our Domestic Animals. 31-7 



Erysichton, in his horrible hunger, devoured his mules, oxen, 

 horses, xui rav Mha^ey, Toiv h^ifii Byi^i» f^Dc^x, the cat dreaded by small 

 animals, in short, all that was in Triopas's house." 



We also find under the name of yaAsn, in a proverb cited by 

 Theocritus, the cat, which his cotemporary Callimachus calls 



ctiXH^og. The common saying, «; yxXicti fiot'hoiKag xe^'^^oneu Kctriv^W, 



cats like to sleep on soft beds, retraces one of the habits of the 

 cat most frequently observed. It seeks soft beds, pillows, and 

 couches *. 



Some learned men have applied this proverb to the weasel, 

 but it does not paint the habits of that wild species which lives 

 in the bushes, thorns, and heaps of fire-wood, and whose nests, 

 which I have several times found, are in trunks of trees, and 

 formed of straws, hay, or hard and dry plants. BufFon's expe- 

 riment of the weasel -f-, which, being shut up in a cage with 

 some cotton, squatted whenever one went near it, does not prove 

 that that species naturally seeks a soft bed, like the cat, but is 

 accounted for by the distrust innate in these feeble carnivorous 

 animals, Avhich leads them to conceal themselves and seek shelter, 

 whenever they see the approach of an enemy stronger than 

 themselves. 



Observations connected with the Migration of the Herring and 

 Ma£kerel, as noticed in the British Channel. By Major W. 

 M. Morrison. Communicated by the Author. 



JXastings, from its peculiar situation, is well suited for a 

 fishing station, and has, in consequence, for a considerable pe- 

 riod, employed many vessels in this particular branch of com- 

 merce. Each vessel is furnished with from one hundred to one 

 hundred and twenty nets, each net being forty feet in length. 

 They can be joined to each other with great facility ; and, 

 when in the sea, present a curtain from fourteen to sixteen 

 feet in depth. These the fishermen, when at any distance from 

 the land, always shoot or place north and south, or as near that 

 direction as can be done conveniently, in order that they may 

 drift with the flowing and ebbing of the tide, which takes the 



• Did. (I'llist. Nat. viii. 808. f Hist. Nat. Anim. art. Belette. 



JULY— OCXOBER 1829. Y 



