I spotted this on the menu of a Taylor Walker pub in central London — Mayfair, forsooth! — on Saturday. It raised quite a giggle amongst the assembled company.

Tart?
Mayfair, 9 May 2015
For some time I’ve been collecting fun things one can do which shouldn’t be either especially scary (so no bungee jumping) or outrageously expensive (so no world cruises). I now have a list of 50 which don’t quite form a bucket list for me, although it is interesting to see which ones I’ve done and which I haven’t. When I get round to it I shall put the list on my website, but meanwhile I thought this month we would have a selection, just as a taster.
Ten Fun Things To Do (which shouldn’t cost a fortune).
Scientific names can be wonderful for many reasons. [There is] a bird whose name has rhythm, a fish with a fascinating etymology, and a butterfly named for a pioneering (and amazing) woman in entomology. Today’s entry is Yi qi, a newly described dinosaur whose name is interesting in origin and sound, and also wonderfully and surprisingly short.
Actually, the dinosaur is pretty wonderful too. Yi qi was a feathered theropod dinosaur … about the size of a large pigeon. In addition to feathers, it has two really odd features: a bony rod extending from each wrist, and sheets of membranous soft tissue that are preserved near the arms [which seem to be] wing membranes …
… two things about Yi qi‘s name.
First: why “Yi qi” (pronounced “ee chee”)? Yi means “wing” and qi means “strange” in Mandarin … So Yi qi is the “strange winged” dinosaur …
Second: what’s up with just four letters? We’re used to scientific names being long … and difficult to spell or pronounce …
So is Yi qi the shortest scientific name? Well, for an animal no shorter name is possible, because according to the International Code for Zoological Nomenclature … genus and species names must have at least two letters each … As it turns out, though, the race for the shortest name is a tie***: the Great Evening Bat is Ia io, also just 4 letters (and the only scientific name I know without consonants). Yi qi and Ia io have a few things in common besides the succinctness of their names: both are from China, both are flying predators, and both fly on membranous stretched from their arms.
*** With honourable mention to the Australian sphecid wasp Aha ha, at 5 letters.
From Wonderful Scientific Names, Part 4: Yi qi
Oddest Title of the Year Award
Every year the Diagram Group offers a prize, via the column of the estimable Horace Bent in the Bookseller magazine, to the person in the trade who comes up with the oddest book title published that year. Many — but not all — of the winning titles are from professional, technical, academic and scientific publishers.
Since the prize was established in 1978, winners have included:
Other submissions over the years have included:
From: Ian Crofton, Brewer’s Cabinet of Curiosities
So there I was in Uxbridge a few weeks ago, sitting waiting people watching while for Noreen to emerge from M&S, when these three beauties happened along. They seemed to be about to enact Act 1, Scene 1 of Macbeth.

Yet another round of the curious and the mad from our local auction house’s latest catalogue. Strange things and eccentric juxtapositions.
Interesting items including two pewter miniature boxes, an ambrotype, a Stratton floral compact, a Trinity College membership card, two walking stick handles, one with a silver mount, a miniature mirror, a miniature Bible, old bone-handled miniature brushes, one stamped Savory & Moore, a dried seahorse, a watch movement, a seal, pencil sharpener, etc.
Presumably the seal was after the seahorse as a light snack?
An interesting lot including a pair of spurs, an old burr wood snuff box, a pocket watch, cigarette case, AA badge, a crop, cigarette holder in carrying case, whisky flask, watches, costume jewellery, etc., and a leather notepad with silver corners
18 lead soldier musicians and 10 First World War lead soldiers, tanks, etc., and two small iron shoe lasts
A box of decorative crucifixes
A portrait miniature of a lady in a white cap and high-waisted blue dress, English School, c.1815, a miniature watercolour portrait sketch of a lady, English School, c.1825, a small bronzed silhouette of a young man, English School, early 19th century, all in black papier-mache frames, and an old photograph of a gentleman in a folding leather travelling case
Very small man, or good escapologist, if he fits in a folding travelling case!
A good quantity of interesting items including a large fish jaw with sharp teeth, a swagger stick with silver plated knop, a decorative brass clock, an oak desk inkstand with brass inkwells, 3 vintage fountain pens including Parker, a heavy figurine of the obelisk, 19th Century wooden gavel, a small quantity of Mappin & Webb silver plated cutlery, goblet on stand and a Balinese wooden Fo dog
A quantity of vintage wooden shoe horns and cobblers lasts
A pair of spelter gilt decorated table lamps in an organic style plus a pair of similar column candlesticks in the form of classical maidens on three decorative feet
I wonder when classical maidens evolved out their third foot?
A quantity of interesting items including a vintage top hat by GA Dunn & Co London, a boater by the York Hat Co, a quantity of kids toys to include a large doll, clown puppet, guitars, model soldiers, a drum by Peak Frean and a quantity of ornaments to include Bisson, tigers and a toy bird in cage, pearly king jacket, quantity of linen, etc.
A green leather vanity case by Mappin & Webb … two 19th Century heavy adjustable lamp bases on hairy feet, a cased Imperial typewriter …
A quantity of old medical syringes, a vintage Halford car horn, brass ceiling mounts, a cased set of butter knives, wooden frame, humorous oriental recumbent man, a leather and glass hip flask with silver plated lid etc.
A decorative sword, a Sony carl Zeiss handycam, an old violin, a brass and glass ceiling light and a decorative moon wall plaque
Two incomplete sectional walking sticks, one in specimen woods, the other in horn, antique or vintage, and a plain incomplete stick, possibly a penis bone
An interesting collection of African objects, comprising three carved wood figures, two carved and painted masks, ceremonial knife, fly whisk, wooden jar, goat toe armbands, also a globular box and a pair of ram horns
A vintage rhinoceros foot worked as a plant pot, circa 1900, an old whale tooth and a section of mammoth tusk
Clearly essential for every home!
A good pair of Italian reliquary panels, each with glazed recesses of rolled paper work enclosing named relics within an elaborate cushion frame in carved giltwood and cut paper, together with a small needlework reliquary panel, all probably early 18th century, together with a later reliquary and a carved wood portrait panel of a pope
An old Australian Aborigine boomerang, one surface carved overall with a wave pattern and with possible seaweed motifs at the ends, 66.5cms, and a club, possibly for throwing, with reeded finish and roughened end, 70cms
A miscellaneous collections of exotic items, Middle and Far Eastern, Indian, Maori, etc., comprising seven carved wood masks, a wooden figure, perched stone bird, Indonesian puppet, and six other items
An old waist and wrist manacle in leather and steel
Exactly what you need for your dungeon.
6 old irons, one possibly Tudor period, others 19th century ready for the coal to be added
I’m not very convinced the Tudors had smoothing irons!
A quantity of new sinks including a large kitchen sink, shower tray and bathroom sink
I think my brain hurts!
I can identify with that …