Quadrupeds, 2587 



child of three years old, and many of the parent flies continued alive for several days 

 and still attached to the cluster. The larva, when examined under a lens, had (with 

 the exception of the head, which was flatter) the appearance of a minute caterpillar 

 rather than that of a maggot ; and it had a forked tail about one-third the length of 

 the body. When the larva was allowed to fall into water (which was evidently the in- 

 tention of the parents from the situation they had selected for this cluster), its action 

 was exactly like that of the larva of the gnat, having the power, which it exercised 

 with evident delight, of raising itself in the water by an incessant undulatory motion 

 in a vertical plane, and when it had risen as high as it liked, allowing itself quietly 

 to descend by its own weight, with the head downwards, the body stretched out, the 

 legs underneath, and the forked tail spread so as to form a rudder. By supplying the 

 brood with rain-water, and changing it once in twenty-four hours, many of the larvae 

 were kept alive for four or five days. The eggs contained in the cluster were hatched 

 iu successive broods, generally in the night time, and the process of hatching extended 

 over a period of more than a week. At first the cluster was placed over a glass vessel 

 without water, and the whole of the larvae then hatched were found dead the next 

 morning, which was never the case after they were permitted to fall into the water. A 

 small quantity of garden mould was applied to one patch, but its pungency killed 

 them, and to another a few drops of an infusion of animal matter were added, but 

 without any prolongation of life. From these circumstances, Mr. Spencer inclines to 

 the opinion, that these larva? obtain their food, while clinging to the bottom or side of 

 the brook, and that they occasionally come to the top of the water, possibly for a fresh 

 supply of air. A part of this singular cluster was given to me; it is now too much 

 shrivelled and decayed to be of any use to you, or I would have forwarded it. Mr. 

 Curtis, in the first volume of his 'British Entomology,' gives a good representation of 

 the female insect, of which all the specimens found on the cluster consisted : the sup- 

 posed male, also represented in the same plate, I have not yet met with. — Oswald 

 Mosley ; Rolleston Hall, near Bur ton-on- Trent, September 22, 1849. 



Enquiry respecting the Wild Cat. — There is no fact in British Natural History re- 

 ceived with more universal credence, than the existence in our woods of a species of 

 cat, perfectly distinct from that everywhere domesticated amongst us. I am anxious to 

 ascertain on what authority, or on what ground, this universal credence is based. I 

 shall be obliged to any observer, who, without citing Fleming, Bingley, Bell, or any 

 other printed authority, will give particulars of the capture (not seeing) of such an 

 animal, and will add the following data : — 



Exact measurements. 



Character of the fur. 



Date and locality of capture. 



If kept alive, record of its habits in confinement ; if preserved, where ? 



Reasons for supposing it distinct, as a species, from those domestic cats which 

 have taken to the woods by choice. — Edward Newman. 



Food of the Water Vole. — Referring to my note of the 23rd of July on the food of 

 the water vole, I now find that this animal does not appear to be exclusively herbivo- 

 rous, but also to indulge in testaceous diet. A short time since I visited a broad in 

 this county, on a small island in a shallow part of which, I observed a great number 



