Again, p. 173., J. M. may like to know farther, that the Duke of Wellington's clerical brother was entered on the boards of St. John's College, Cambridge, as Wesley, where the spelling must have been dictated either by himself, or by the person authorised to desire his admission. It continued to be spelt Wesley in the Cambridge annual calendars as late as 1808, but was altered in that of 1809 to Wellesley. The alteration was probably made by the desire of the family, and without communicating such desire to the registrary of the university. For it appears in the edition of _Graduati Cantabrigienses_, printed in 1823, as follows: "Wesley, Gerard Valerian, Coll. Joh. A. M. 1792. Comitis de Mornington, Fil. nat. 4^{tus}." In p. 173., C. M. INGLEBY may like to know, as a clue to the origin of his _apussee and_, that I was taught at school, sixty years ago, to call & _And per se_, whilst some would call it _And-per-se-and_. In the same page, the inquirer B. H. C. respecting the word _mammon_, may like to know that the history of that word has been given at some length in p. 1. to p. 68. of the Parker Society's edition of Tyndale's _Parable of the wicked Mammon_, where I have stated that it occurs in a form identical with the English in the Chaldee Targum of Onkelos on Exod. viii. 21., and in that of Jonathan on Judges, v. 9., as equivalent to riches; and that in the Syriac translation it occurs in a form identical with [Greek: Mamona], in Exod. xxi. 30., as a rendering for [Hebrew: K\holam\P\segol\R], the price of satisfaction. In B. H. C.'s citation from Barnes, _even_ seems a misprint for _ever_. The Jews did not again fall into actual idolatry after the Babylonish captivity; but we are told that in the sight of God covetousness is idolatry. HENRY WALTER. Hasilbury Bryan. * * * * * BARNACLES. (Vol. viii., p. 124.) A Querist quoting from Porta's _Natural Magic_ the vulgar error that "not only in Scotland, but in the river Thames, there is a kind of shell-fish which get out of their shells and grow to be ducks, or such like birds," asks, what could give rise to such an absurd belief? Your correspondent quotes from the English translation of the _Magia Naturalis_, A.D. 1658; but the tradition is very ancient, Porta the author having died in 1515 A.D. You still find an allusion in _Hudibras_ to those-- "Who from the most refin'd of saints, As naturally grow miscreants, As _barnacles_ turn Soland geese, In th' islands of the Orcades."