[We avail ourselves of the opportunity afforded by Sir Walter Trevelyan's communication to add from Vulpius (Handwörterbuch der Mythologie) the following additional references to representations and descriptions of this celebrated horn—which is there said (p. 184.) to have been found in 1639:—Schneider, Saxon. Vetust. p. 314.; Winkelmann's Oldenburgische Chronik. s. 59.; S. Meyer, Vom Oldenburgischen Wunderhorne, Bremen, 1757.]
Curious Custom.—In 1833 the late Record Commissioners issued Circular Questions to the Municipal Corporations of England and Wales, requesting various information; among such questions was the following:—"Do any remarkable customs prevail, or have any remarkable customs prevailed within memory, in relation to the ceremonies accompanying the choice of corporate officers, annual processions, feasts, &c., not noticed in the printed histories or accounts of your borough? Describe them, if there be such."
To this question the borough of Chippenham, Wilts, replied as follows:—"The corporation dine together twice a-year, and pay for it themselves!" (Report of Record Commissioners, 1837, p. 442.)
J.E.
Kite (French, "Cerf-volant").—Some years ago, when reading Dr. Paris' popular work called Philosophy in Sport made Science in Earnest, 5th edition, London, J. Murray, 1842, I observed that the author could not explain the meaning of the French term "cerf-volant," applied to the toy so well known among boys in England as a "kite," and in Scotland as a "dragon." The following passages will solve this mystery:
"Cerf-volant. Scarabæus lucanus. Sorte d'insecte volant qui porte des cornes dentelées, comme celles du cerf.
"Cerf-volant. Ludicra scarabei lucani effigies. On donne ce nom à une sorte de joüet d'enfans qui est composé de quelques bâtons croisés sur lesquels on étend du papier, et exposant cette petite machine à l'air, le moindre vent la fait voler. On la retient et on la tire comme l'on veut, par le moyen d'une longue corde qui y est attachée."—See Dictionnaire de la Langue Françoise, de Pierre Richelet; à Amsterdam, 1732.
In Kirby and Spence's Entomology, vol. ii. p. 224., they mention "the terrific and protended jaws of the stag-beetle of Europe, the Lucanus Cervus of Linnæus."
The "toothed horns" alluded to by Richelet are represented by the pieces of stiff paper fastened at intervals, and at right angles, to the string-tail of the toy kite, or dragon, so much delighted in by boys at certain seasons of the year in England and Scotland.
G.F.G.
Edinburgh.