THE UNIVERSAL FAMILY PAPER FOR INTER-COMMUNICATIONS ON 



Conducted by WILLIAM KIDD, of Hammersmith,— 



Author of the Familiar and Popular Essays on "Natural History;" "British Song 

 Birds; " "Birds of Passage;" "Instinct and Reason;" "The Aviary," &c. 



" THE OBJECT OF OUR WORK IS TO MAKE MEN WISER, WITHOUT OBLIGING THEM TO TURN OVER FOLIOS AND 

 QUARTOS. — TO FURNISH MATTER FOR THINKING AS WELL AS READING." — EVELYN. 



No. 45.— 1852. 



SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6. 



Price 3c?. 



Or, in Monthly Parts, Price Is. Id. 



AUTO-BIOGRAPHY OF A DOG.— No. II. 



written by himself. 



I promised, in my last, Mr. Editor, to 

 give you a description of a merry entomo- 

 logical party ; and although I have witnessed 

 a vast many, I have seldom enjoyed myself 

 more than when hunting Aglia Tau. I sup- 

 pose you know what that creature is ; but if 

 you do not, I will just tell you. It is a large 

 yellowish-brown bombyx, with four large 

 blue eyes, one on each wing. I suppose he 

 has these four eyes, to see us all the better 

 with ; for in all your life you never, never 

 could conceive such a dodge ! He is here, 

 there, and everywhere, before you can get 

 one look at him. Now on your nose, then 

 on your tail, now up again ; I never saw such 

 a fellow. 



But before I go any further, I must de- 

 scribe the party. Of course myself and 

 my brother, Bombyx Atlas with his net 

 and hunting box, three sons and I can't tell 

 how many daughters, and then — a very old 

 fellow, with only a very few straggling silvery 

 hairs on his venerable cranium, and a keen 

 blue eye ; but such a merry old man ! He 

 went by the name of the " Grand Papa des 

 Papillons," and, although nearly four score 

 years had rolled over his head, he was the 

 most active of the party, and carried an 

 enormous net, large enough to catch myself. 

 When the old man did get anything good, he 

 stuck it in the crown of his hat, which he 

 had purposely lined with cork. Deep old 

 fellow ! Then came a half-cracked German 

 servant, laughing so loud at everything he 

 saw, that you would have thought the poor 

 fellow was " possessed." Oh, the row before 

 they started ! " Mend this hole in my net," 

 cries one. " Where are my pincers?" roars 

 Bombyx- Atlas. " I have not got my hunting 

 boots," screams one of the young ones. " And 

 the beetle bottle," cries another. " Now look 

 sharp ; is all right?" and then the old grand- 

 papa puts on his large round spectacles ; and 

 breakfast being disposed of, we at length all 



sallied forth to Sauvabelin. This is a noble 

 forest, about half an hour's walk, north of 

 Lausanne, going at an entomological pace — 

 all the way up hill. So while our party were 

 laughing and joking, I and my brother amused 

 ourselves running after lizards, and when we 

 could — I am half ashamed to confess it, but 

 it was capital fun — we bit their tails off. I 

 must not forget to say that a fine morning 

 at the latter end of March was chosen. Well, 

 we skipped by " Montmeilan," a little snug- 

 inn, where we never failed to dine on our 

 return ; took a peep at the " signal," a most 

 lovely spot, from which, on a clear day, you 

 might almost see both extremities of " Lac 

 Leman," and then made a plunge into the 

 thick of the forest, to a place known to our- 

 selves as the Rendezvous des Taus. Here we 

 arrived about half past eight o'clock, a.m. ; 

 for observe, Mr. Editor, not a Tau is to be 

 seen after midday, or at least very rarely so. 

 Now the sport began. Bless me ! how I 

 laughed. Soon a Tau was seen, all in full 

 chase. One lost his hat ; another had his 

 coverlid suspended to the branch of an oak 

 tree. 



Up jumps another Tau — all after him. 

 One loses the tail of his coat amongst the 

 briars. Haifa dozen Taus at once comebolting 

 close into Bombyx- Atlas's jocund phiz. He 

 gets in a rage. Quick as a feather he is after 

 them, catches his foot in a bit of underwood, 

 and is soon sprawling in a bed of bilberries — ■ 

 a shout of joy from the taus, and a merry 

 laugh from old grandpapa 1 Bombyx is soon 

 up again. The taus come by hundreds. The 

 slaughter is immense. The German servant 

 fell over my brother into a bramble bush. 

 Oh, Mr. Editor, if you coidd have heard him ! 

 It was rich ! The old fellow was all this time 

 taking it very coolly ; he was quietly watch- 

 ing for the female taus, which seldom fly, 

 but are generally found against the trunk of 

 the beech tree, about three feet from the 

 ground, and always to leeward. The game 

 continued till past twelve o'clock ; when my 

 brother started a hedgehog. This we bag- 



Yol. II. 



