1056 General Notes. [October, 
white. In fall or early winter the soft fur becomes tipped with 
white, the white portion increasing somewhat in length and diame 
ter. In spring a curious phenomenon takes place, The whit 
portion of the fur loses its vitality, becomes brittle, and breaks of 
on slight friction, so that the animal, in brushing through the un- 
dergrowth, soon rids himself of it. As a rule the long hairs 
change first! Both in spring and fall the time of the change 
seems to be governed by the presence or absence of snow, and is 
not affected by the temperature. It occurs independently of the 
moult, and the new hairs assume the prevailing color of the ani- 
mal, or the color toward which itis tending at the time of their 
appearance.—C. Hartt Merriam, from advance sheets of the Trans- 
actions of the New York Linnean Society, Part ú. 
Foop or Cats.—The note by Mr. Dimmock, of Cambridge, i 
the September number of the Naruratist, upon the food a 
impels me to speak of my pet kitten. She refuses milk utterly 
she can be supplied with anything else. She eats coo shat 
corn with a relish. In this connection a friend informs me ‘ill 
he has frequently fattened cats this way. Indeed, they pee 
steal the cobs out of swill pails. My kitten will catch geen 
moths and the water bugs of the kitchen. Her patience n 
de 
mounted to the top of a step-ladder and from tT 
springs at the window. The moth was all unconscious 
very slight yet effective interposition of the screen. f 
ave known cats to eat clams to such repletion ta 
died. Fishing cats are by no means uncommon.— . 
Providence, Aug. 25, 1884. 
thoroughly described and lessons of homology cor of a horse 
ch 215% 
*Specimens in my museum, killed in Lewis county, December 1% i spring 
and April 3d, well illustrate the above described conditions of pe aoe feeble that 
while the change is in progress, the attachment of the white tips 15 or less Í 
undreds may be blown off at a single puff. The change occurs u on the beads 
larly over the greater part of the body, but is usually symmett 
giving rise to a very pretty pattern. 
