28 AUGUST 1909, Page 16

[TO TIER EDITOR 07 THE "ErsoziTos.") reference to "W. L.

M's" query in your last issue, is it not possible that " Turn-again " is a corruption of

"Mar/agora." P I know instances of similar oorruption in our own garden. Our gardener, a genuine countryman, always speaks of the scarlet lychnis as "sun's likeness," of laburnum as "burning tree," and of the red Norfolk biffins as "beef apples." In each case the sound of the botanical term has been retained, but adapted to English words expressing some characteristic of the plant. The turned-back perianth of the Martagon lily might suggest the "Turn-again," and" gentle- men" be merely a rough reduplication of the sound.—I am,

Sir, &o., AGNZEi M. R. KENNY. Westbye, West Road, Cambridge.