69 



mouth. He says that cats spring off the bank and dive, not only 

 in catching fish, but in pursuit of water rats, and that in Scot- 

 land cats often attack salmon and destroy large quantities in 

 small streams in the spawning season. Millers' cats, and cats 

 living near streams, by the sea or by artificial fish ponds are 

 the chief offenders.^ 



Crustaceans and Mollushs. 

 Dr. A. K. Fisher asserts that he once saw a cat in a fisherman's 

 house on the south shore of Long Island, N. Y., that caught 

 crabs by wading out into the water for them. Both salt-water 

 and fresh-water clams and even oysters are eaten by cats. 



Insects. 

 Cats strike down and kill some large insects and a few of the 

 smaller species, particularly those of the fields, such as moths, 

 May beetles, grasshoppers and crickets. Occasionally a cat makes 

 a business of catching and eating grasshoppers, but apparently 

 the animal is not naturally insectivorous, as 

 many observers agree that puss grows thin on such 

 a diet. Prof. H. A. Surface asserts that he ob- 

 served a cat pouncing on crickets and grasshoppers 

 in the' grass, and that one ate so many May beetles 

 or "June bugs" that it threw up "nearly a pint" 

 of the "outer shells" of these beetles. Many report that cats 

 sicken on an insect diet, but they probably disgorge the hard and 

 indigestible parts of insects, as do many birds. Probably the 

 insect food of cats ordinarily is an unimportant part of their 

 regimen, but insects may serve to fill the stomach when sufficient 

 animal food of other kinds is lacking. Following is a compilation 

 from many reports: — 



The insect killer. 



Species killed. 



Grassboppera, 

 Crickets, 

 Flies, 

 Moths, . 

 Beetles, . 

 Butterflies, 

 "June bugs," 



Number 



reporting 



it. 



169 

 69 

 41 

 29 

 24 

 26 

 15 



Species killed. 



Locusts, 

 Ants, . 

 Water bugs. 

 Bees, 

 Wasps, . 

 Hornets, 

 Katydids, 



Number 



reporting 



it. 



1 Stables, Gordon: The Domestio Cat, 1876, pp. 161, 162. 



