MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 357 



mentioned by them under this head. The mode 

 j adopted by cats of cleaning themselves with their 

 paws, is, indeed, not a little similar to that of the 

 house-fly {Musca domestica)^ which, while it is bask- 

 ing in a window and enjoying the heat of the sun, 

 may be frequently seen not only brushing its feet 

 upon one another to rub ofi" the dust, but equally 

 assiduous in cleaning its eyes, head, and corslet with 

 its fore-legs, while it brushes its wings with its hind- 

 legs.* At the time of writing this, March 1830, 

 we have just witnessed a similar process in a water- 

 measurer (^Hydrometra stagnorum, Latr.), which 

 we had put into a glass containing water, with a 

 leaf for it to rest upon. Not liking the narrow pool 

 in the glass so well as the brook at Lee, from which 

 it had been taken, it began to climb the edges of the 

 glass, for which its feet were far from being well 

 adapted, and it slipped at every step; but, deter- 

 mined not to be baulked, after several unsuccessful 

 trials, it betook itself to the leaf as if to survey the 

 obstacles before it again attempted the steep ascent. 

 After deliberating for a moment, the thought seemed 

 to strike it that its feet were not in the best trim for 

 climbing ; and it forthwith began with great assiduity 

 to clean them somewhat in a similar way to the fly 

 by wiping them upon one another ; but with this de- 

 ference, that it did not, like the fly, cross its legs from 

 opposite sides, the length and rigidity of the thighs 

 preventing such a movement. It did not forget at 

 the same time to clean with much care its long an- 

 tennae, in order, no doubt, to fit them the better for 

 exploring an unknown path. It spent several m.i- 

 nutes in this preliminary trimming, when it again 

 began to mount, and we were no less pleased, perhaps, 

 than itself, to see its perseverance rewarded ; for, 

 aided either by the greater cleanness of its feet, or by 

 * See Insect Architecture, p. 368. 



