THE HEDGEHOG. 



Apropos of the hedgehog's talents as a beetle-catcher, rather 

 a curious story is told of one that lived in the house of a cele- 

 brated naturalist. Like good Dr. Ball, the gentleman in questioD 

 having purchased the hedgehog, turned it into the kitchen and 

 " knew no more about it." He, however, was doomed to meet 

 it again, and under very peculiar circumstances. In a cabinet 

 in his library he had stored a valuable collection of tropical 

 beetles, which suddenly took to vanishing in the most mysterious 

 manner. That they were as " dead as door-nails" there could 

 be no doubt, and, moreover, each was impaled in its proper 

 place ; but sure as the morning came an examination of the 

 cabinet — which was locked — showed that a dozen or so had 

 decamped after having adroitly withdrawn the spike from their 

 bodies. Who was the culprit ? Had a brother naturalist lived 

 in the house, it might have been suspected that sheer pro- 

 fessional envy might have led to the theft ; but as it happened, 

 there was beside himself nobody on the premises but an old 

 housekeeper, whose horror of beetles was only equalled by her 

 aversion to mice. Still the purloining continued, and there 

 was nothing left but to watch for the delinquent. One night 

 the owner of the cabinet having hidden behind a screen and 

 blown out the light, remained very quiet, when about midnight 

 his wakeful ears were aware of a scratching and creaking evi- 

 dently proceeding from the precious cabinet, which, on this 

 occasion, had been left unlocked. It was too dark to see, but 

 without doubt the burglar was at that moment in the room ; so 

 grasping the sword with which he had provided himself, the 

 indignant naturalist crept from his hiding and cautiously ad- 

 vanced towards the cabinet. He came close to it, passed his 

 hand over it ; stiU no midnight thief was leaning over it or 

 crouched beneath, and still the rasping and crackling continued. 

 The thief then must be inside. Swiftly raising the M, the 

 w'orthy man made a sweep within with both his hands, which 

 was followed by a loud squeak and a terrible sensation of a 

 hundred pins entering his fingers and palms, and which in- 

 stantly convinced liim that the thief was the hedgehog from the 

 kitchen, which in a lucky moment had discovered the treasure- 

 door open, and at once established himself in a dark comer. 



With regard to the way in which the hedgehog should be 

 treated when installed as beetle-catcher in your kitchen, many 

 important hints may be gleaned from the following narrative 

 supplied by a correspondent to a popular journal : — 



" London houses are usually infested with beetles and cock« 



