144 
PASSIONAL ZOOLOGY. 
rats are ratophagous. Not only do neighboring races destroy 
each other, but also individuals of the same races. The fathers 
eat their children in the cradle to emancipate them from the 
troubles of their tender age ; the grateful children are in turn eager 
to relieve their parents when somewhat advanced in age, of the 
burden of life, like the Messagetes, those worthy ancestors of the 
Cossacks. It is therefore doubtless, that I have read in the trea- 
tise of “ Morality in Action,” which was once given me as a pi ize, 
numerous examples of filial piety, drawn from the history of the 
rat and the mouse. 
Every year, late in the season, when the treasures of autumn 
begin to grow scarce, bloody civil wars, whose tumult reaches us 
in the upper regions, break forth in the tribes of the Campagnols, 
the Lemings, the Hamsters, the Shrew-mice. The hamster pene- 
trates into the burrow of his neighbor, kills him, devours him, and 
takes possession of his winter stores. The fury of destruction be- 
comes universal. Even the rabbit does not entirely clear itself of 
the general accusation of cannibalism, which hangs over all the 
subterranean species. All imitate the example of the mole, which 
delights to plunge its long pointed snout into the bowels of the 
neighboring mole which it has slain, and drinks with exultation 
the blood of its victim. M. Buflfon and others have related many 
anecdotes of the filial virtues of rats, and the patriarchal manners 
of the mole. Patriarchal ! what a charming word : the history 
of those venerated patriarchs who are offered to the admiration 
of our credulous infancy is in fact so full of edifying examples, of 
conjugal happiness and domestic virtues ! Patriarchal ! In re- 
gard to filial tenderness, what is there better, for instance, than 
that of the young Misses Lot toward their father, who drank, then 
grew tender, .... then . . . became his own son-in-law. . . . 
What better father than Abraham, with his two well-beloved 
sons, one of whom he chased out into the desert to die of thirst 
there along with his mother, and the other of whom, he was about 
to broil on the coals as an offering to the Lord. 
These edifying texts are proposed for the Sabbath meditations 
of young ladies, in order that they may thus at the same time form 
the mind and the heart. 
