiding-place unless they were attracted by a tune. One of the visitors who had come to examine then* sang, and the animals emerged from their- lair. L. D.

The Rev. G. C. Bateman in ' The Vivarium* says :

" I think the general belief that snakes can be- charmed by music should be added to the list of fallacies about thorn. Snakes have no exposed ears, and, seemingly, their powers <>f hearing, like their powers of sight, are very limited. When a piccolo was played softly and shrilly before a case eontainintc snakes, neither the music nor the- noise made any impression upon them as far as I could see.