ZOOLOGY. 363 
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and after eating it they would set about cleaning, themselves, a 
matter in which they were very precise, commencing with the legs 
first to clean the body, and afterwards the legs with the jaws and 
palpi; commencing with the first right leg, then washing the first 
left, next the second right and so on until all were clean, depos- 
iting the accumulated dirt in a minute heap in front of them, 
pushing it away with the fore legs when they were done. On one 
. occasion I put a common house spider in the box with them, 
thinking that they would kill and eat it as they were much larger 
than the new spider, but instead of attacking it they seemed much 
alarmed and kept as far from it as possible. Thinking they would 
pluck up courage during the day I did not remove it; at night I 
found that the house spider had spun a web covering the most of 
the box, and my pets were stowed away in a corner completely 
cowed. I removed the house spider, tore out his web and they 
soon recovered their spirits and were as lively as ever 
I divided the box in which they were confined filling half to the 
top at one end with soft loam, thinking they would dig a hole in 
which to conceal themselves when so inclined, but they did not, 
though I saw evidence several times of their digging; in one 
instance the soil being excavated to some depth, but irregularly, 
having no appearance of the smooth round hole that we find in 
the fields dug by this or an allied species. I supplied a paper tube 
of suitable diameter and about three inches long, and this they 
both used, though rarely both at the same time; in only one or 
two instances did I find them both in it. Henry L. Moopy. 
Rerropucrion or a Fisu’s Ta. —In Lyell’s ‘‘ Principles of 
eology,”* occurs the following sentence: “The pectoral and 
tail fins of many fresh water fish, having been cut off, have been 
perfectly restored in about six weeks’ time.” As this statement 
embodies a fact with which many naturalists seem to be unac- 
quainted, I am glad to be able to give it a new confirmation. 
In the rooms of the Boston Young Men’s Christian Union there 
is a fine aquarium, well stocked with gold and other fish. Early 
-~ in the spring of 1873, the well known fish fungus (Achlya prolig- 
_ 4?) made its appearance in the tank, and several fine fishes died. 
Among the speciinens attacked by the fungus was a young gold- 
fish, which by some unknown means had lost its tail fin. The 
* Tenth London Edition, vol. ii, p. 478. 
