104 The Scottish Naturalist. 



cat in the first instance, with the persistent concealment after- 

 wards, shows mental perversion, whether of instinct or of reason ; 

 in either case Insanity." 



There is, however, no proof here of anything more than the 

 alarm, perhaps suspiciousness, so commonly exhibited by cats 

 when removed to strange quarters, their old associations of 

 locality having been suddenly and ruthlessly severed or broken 

 up. 



On the subject of Insanity in the lower animals, Dr. Edwards 

 Crisp, of London, who has for a long series of years distinguished 

 himself by his attention to, and knowledge of, the diseases of 

 domestic and menagerie animals, wrote me as follows in June, 

 1 87 1 : — "As regards the question respecting the mental aberra- 

 tion of the lower animals, if such a term be allowable, I can 

 give you but little information, although the subject is one that 

 I have often thought about; but up to the present time I have 

 been unable to meet with a tangible example. Our domestic 

 animals, as you know, exhibit peculiarities of temper, and some 

 are unusually savage and unruly; and so with some foreign 

 animals in confinement ; but whether this is due to an abnormal 

 condition of brain it is difficult to say. 



" ' Chunie,' the great Elephant at Exeter Change, was said to 

 be mad; but then he had a decayed tooth that caused the excite- 

 ment — so it was inferred ; and I have known other examples 

 of a similar kind. I am sorry that my information is so 

 meagre." 



Professor Cobbold, also of London, our leading — and it may 

 indeed be said, our only — British authority on Entozoa in man 

 and other animals as a cause of disease, informed me (in a 

 letter of December 11, 1872) that, "It is not likely that Veteri- 

 narians have recorded as such any case of genuine Lunacy in 

 animals from Entozoa : nevertheless it is well known that these 

 parasites frequently give rise to severe cerebral disturbance. It 

 is probable that some of their recorded cases might be with 

 justice described as maniacal." 



(To be continued.) 



Carabus nitens — I have to notice, on 10th March, the capture of the 

 rare beetle Carabus nitens. At the same place this, beetle was first 

 discovered in Kincardineshire by myself about the year 1847 — that is 

 twenty-eight years ago.— J AMES Taylor, Clashfarquhar, Aberdeen, 17th 

 April, 1875. 



