KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



311 



or mixed with an equal bulk of spirits of wine. 

 No stain will be left ; and if spirits of wine be 

 used, the odor is by no means disagreeable. — 

 Arabella E. 



Death of li the Nottinghamshire Entomolo- 

 gist." — Mr. John Trueman, of Edmonston, well 

 known in Mansfield and its neighborhood as "the 

 Nottinghamshire Entomologist," was killed acci- 

 dentally on the 4th ult., at Ollerton races, by com- 

 ing in contact with a fly which was driving at a 

 rapid rate. His collection of English insects was 

 one of the completest ever formed by a private in- 

 dividual, and the British Museum is indebted to 

 it for many specimens. — E. W. 



How to turn a White Dahlia blue. — I have 

 been told, but never have tried the experiment, 

 by a celebrated cultivator of dahlias in Belgium, 

 that he hopes to be able, in the course of a year 

 or two, to produce a blue one, by keeping con- 

 stantly watered the root of a white one with a so- 

 lution of sulphate of iron. The sulphate of iron 

 turns hydrangeas blue, and why not, he says, 

 other white flowers as well ? Of course, the so- 

 lution must be very weak when used. — G. C. 



Epitaph on a favorite Mouse. — A few days since, 

 my old master was looking over some manuscripts 

 written very nearly half a century ago ; when 

 all of a sudden I saw a peculiar smile on his 

 face. As he was calmly watching my movements, 

 I asked — what amused him so much? He then 

 showed me the book, and extracted from it the 

 following epitaph on the " Death of a favorite 

 Mouse," written thirty-five years ago. It will 

 prove to my little cousin, " Bo-peep," that 

 formerly our race was as much petted as they are 

 now. I admire the verses so much for their 

 simple, natural, and unaffected feeling, that I 

 thought you would not object to giving them a 

 corner in our Journal. — Downy. 



ON THE DEATH OF A FAVORITE MOUSE. 



Beneath this beech, we quiet lay 



The ashes of a fav'rite mouse, 

 Which Death untimely snatched away 



And laid within its narrow house. 



In vain thy coat of velvet sleek, 



Thy fair long tail and sparkling eye, 



To ward the fatal blow would seek ; 

 Since mice, as well as men, must die. 



But yet thy mem'ry long shall live, 

 And in our hearts for ever dwell ; 



And sorrowing friendship still shall give 

 A tear for one she loved so well ! 

 Gutcombe Park, April, 15, 1818. X. Y. 



Cats, beyond all question, " Vermin ". — Let me 

 confess to you, my dear Sir, that there has always 

 been one point, and one only, in which I consi- 

 dered there was some little discrepancy between 

 your "preaching and practice ;" but, having now 

 discovered my error, and no longer thinking so, I 

 cannot do otherwise than write you " a plain un- 

 varnished tale" by way of making the amende 

 honorable. I could never for a moment imagine 

 until now, how you, being as well as myself such 



a lover of all dumb created things, could write so 

 strongly against that silky, artful creature, "the 

 Cat ;" until " woful experience" has opened my 

 eyes to such being quite consistent with your other 

 opinions on Natural History. The fact is this. My 

 " second-self has for some years past kept a few, 

 say ten or a dozen, little Bantam fowls — great pets 

 of ours as you may guess, living as we do in the 

 midst of bricks and mortar in a town. From time 

 to time, however, during several years, divers of 

 these pets have most unaccountably disappeared — 

 I say unaccountably, for from their hou.se being a 

 brick-built and slated one, with railings at the sides, 

 and no rat-holes discoverable therein, it became 

 impossible, unless I could believe in what I consi- 

 dered your " theory," that cats could be the aggres- 

 sors. This year likewise, three chickens and one 

 hen have been destroyed in the same mysterious 

 manner ; and on Friday night last our greatest pet, 

 a splendid little fellow and a present to our only 

 child, was killed. It was found on the following 

 morning, much mutilated ; the head being off, and 

 the body mangled. A piece or two of fur were ad- 

 hering to the spurs of the bird, evidently from his 

 struggles with the enemy. Doubt seemed now at 

 an end ; accordingly the next night a rat gin was 

 placed close to the fowl-house door, and baited 

 with the head of the unfortunate cock. The next 

 morning, a brown monster in the form of a cat was 

 discovered, caught by the leg. I need not tell you 

 that his life was speedily put an end to with the 

 kitchen poker. We now hope to have a little 

 peace for our feathered pets. I really feel bound, 

 Sir, to absolve you from the charge of cruelty to 

 animals ; and to admit that you are fully justified 

 in using the strong language you occasionally do 

 against those plagues the domestic cats, which are 

 allowed to range at large in such numbers during 

 the night. — John Oakland, Dorchester. 



Insects, Potatoria, &c. — Let me thank C. 

 Miller for his obliging communication {ante 

 page 253). I have bred some thousands of 

 Potatorias, but certainly never adopted the plan 

 he speaks of. I hope this year to try the experi- 

 ment. I fear C. Miller's olfactory nerves are not 

 very sensitive ; as he has not yet been able to 

 perceive the offensive smell emitted by the cater- 

 pillar and chrysalis of the Goat-Moth. Only 

 three days since, I had occasion to examine a box 

 which contained one of these chrysalides ; and I 

 can assure him the perfume was as pungent as 

 ever, although placed there nine years ago. — 

 Bombyx Atlas, May 5. 



The Country ; and the Benefits derivable from 

 Early Rising. — You are really very tantalising, 

 Mr. Editor, for writing so graphically and so vi- 

 vidly about the joys of the country, and the sym- 

 pathetic feeling that unites all ramblers in the 

 fields. I want to do as you do, but cannot. I 

 drink deeply into the spirit of every word you 

 write, and long to share with you all the delecta- 

 bilities you speak of. I am confident we should 

 sympathise. But where Hive — some two hundred 

 miles from you — people do not regard pure feeling ; 

 they ridicule everything like sentiment. My 

 heart, like yours, is formed for friendship ; but I 

 live in an atmosphere where friendship, properly 

 so called, cannot flourish. Eating, drinking, and 



