_Mazer Wood_ (Vol. iii., pp. 239. 288.).--Your Querist asks, "Has the word Mazer any signification in itself?" It signifies _Maple_, being a corruptions of the Welsh word _Masarn_--the maple-tree. Probably, therefore, the use of the wood of the maple for bowls and drinking-cups prevailed in this country many centuries before the times of Spenser and Chaucer, in whose works they are mentioned. In Devonshire the black cherry-tree, which grows to a large size in that county, is called the mazer-tree. From this circumstance I conjecture that this wood has been used there in former times for bowls and drinking-cups as a substitute for maple. That the original word, _mazer_, should have been retained, is not to be wondered at. It is known that when the mazer bowl was made of silver, the old name was retained. The name of the maple-tree, in the Irish language, is _crann-mhalpais_; therefore the name of the Irish wooden drinking-cup _maedher_ cannot be derived from it. S. S. S. _Robertii Sphæria_ (Vol. iii., p. 398.).--Any of your readers who are curious in natural history will find, in the _Pharmaceutical Journal_, vol. ii. p. 591., a very full description of this extraordinary production, by Dr. Pereira. It is used as a medicine by the Chinese, by whom it is called the "summer-plant-winter-worm," and who attribute to it great cordial and restorative powers. The mode of employing it is curious. A duck is stuffed with five drachms of the insect fungus, and roasted by a slow fire; when done, the stuffing is taken out, the virtue of which has passed into the duck, which is to be eaten twice a day for eight or ten days. In the same work, vol. iv. p. 204., Dr. Pereira gives a further account of the moth on whose larva the fungus grows. E. N. W. Southwark, May 19. 1851. _Count Xavier de Maistre_ (Vol. iii., p. 227.).--I notice a slight inaccuracy in MR. SINGER'S reference to the author of _Voyage autour de ma Chambre_. He gives the name as "Jean Xavier Maitre;" whereas the correct designation is "Count Xavier de Maistre;" the _s_ in the patronymic being distinctly pronounced. Such trifling errors are only worth noticing because they appear in a work, one of the main features of which is the correctness of its references to authors and books. No doubt it is his extensive acquaintance with both that induced MR. SINGER, on this occasion, to trust to his memory, rather than turn to a biographical dictionary. HENRY H. BREEN. St. Lucia, April, 1851. _Amicus Plato_ (Vol. iii., p. 389.).--The origin of the sentiment, "Amicus Plato," &c., seems to be Aristot. Eth. Nicom. c. iv., where he disputes against Plato, and says: "Both being dear to me, it is right to prefer truth:" "Ἀμφοῖν φίλοιν ὄντοιν, ὅσιον προτιμᾶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν."