I stake what little honour and credit I have hitherto gained with the public, on the correctness of it.
Should the reader believe me on my word, and then compare my account of the cayman with that which Swainson wrote for Lardner, he must evidently come to the following conclusion, viz.—that Swainson, when he wrote his account of this reptile, was either totally unacquainted with its habits and economy, or that he wilfully perverted them, and made out the cayman to be a slow-paced and even timid animal, in order to be revenged on me, who had described it as swift, and one of extraordinary ferocity: for, be it known, that in 1837, I found myself under the necessity of writing to Swainson, a very pungent ornithological letter, which was printed. He never answered this letter, and I thought that I had done with him altogether, till in 1839, whilst I was in Italy, out came Lardner's volume on Fishes, containing the sweeping extract which I have transcribed at the head of this paper. Swainson was then about to take his final departure to New Zealand.
Steam will soon convey to him a copy of this. I call upon him to contradict the statements which it contains,—or to acknowledge the truth and the propriety of them.Charles Waterton.
Walton Hall, March 4, 1843.
Enquiry respecting the admission of Critical Papers into 'The Zoologist'. I am anxious to know whether, in 'The Zoologist,' you intend to admit communications of a general critical nature, on arrangements, natural systems, &c, which your correspondent thinks would materially advance the increasing importance of your periodical.—Henry Walter Bates; Queen St., Leicester, March 1, 1843.
[We shall be obliged for the opinions of our readers on this subject: we have no wish to gratify, in any branch of our editorial labours, beyond the very reasonable one of pleasing them.—Ed.]
Note on the capture of Vanessa Antiopa near Truro. Between the 1st and 4th of June, 1832, I took a weather-beaten specimen of Vanessa Antiopa in the woods of Tregethnan, the seat of the Earl of Falmouth, near Truro; but from the clay-coloured borders of the wings, and the extremely shattered state of the insect, I strongly suspect it to have been a French specimen, driven by the wind across the channel. I have been informed that in the Pyrenees the species is double-
