[From Letters from IoM 1846]

APPENDIX.

THE most remarkable circumstance in the natural history of the herring, is its annual migration from the Arctic circle towards the South, as it is presumed, for the purpose of depositing its spawn, after which it returns to its winter habitation, where its food is more plentiful.

The term " Herring" is derived from the German word "Herr," an army; and if reference be made to the habits of the fish, no name could probably have been found more apposite, for the number in which they make their appearance is beyond calculation, and their motions are so regular, that the conclusion is forced upon the most thoughtless they are directed in their course by a great and unerring Guide. " There may be seen
distinct columns," says Pennant, " of five or six miles in length, and three or four in breadth, driving the water before them with a kind of rippling. Sometimes they sink for ten or twelve minutes, then rise again to the surface, and in bright weather reflect a variety of splendid colours. * * * The herrings leave their winter quarters in the spring, and make their appearance off the Shetland Isles in April and May; but these are merely the vanguard of the immense army, which extends its myriads along the same coasts in June, diffusing happiness and wealth upon the bleak provinces of the north. Their presence is known by the number of sea-birds which follow them in their course, and prey upon them in their journey towards the south. Having reached the Shetlands, the shoal divides into two parts ; the one coasting along the eastern, and the other along the western shores of Great Britain, filling every inlet in their passage. Those which take the eastern coast proceed through the British Channel, and then disappear; while the others which have voyaged along the western shores, visit the Hebrides, pass on to the North of Ireland, where a second division takes place, and a part going round to the west are soon lost in the Atlantic, whilst the other, continuing its course through the North Channel into the Irish Sea, affords employment to the fishermen of the neighbouring counties."

GLASGOW CONSTITUTIONAL.

B.

My observations on the structure and habits of the specimen of the Tailless Cat, in my possession, leave little doubt on my mind of its being a mule, or crossed between the female cat and buck rabbit. In August, 1837, 1 pro cured a kitten, direct from the island. Both in its appearance and habits it differs much from the common house cat. The head is smaller in proportion, and the body is short. A fud or brush like that of a rabbit, about an inch in length, extending from the lower vertebræ, is the only indication it has of a tail. The hind legs are considerably longer than those of the common cat, and in comparison with the fore legs bear a marked similarity, in proportion, to those of the rabbit. Like this animal, too, when about to fight, it springs from the ground, and strikes with its fore and hind feet at the same time. The common cat strikes only with its fore-paws, standing on its hind legs. The tailless cat can be carried by the ears, apparently without pain. My little oddity was six months old before it saw a mouse, but when a dead one was exhibited, it instantly displayed all the characteristics of a practised mouser. It has never had any offspring, although the common cat propagates its species when about twelve months old. On this subject, (although I have made many in quiries,) I have not been able to establish a single instance in which a female rumpy, or tailless cat, was known to produce young.

TRAIN.

C.

" Every part of Bishop Wilson's life," says one of his biographers, " affords a display of the most genuine charity and benevolence. Having the precepts of his Divine Master constantly before him, with the lives and writings of the Apostles and primitive Christian Fathers, he from them laid down his plan of life, and steadily copied their example. He was well acquainted with the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages. He had studied and practised physic with success; for some time after he settled there, he was the only physician in. the Isle of Man; keeping a shop of drugs for general use, which he distributed, as well as his advice, gratis. He instructed young candidates for orders, and maintained them in his own house, under his own immediate care, nor did he ordain them until he found, on a short and careful examination, that they were perfectly qualified. He was an able mathematician-an excellent botanist. He was so charitable, that it was not unaptly observed by a gentleman of the island, who knew him well, that ' he kept beggars from everybody's door but his own.' He always kept an open hospitable table, covered with the produce of his own demesnes, in a plentiful, not extravagant manner. As the friendly host, he was the most entertaining and agreeable, as well as instructive, of men. He was the divine, the scholar, and the gentleman. Four times in every year he made a general visitation, inquiring into the behaviour and conduct of all the parishioners, and exhorting them to the practice of religion and virtue. He never interfered in temporal or political concerns, unless when called upon at the request of the inhabitants to serve them on particular occasions. The charities he bestowed himself, and the contributions he obtained of others, are proofs of his munificence and the benevolence of his disposition."

