thrown open, and the lucky clodpole receives the tit-bit ast his recompence." Brand (1743-1806) relates it as a custom with the Devonshire people to go after supper into the orchard, with a large milk-pan full of cider, having roasted apples pressed into it. Out of this each person in the company takes what is called a clayen cup, that is an earthenware cup full of liquor, and standing under each of the more fruitful apple trees, passing by those that are not good bearers, he addresses it in the following words: "Health to thee, good apple tree, Well to bear, pocket-fulls, hat-fulls, And then drinking up part of the contents, he throws the rest, with the fragments of the roasted apples, at the tree. At each cup the company set up a shout." It is obvious that the toast-masters were not bound to the rigid observance of any particular formula; of the three versions given above, no two are alike, yet they are clearly differentiated forms of the same original. It may be inferred from the foregoing statements : 1st. That the custom was not confined to this district. It was observed in "certain parts of Devonshire." 2nd. That the formula was modified, by addition or otherwise, in different localities. "Tor Abbey Great Barn" is not mentioned by either Hone or Brand. 3rd. That the custom is probably more ancient than the common use of fire-arms. The latter are not mentioned by Brand. So far as I have been able to find, the ceremony is no longer observed near Torquay. THE "ASHEN FAGGOT." I was present on Christmas Eve, 1836, in the old Torwood Manor House,* Torquay, then occupied as a farm house by the late Mr. John Mudge, when the "ashen faggot" was prepared and burnt. It was "made" in the farm yard, and bound together with as many "binds" of withe as could be well put on it. When ready, it was, as orthodoxy required, drawn to the front door of the house by four oxen, though a single ox would have been fully sufficient for greater labour, and taken thence and placed on the blazing hearth. Cards and other amusements occupied the juniors of the very large party, *The old house has been torn down, and four modern villas now occupy the eminence it once crowned. whilst the seniors, "fast by the ingle bleezing finely," talked of "old times." All, however, were attentive to the fate of the "binds," and as each was observed to "give way" a demand for a gallon of cider was made on the farmer, who promptly supplied it. The consumption of cider was certainly large, but so was the party; and no one seemed the worse for his or her potations. At that time the custom was observed in all the principal farm houses of the district, but it appears to be now a thing of the past. THE "MAY-DOLLS." On the last day of April, May-day eve, the proprietors of all flower gardens in the Torquay district annually receive a succession of visits from a great number of young girls of the artizan and labouring class, who blandly solicit "some flowers for the May-doll, sir." This is usually complied with very readily, partly perhaps because flowers are commonly abundant then, and partly because, if not given, they might be stolen during the following night. Soon after nine o'clock on May-day morning, or on the day following, should the first of May fall on Sunday, as it did in 1870, each of the aforesaid girls, having in her hand a thin box about eighteen inches long and covered neatly with a white napkin, may be observed visiting every house in the town and neighbourhood, or boldly stopping on the Queen's highway the wayfarers she may chance to meet. Having secured a victim, she drops a hasty curtsey, and asks "Will you please to see a May-doll ?" Suiting the action to the question, she removes the napkin and displays a prettily dressed doll lying on a bed of gay flowers tastefully arranged. As soon as the beholder is satisfied with the show, and, what is not less important, the exhibitress is made happy by the receipt of one of the current coins of the realm, the parties separate; the latter to secure other sight-seers, and the former to encounter further visitors, and, perhaps, to reflect on the fact that paganism still lingers amongst us-for there can be no doubt that the Torquay May-dolls are a relic of the worship of Flora, which Christianity, though established in our island for so many centuries, has not utterly exterminated. P.S.