I send you also [_several words smeared out_] a little elegant sea plant[114] which I pulled from a greater bush thereof which I haue resembling the back bone of a fish. Fucus marinus vertebratus pisciculi spinum referens Icthyorachius or what you thinck fitt.
[114] The little "Fucus," which he compares to the backbone of a fish, is probably _Halecium halecinum_, Lin., the "Herring-bone Coral" of Ellis, one of the most common Zoophytes on our coast. The "Abies," of which he suggests at p. 75 that this may be a "difference," is most likely _Sertularia abietina_, Lin., which this species resembles, but is less regularly pinnate; this may have led him to suppose that the "sprouts, wings, or leaves" may have fallen off. The _Fucus marinus_ is most likely _Fucus serratus_.
And though perhaps it bee not worth the taking notice of formicæ arenariæ marinæ or at least muscus formicarius marinus[115] yet I obserue great numbers by the seashoare and at yarmouth an open sandy coast, in a sunny day many large and winged ones may bee obserued upon & rising out of the [shoare _crossed out_] wet sands when the tide falls away.
[115] Swarms of Ants and Flies are no uncommon sight along the seashore at certain seasons of the year, and under the conditions which Browne describes. The Pagets ("Nat. Hist. of Great Yarmouth") mention that the fly, _Actora æstuum_, is common on the beach at high-water mark; but Mr. Verrall writes me that there are many others likely to be thus met with, such as _Orygma luctuosa_ and _Limosina zosteræ_, widely divergent species. In his "Journal of a Tour" into Derbyshire, Dr. Edward Browne, in crossing the sands of the Wash, mentions his satisfaction at the absence of the swarms of flies "with which all the fenne countrys are extremely pestered." _See also Note 110 supra._
Notonecton an insect that swimmeth on its back [_see Note 98_] & mentioned by Muffettus may be obserued with us.
I send you a white Reed chock[116] by name some kind of Junco or litle sort thereof I haue had another very white when fresh.
[116] It is impossible to form an idea as to what is here intended. I know of no _Juncus_ which would answer the description. Professor Newton reminds me__ that "Junco" was a common name for "a bird that inhabited reeds," and was loosely applied, some old authors taking it to be the Reed Thrush (_i.e._, the Great Reed-Warbler of these days), and others, the Reed-Sparrow or Bunting. But bearing in mind Browne's practice of referring to Jonston, it seems possible that the latter's _Junco_ may be here intended, and that, as the figure (pl. 53) shows, is a small Sandpiper, almost certainly the Dunlin. It is lettered "Junco Bellonii," but this he must have taken second-hand from Aldrovandus, since Belon never used the word "Junco" in this connexion, but called it "Schoeniclus" or "Alouette-de-mer"--terms rendered _Junco_ by Aldrovandus (iii. p. 487). Charleton took the same view in his "Onomasticon" (p. 108), published in 1668 (the year assigned as that of this letter), stating that it was so-called because "in juncis libenter degat," and identifying it with the _Alouette-de-mer_ of the French, and the English "Stint, or Sparr, or Perr." Gilbert White appears to have thus applied the term (_cf._ "Life" by Rashleigh Holt-White, i. pp. 186, 194, 250). In one place he says, "No. five is Ray's _Junco_ and the _Turdus arundinaceus_ of Linn." That "Junco" is the name of a bird is absolutely certain, but the context, "very white when fresh," does not seem to admit of explanation.