Quadrupeds, tyc. 911 



In drawing general conclusions, however, from particular facts, 

 we must be careful not to be too positive : thus, when we are told 

 that this or that animal is carnivorous, insectivorous, piscivorous, 

 fructivorous, granivorous, or herbivorous, because we see them 

 usually feeding upon and preferring flesh, insects, fishes, fruits, grains, 

 or herbs respectively, we are not at once to conclude that such is 

 exclusively their food, and that they cannot be supported upon any 

 other. Numerous instances to the contrary might be adduced. I 

 will mention one or two. 



Some school-boys who are in the habit of spending their half- 

 holidays in the extensive woods of Earl Fitzwilliam, at Milton, near 

 Peterborough, had captured a squirrel, which was taken home, depo- 

 sited in a basket, and well fed with nuts. After a day or two it 

 escaped from its confinement, and afforded the boys an excellent 

 chase round the walls of the study; while at liberty, it leaped into a 

 closet, in the corner of the room, in which was a dead blue-cap 

 [Parus caeruleus), the spoil of a former excursion to Milton. This 

 little bird the squirrel seized in its mouth, and immediately retreated 

 to its basket, when the lid was closed upon the beautiful and elegant 

 little quadruped, and it was left at peace for a short time. Upon 

 visiting it again, two or three hours afterwards, there were found plain 

 proofs of the carnivorous propensities of this fructivorous little crea- 

 ture ; for all that remained of the blue -cap were the tail, and a few 

 other of the larger feathers ! 



Another instance of apparently aberrant appetite has recently 

 fallen within my own notice. 



On the 18th November, 1844, I opened the lid of a deal box, which 

 contained a large mass of common salt, and which was kept in a 

 closet, close to the kitchen fire, when great was my surprise to find 

 hundreds of the larvae and pupaj of the cheese-fly (Piophila Casei) 

 deposited in the crevcies of the salt, which had been plainly made 

 by these little miners ; and in the course of the evening several of 

 the perfect insects were evolved. On the 5th of December following 

 I again visited the salt-box, and found several of the larvae, numbers 

 of the pupae and empty cases, and hundreds of the little black fly in 

 the cupboard. It seemed to me so very extraordinary that any insect 

 should feed on a mineral substance, that I consulted the valuable 

 'Introduction to Entomology,' by Kirby and Spence, but without 

 success. The authors mention, indeed, that even mineral substances 

 have been said to have furnished food to some of the insect race, but 

 they do not seem to give credit to the assertion. 