-I shall have great pleasure in acting as Editor, if members of the Association will be so good as to send me descriptions of any "Relics of the Past" they may have observed or heard of in their respective districts. W. P. ON THE OCCURRENCE OF CALOSOMA BY J. BROOKING ROWE, F. L.S. (Read at Sidmouth, July, 1873.) I HAVE the pleasure of exhibiting a recently captured specimen of one of the most, if not the most, beautiful of our Coleoptera. Its claim to be a British insect is doubted, but I think it has a better right to be so reckoned than many an animal in our lists. The objectors are of opinion that all the individuals that have been met with in our country are stragglers from the Continent, borne hither by favourable breezes. Most of the specimens have, it is true, been taken in the neighbourhood of the coast, and I have no doubt have thus reached us; but I have as little doubt that eventually it will be found that it is a native insect, just as much as Carabus intricatus is, a statement formerly denied, or, at all events, regarded with suspicion, until several were found in this county. The insect is the Calosoma sycophanta of Fabricius, a carnivorous ground beetle, and one of the largest of the family. It is an abundant species in many localities on the Continent, inhabiting wooded districts. In the forests of Silesia it is found in great numbers, and renders immense service to the woodman in the destruction of the various insects that prey upon the pines, especially of certain lepidoptera, devouring, both in the larva and beetle states, the moths, as well as the caterpillars and pupæ. The insect is, however, not very particular in its choice of food; for I find recorded, in a recent number of a French entomological periodical,* that many were found upon the dead body of a man who had hanged himself in a forest near Rheims. All the entomologists who have referred to this species, Petites Nouvelles Entomologignes, June, 1872. from Stevens and Leach downwards, say that it has been observed in Devonshire. Mr. Wollaston mentions * that an unentomological friend of his was present at the capture on Lundy Island of three specimens, and that he had the refusal of them at threepence each! This being considered an exorbitant demand, the finder, in a fit of indignation, rather than lower his price, set them all at liberty. I can find no reference to recent captures until July 21st, 1862, when Mr. J. J. Reading (whose leaving Devonshire and abandonment of scientific pursuits all entomologists must deplore) saw, in a lane leading from the turnpike-road, near the Kingsbridge Road railway-station, glittering in the sunshine, the fragments which I now show, consisting of the right and left elytra and one of the hinder legs of this insect. The beetle had evidently been caught by a bird, which had eaten the softer parts, leaving the tough bits for the benefit of the entomologist, who concluded from the evidence thus afforded (contrary to his previous opinion) that the species was a truly indigenous one, and that the woods in the neighbourhood of the Devonshire moors would by and by prove to be habitats for the insect. The second fine specimen, at the bottom of the box, was taken, in August last, in a street in Plymouth, by a friend of mine, who observed it creeping up the wall of a house. It had been in trouble previously, as you observe, having lost one of its legs, and, curiously enough, the corresponding leg to that found among the fragments of the previous specimen. The insect when caught resented its capture by using its mandibles freely upon the fingers of its captor, causing a certain amount of pain. The great beauty of the beetle and its rarity in this country have induced me to trouble you with these remarks, and to exhibit the specimens to the members at this meeting of the Association. * Zoologist, vol. iii. 1845, 1st series, p. 898. RESEARCHES INTO SOME ANTIENT TUMULI ON DARTMOOR. BY C. SPENCE BATE, F.R.S., ETC. (Read at Sidmouth, July, 1873.) IN continuation of the explorations which I reported in 1872 to this Society that I was carrying out into the tumuli on Dartmoor, I have to state that during the early part of this summer, in company with Mr. Brooking Rowe, and Mr. Tucker, the lord of the manor, on whose property the barrow is situated, I opened the tumulus mentioned in my Memoir of last year, under the name of Single-barrow. Single-barrow (Plate, fig. 1) is situated about one furlong due north of Two-barrows: it is like them in general character, but not so high, and larger in circumference, circumstances which may have arisen from the settlement of the general mass of material being more rapid and extended. It is by measurement about three feet and six inches in height near the middle, and is about sixty-six feet in diameter north and south, as well as east and west, and forms a very perfect circle; but the substance of the barrow has so gradually thinned away at the margin of the mound, that it is not in all places quite easy to define the exact limit. This tumulus, like the preceding, we opened on the south and east side, and in the course of two days removed about one quarter part of the whole. Soon after commencing the work, the men reached a mass of irregular stones; these seemed to correspond with those in the previous mound which formed the circle within the margin. In this mound the stones were larger in size, and formed a more important wall of circumference, which both in this and in the previously opened barrow I presume corresponds with the original circumference of the mound. All the earth on the outer side of this low circular enclosure has resulted from depression of the soft material with which the mound was built. On the south |