NATURAL HISTORY QUERIES 
237 
job owing to the great thickness of the cardboard. A slip of the knife would 
have most probably executed him. Kventually our labours were crowned with 
success and he was free once more and apparently none the worse for his some- 
what unusual adventure. He shortly afterwards “went in,” but continued to 
live on cardboard to the last. 
1 12, Thirlestone A’oat/, Edinburgh. K- C. Lowthek. 
194. Cockroaches.— Powdered borax put down plentifully will drive away 
“ black beetles.” A few years ago we had swarms of them in the kitchen, and 
caught lots every night with beer, beetle-traps, &c. , but were unable to find 
their haunts, excepting that one china-cupboard and another containing salt, 
spices, &c., were filled with an unpleasant odour. We were told to try a 
hedgehog and did so ; but I fancy the poor thing ate too many, for he died. 
Then we were told to try borax, and in an incredibly short time the beetles dis- 
appeared, and now the cupboards are sweet and clean. I keep plenty of powdered 
borax in the bottom of the cupboard (it is an inexpensive luxury) and renew it 
every fortnight. We sprinkled it well into every crack and crevice at first ; and 
the cook, who has been here since last October, has not seen one beetle here. 
Ltslie House, The Park, Mary Clark. 
Nottingham. 
NATURAL HISTORY QUERIES. 
34. Rats. — My sister was staying in a lonely house in the S.W. of Ireland 
during August of this year. One evening the housemaid, when laying the cloth 
for late dinner, placed the butter-dish and silver butter-knife on the sideboard and 
left the room. Returning a few minutes later she found the butter-knife gone 
and suspected the rats who had taken other articles of silver. When search was 
made the missing butter-knife was found behind the side-board, and behind a 
heavy piece of furniture another butter-knife was found which had been lost for 
three months. Half way down a rat-hole in the pantry was found a silver fork 
and an ordinary dinner-knife. Silver teaspoons had also been found under the 
drawing room floor. We should be very glad if any members of the Selborne 
Society can explain the strange conduct of these Irish rats. 
Hon. Sec., Kensington Branch. CAROLINE GlCHELL. 
35. Wagtails. — There is a pair of pied wagtails which nest every year in 
the shrubs round my lawn, and are very tame. Is not the wagtail the only 
creature which moves its tail up and down and not horizontally ? It must be 
supplied with a strong muscle to enable it to do this so vigorously and constantly 
as it does. The “ wagging” appears to express satisfaction, for after catching a 
fly it invariably does it, and then starts in pursuit of another. It is curious to 
observe the young birds imitating the parents as soon as they are out of the nest, 
and before they possess any tail to speak of. 
Fern Bank, near Buxted. A. L. Hussey. 
September, 1904. 
36. Late laying Partridge. — On receiving a present of game from my 
brother, killed on September 20, I was surprised on being shown a fully devel- 
oped egg in one of the partridges. Is not this very unusual ? 
W. D. W. Rees. 
37. Toads. — Toads are generally supposed to be so nauseous that no creature 
will deliberately tear them in pieces and eat them bit by bit. I have, however, 
come across an instance that upsets this belief, having just seen the remains of a 
toad on which some animal had been feeding, consisting of a part of the hind legs 
and skin of the back. There were fragments of its skin and flesh close by. 
What animal could have taken a fancy to this toad ? A barn-rat, water-rat, 
squirrel, or what ? Water-rats eat frogs, but not toads, as far as I know. The 
remains, however, were not in a spot where water-rats would be, but under a fir 
