Nacar (Vol. v., p. 536.).—This word is not, I believe, a name appropriated to any one particular shell, but is the term used for the pearl-like substance which, in greater or smaller quantities, forms the lining of many shells. This substance, frequently called mother-of-pearl, exhibits in some species a beautiful play of colours, said to be due to a particular arrangement of the particles. The words naker and nacreous—with nacar Spanish, nacchera Italian, and nacre French—are given

in Webster's Dictionary, 2 vols. 4to., London 1832. The beard, or byssus, found in a few genera only, as Avicula, Mytilus, Pinna, and some others, is strong and silky, formed of numerous fibres produced from a gland near the foot of the soft animal, and employed by it to form an attachment to rocks or other objects. In Sicily this is sometimes made into gloves or stockings, more for curiosity than use. A byssus now before me measures six inches in length, is delicately soft and glossy, varying in colour from a rich dark brown to golden yellow, and is nearly as fine as the production of the silk-worm. Byssine is an old name for fine silk.

Wm. Yarrell.

Mistletoe (Vol. v., p. 534.).—Mr. Jesse, in his agreeable and instructive Scenes and Tales of Country Life, has devoted a chapter of eight pages to the mistletoe, giving a list of more than forty different species of trees and shrubs upon which this parasitic plant has been found, with many localities. In this list the white, gray, black, and Lombardy poplars are included. The mistletoe is there stated to have been found growing on the oak near Godalming, Surrey; at Penporthleuny, parish of Goitre, Monmouthshire; also on one near Usk, and another at St. Dials near Monmouth.

Wm. Yarrell.

The Number Seven (Vol. v., p. 532.).—The reply to the Query of Mr. Edwards is, that sheva, "seven," is used indefinitely for much or frequently in Ruth iv. 15., 1 Sam. ii. 5., Is. iv. 1., Jer. xv. 9., and Ezech. xxxix. 9. 12.; also in Prov. xxiv. 16., where, however, it may refer to seven witnesses or pledges, as in Gen. xxi. 28-30. Compare Herodotus, l. 3. c. 8. on the seven stones of the Arabs, with Homer's Iliad, l. 19. v. 243. on the seven tripods of Agamemnon. In Arabic and Hebrew the word seva means finished, completed, satiated, as in Ezech. xvi. 28, 29. and Hos. iv. 10. Seven, as an astronomical period, is known to most nations, and has been from times prior to history. Clemens Alex. (Stromat. lib. vi. p. 685., Paris, 1629) says the moon's phases are changed every seven days. Seleucus, the mathematician, he also says distinguished seven phases of that luminary. He notices the seven planets, seven angels, seven stars in the Pleiades and in the Great Bear, seven tones in music, seventh days in diseases, and gives an elegant elegy of Solon on the changes of every seven years in man's life. Clemens (lib. v. p. 600., Paris, 1629) has accumulated a variety of passages from ancient poets on the sacredness of the seventh day. Cicero, in the Somnium Scipionis, speaks of seven as "numerus rerum fere omnium nodus est." The following have treated on this mystic number: Fabii Paulini Hebdomades, sive septem de septenario libri; Omeisius de Numero septenario; Philo, de Mundi opificio; Macrobius, in Somnio Scipionis, l. 50. c. 6.; Gellius, Noct. Attic. l. 3. 10.; Censorinus de die Natali, c. 7.; and Eusebius, de Praep. Evang. l. 13. c. 12. The Hebrews commemorated their seventh day, a seventh week (Pentecost), the seventh month (commencing their civil year), the seventh year (for fallowing the land), and the seven times seventh year, or jubilee.

T. J. Buckton.

Bristol Road, Birmingham.

Gabriel Hounds (Vol. v., p. 534.).—The term occurs in Mr. Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, &c., vol. i. p. 388., with the following, explanation:—

"At Wednesbury, in Staffordshire, the colliers going to their pits early in the morning hear the noise of a pack of hounds in the air, to which they give the name of Gabriel's Hounds, though the more sober and judicious take them only to be wild geese making this noise in their flight.—Kennett, MS. Lansd. 1033."