Many solvers left out the “An” in the heading. In a way it was only a trifling error, but as it could only be attributed to carelessness, it did not commend itself to our sympathy. It was less wonderful that the unwonted exercise of the hen in the first title was not correctly interpreted by all. Let us say at once that the excited fowl was not “drowning” nor “in danger of drowning;” the water was too shallow. “When in water” was not quite explicit enough either as a title or as an interpretation of the picture. The hen was in a bath, and therefore presumably _bathing_. In the first line we often found “big” and “large” instead of _great_. It is more customary to speak of big and great waves than of large waves, and we gave slight preference to the former readings. In the title of the second puzzle a few solvers failed to notice the s and wrote “An earthquake.” It was a pity. Likewise in the first line the s was sometimes missing, and more often the apostrophe. But it was in the fourth line that the real trouble was found. Was the h _under_ the w, or was it _inside_ or was it _outside_? Opinions widely differed, but the majority voted it to be _beneath_, appreciating the sense of the advice in spite of poetic obscurity of expression. While we were wrestling with the point a learned professor came into our room. We read the lines to him, and asked what impression they conveyed to his mind. Without an instant’s hesitation he threw open the door and stood beneath the lintel, and we returned to our work with much comfort and increased admiration for learned professors. The advice may seem to be strange to those unacquainted with earthquakes and their ways, but it is based upon wide experience. However great the “tumult,” the framework of the doorway generally affords ample protection. In the same line “whatere” was sometimes erroneously substituted for _whate’er_. Here we must call attention to the fact that whatever is one word, and that the contraction is one word also. In very many solutions _tho’_ appeared in place of “though.” On this point one competitor very clearly puts the correct ruling. He writes—“‘Tho’’ for ‘though’ phonetically (as ‘ma’ for ‘may’ in line following). ‘Tho’’ is not admissible, nor any shortenings by an apostrophe of the spelling of a word where, abbreviated or unabbreviated, the pronunciation remains the same.” In writing, these abbreviations are sometimes used, but they indicate a lack of refinement in style, and are much to be deprecated. It only remains for us to say that absolute perfection was attained by the first prize-winners, and by no one else. As to the mention lists, those solvers who took the trouble to indent the lines of the first verse, as in the published solution, will find their names in a higher class than those who did not. The rhyming lines of the second puzzle run in pairs, hence no grouping by indentation was necessary.