D.

" St. Maughold, (by some writers called Ma~field,) the sixth bishop of Man, was an Irish prince, who had been chief of a band of kerris, or islemen, over whom he exercised an authority as absolute as ' the Old Man of the Mountain,' but having incautiously descended too far into the low country, in search of plunder, he was taken prisoner. Having been converted and baptized by St. Patrick, he re solved now to avoid temptation by abandoning the world. Without having any particular place in view wherein to fix his retreat, he embarked in a wicker boat, which drifted before the north wind towards the Isle of Man, where he was cast ashore at the headland still known by his name. Being released from his perilous situation, he retired into a cave in the mountains, where, by the austerity of his manners, (having the bare ground for his bed, and a stone for his pillow, and partaking only of roots and water,) he became so eminent for piety, that he was, with the unanimous consent of the Manks people, elected bishop, A.D. 498, and St. Bridget, one of the tutelary saints of Ireland, received the veil from his hand, when she was only fourteen years of age."-ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN.

LIST OF THE BISHOPS OF MAN, FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE SEE TO THE PRESENT TIME.

Sodor and Man never lost the regular succession of its bishops," Being the only diocese in the British church of which that can be said."*

.............................YEAR
Amphibalus............... 360
St. Patrick ............... 444
St. Germain............... 447
Corindicus ............... -
Romulus .................. -
St. Maughold ............ 498
St. Conan .................. 648
St. Contentus ............ -
St. Baldus.................. -
St. Malthus ............... -
Torkins .................. 889
Rostwen .................. -
William .................. -
Anmend M`Olay......... 1093
St. Brandon ............... 1098
Wimund .................. 1113
John............ ..(about) 1130
Heldebert ...... (about) 1151
Gamaliel .........(about) 1180
Reginald ..................,. -
Christian Archadiensis -
Michael ................... 1203
Nicholas . ................ 1203
Reginald .................. 1217
John ........................ 1226
Simon ..................... 1226
Laurence .................. 1249
Stephen .................. 1253
Richard .................. 1257
Mark ..................... 1270
Allan ..................... 1305
Gilbert M'Clellan ...... 1321
Bernard de Linton ...... 1324
Thomas .................. 1334
William Russel ......... 1348
John Dunkan ............ 1314
Robert Waldby ......... 1381
John Sprotton ............ 1396
Richard Puller ......... 1429
John Grene ............... 1452
Thomas Burton ......... 1458
Richard .................. 1483
Hunn Husketh............ 1487
John ........................ 1532
Thomas Stanley ......... 1542
Robert Farrier... ........ 1555
Henry Mann ............ 1556
Thos. Stanley (restored) 1556
John Salisbury ......... 1570
John Merrick ............ 1577
George Lloyd ............ 1600
William Foster ......... 1605
John Phillips ............ 1635
Richard Parr ............ 1637
Samuel Rutter............ 1661
Isaac Barrow ..........., 1663
Henry Bridgeman ...... 1671
John Lake ............... 1682
Baptist Levinge ......... 1684
Thomas Wilson ......... 1697
Mark Hildesley ......... 1755
Dr. Richmond............ 1773
George Mason.........,., 1780
Claudius Cregan ........, 1784
George Murray ......... 1814
William Ward............ 1827
James Bowstead......... 1828
Henry Pepys .........,.. 1840
Thomas Vowler Short... 1841
WalterAugustus Shirley, 1846

* Ward's Ancient Records, p. 89.

T. C. Savill, Printer, 4, Chandos-street. Covent-garden.