Tis much there should be no Icon of Rallus or Ralla Aquatica I haue a draught of one & they are found among us
Feb xii 1668.
The vesicaria I sent is like that you mention [[see Note 91]] if not the same the com̄on fanago resembleth the husk of peas this of [Part crossed out] Barly when the flower is mouldred away. [See also [p. 89] infra, where Merrett aptly compares the latter to the flowers of the Grape Hyacinth.]
[BIBLIOTHECA BODLEIANA. MS. RAWLINSON D. cviii. SR THO BROWN TO DR. MERRETT.]
[Fol. 105.] Sr I craue your pardon for this delayed returne unto your last, whose courteus acceptance & worthy entertaynment [?] deserued blotted out] even a speedier reply. The small plant may fitly come in among the corallines upon the [diff crossed out] account of articulation Icthyorachius [[see Note 114]] I think will bee a good Diference [?]. whether you will subexpand [?] the word I referre it to yourself. certhia may best bee vertice aureo [word blotted out] or vertice aureo penicello vix imitando. morinellus marinus [[see Note 28]] I think rather then Aquaticus becuse it is seen most about the sea coast. Anas alis oculatis[120] rather then Anser for it is not altogether so longe as a wild duck. of porci solidipedes [[see Note 118]] there are still in this country in some places. and I am promised a pigge by a Gentleman that hath still a boar and sow of that kind. I tooke notice of them 26 years ago & having not lately [met with crossed out] met with any thought the race had been worne out butt I perceue it is not—they are whole footed in the forfeet & have [only crossed out] a seame only in the hinder. so they are animalia duplici nomine im̄unda. The wild swans or elk [[see Note 8]] in [very crossed out] lasting cold winters are most plentifull. It is larger then the River swan somewhat gray & of a lowder note & [differenced call crossed out] a recuruation of the Aspera arteria in the sternon as I noted in the margin long agoe in vulgar errors. the blicca marina [[see Note 74]] may well be named Harengiformis. [several words smeared out] I have the draught of that an Herring & a pilcher in one paper upon that account [Fol. 104 verso] I belieue [?] you were well informd of the cotta [see [p. 79]] & fulica of our Ralla Aquatica I enclose a draught.
[120] Possibly the Pintail, Dafila acuta (Linn.), see [p. 77.]
Of porci solidipedes there are diuers still in the country in some places I am promised a pigge by a friend who cherisheth that [new crossed out] breed. I tooke notice of them 26 yeares ago, & hauing not lately minded them thought they had been worn out butt I perceiue they are not—some are more plainly wholefooted then others & especially in the fore feet & in the rest there is no thorough fissure butt at most a superficiall seame, so they are [No. 3 cap 27 above] Quadrupedia duplici nomine im̄unda.
[This last paragraph seems to have been written by way of emendation of what appears above on the same subject. A photograph of a portion of the above letter will, by the courtesy of the Bodleian Librarian, be found as a frontispiece to this volume. Mr. Jenkinson, the Librarian of the University of Cambridge, and through him, Mr. G. F. Warner and Mr. Kenyon, of the Department of Manuscripts of the British Museum, have kindly interested themselves in the transcript of this letter, which was very difficult to decipher.]