OCCASIONAL NOTES. 18 



a discharge of limpid water, which is generally supposed, but incorrectly^ 

 to be the urine, is by no means deleterious, and in my opinion is only 

 used as an engine of defence, just as a cat will scratch, or a dog bite, 

 on a very slight provocation. 



It casts its skin as snakes and caterpillars do — it pulls oflP its old coat, 

 which splits down the back and belly when it is too small, with the 

 assistance of its arms and mouth; and Mr. Bell, in his "British Reptilia," 

 says, rolls it up in a ball and swallows it. In reference to this statement, 

 I must confess that I have never observed them guilty of such acts of 

 cannibalism, as I have found their skins floating on the water, or on the 

 cellar floor, in which I have had them confined for observation, and in 

 the words of the poet must now conclude; — 



-"The slippery toad 



Casts off his vesture in the thorny sliado." 



OCCASIONAL NOTES. 



HY MR. M. WESTCOTT. 



The Adventures of a Cat and Kitten. — A few weeks since, a Cat and 

 Kitten, kept in the Wells Brush Factory, were missed for two days. 

 The old Cat being a valuable one, every inquiry was made about her 

 during the period, without success, and she was given up as lost. How- 

 ever, on the return of Mr Parsons' waggoner from Bridport, where he 

 had been with a load of brushes, to the no small surprise of the inquirers 

 of Puss and Kitten, he turned them both out of a bag iu which he 

 had them confined. They all were anxious to know how he came by the 

 *'lost goods," and put a dozen qnestions to him at once about them. But 

 the only explanation he could give, was that as he was going on to Brid- 

 port, "he kept on hearing the mewing of cats, but 't was a mystery where 

 it came from." But when he unloaded the brushes, the mystery of the 

 mewing was unravelled, for lo and behold, there were madam Puss and 

 her little Spitfire, rolled up in one corner of the waggon, as comfortable 

 as could be, and shewing no signs of "quitting the premises." The wag- 

 goner knew the cats, but, of course, it was a puzzle to him to know how 

 they came there. However, there they were; and to make sure of their 

 being "returned in good condition," he gave them some moat, and tied 

 them up in the bag as '^per delivery." 



The only way to account for the cats being in the waggon is, that after 

 it was loaded, (not before, as they would sure to be seen,) careful Puss 

 not liking the site of her little one's bed, conveying her to the vehicle, 

 deeming it a safer nursery, and not so subject to the "rude stare" of 

 passers by. And to make Kit contented in her new quarters, she lay 



