ut lamprey has now either migrated, or been
exterminated by clearing the Ouse of stones[5], or by the excessive
cupidity of the fisherman or gastronomer.

T. J. BUCKTON.

Birmingham.

[Footnote 5: The Petromyzon by attaching itself to a stone forms a drill,
by which it furrows the shoal for the deposit of its spawn.]

{304}

_Sheer, and Shear Hulk_ (Vol. vii., p. 126.)--A _sheer_ hulk is a mere
hulk, simply the hull of a vessel unfurnished with masts and rigging. A
_shear_ hulk, on the contrary, is the hull of a vessel fitted with _shears_
(so termed from their resemblance to the blades of a pair of shears when
opened), for the purpose of masting and dismasting other vessels.

The use of the word _buckle_, in the signification of bend, is exceedingly
common both among seamen and builders. For its use among the former I can
vouch; and among the latter, see the evidence at the coroner's inquest on
the late melancholy and mysterious accident at the Crystal Palace.

W. PINKERTON.

Ham.

_Serpent with a Human Head_ (Vol. iv., p. 191.).--The following passage
from Gervasius Tilberiensis (_Otia Imperialia_, lib. i sect. 15.) shows
that the idea of the serpent which tempted Eve, having a woman's head, was
current in the time of Bede. I having not had an opportunity of finding
whereabouts in Bede's writings the passage quoted by Gervasius occurs:

"Nec erit omittendum, quod ait Beda, loquens de serpente qui Evam
seduxit: 'Elegit enim diabolus quoddam genus serpentis foemineum vultum
habentis, quia similes similibus applaudunt, et movit ad loquendum
linguam ejus."

C. W. G.

_"When the maggot bites"_ (Vol. viii., p 244.).--An ANON correspondent asks
for a note to explain the origin of the saying that thing done on the spur
of the moment is done "when the maggot bites." Perhaps the best explanation
is that afforded in the following passage from Swift's _Discourse on the
Mechanical Operation of the Spirit_:

"It is the opinion of choice _virtuosi_ that the brain is only a crowd
of little animals with teeth and claws extremely sharp, and which cling
together in the contexture we behold, like the picture of Hobbes's
Leviathan; or like bees in perpendicular swarm on a tree; or like a
carrion corrupted into vermin, still preserving the shape and figure of
the mother animal: that all invention is formed by the morsure of two
or more of these animals upon certain capillary nerve