her and thrust the hot skin into her mouth; keep it there for a minute till she is well burned, and you have rendered that cat ever afterwards harmless towards mice, at least towards such as you may introduce to her; a wild one which she met with at large might fare differently, though I hardly think she would even attempt to injure it. Treat a bird-skin in this manner, and, after the scalding, tie it for a while around puss’s neck, and you have secured your aviary from molestation. Sometimes the first experiment of this kind is not successful. When such is the case, however, be not disheartened, but repeat it; and one or two such inflictions cannot fail being effective. You may thus have cats, rats, mice, birds, &c., &c., all in one cage; a curiosity I have often beheld, and which I have myself succeeded in forming in the manner I have described. Let not the reader who may endeavour to put the above rules in practice be disheartened by a little difficulty at starting. The power of nature is strong, and it is not until after a long and severe course of training that art can expect to overcome it. Let, therefore, the experimenter ever bear in mind the extraordinary force of nature, and the vast labour necessary to keep it in abeyance; and in order that he should do so, I shall tell him the following anecdote:-- “Cecco maintained that nature was more potent than art, while Dante asserted the contrary. To prove his principle the great Italian bard referred to his cat, which by repeated practice he had taught to hold a candle in its paw while he supped or read. Cecco desired to witness the experiment, and came not unprepared for his purpose. When Dante’s cat was performing its part, Cecco lifted up the lid of a pot which he had filled with mice; the creature of art instantly showed the weakness of a talent merely acquired, and, dropping the candle, sprang on the mice with all its instinctive propensity. Dante was himself disconcerted; and it was adjudged that the advocate for the occult principle of natural faculties had gained his cause.” Bear this anecdote therefore in mind. Do not forget the power of natural instinct, even over the most careful artificial training; and let it be your anxious care to keep far distant every circumstance that might provoke the awakening of the one, or tend to shake or to subvert the influence of the other. This short sketch has, I trust, given my readers an insight into the mode by which Van Amburgh and his rivals perform their wonders; and I can assure them, that by following the principles I have here laid down, they may themselves, if they choose, equal in their own private menageries the performances of those public exhibitors. H. D. R. * * * * *