One child holds a piece of string joined at the ends on his upheld palms, a single turn being taken over each, and by inserting the middle finger of each hand under the opposite turn, crosses the string from finger to finger in a peculiar form. Another child then takes off the string on his fingers in a rather different way, and it then assumes a second form. A repetition of this manœuvre produces a third form, and so on. Each of these forms has a particular name, from a fancied resemblance to the object—barn-doors, bowling-green, hour-glass, pound, net, fiddle, fish-pond, diamonds, and others.—_Notes and Queries_, vol. xi. p. 421. The following forms are those known to me, with their names. They are produced seriatim. 1. The cradle. 2. The soldier’s bed. 3. Candles. 4. The cradle inversed, or manger. 5. Soldier’s bed again, or diamonds. 6. Diamonds, or cat’s eyes. 7. Fish in dish. 8. Cradle as at first. The different orders or arrangements must be taken from the hands of one player by another without disturbing the arrangement.—A. B. Gomme. (_b_) Nares suggests that the proper name is “Cratch Cradle,” and is derived from the archaic word _cratch_, meaning a manger. He gives several authorities for its use. The first-made form is not unlike a manger. Moor (_Suffolk Words_) gives the names as cat’s cradle, barn-doors, bowling-green, hour-glass, pound, net, diamonds, fish-pond, fiddle. A supposed resemblance originated them. Britton (_Beauties of Wiltshire_, Glossary) says the game in London schools is called “Scratch-scratch” or “Scratch-cradle.” [Illustration: Cat’s Cradle “Taking off” Soldier’s Bed “Taking off” Candles “Taking off” Cat’s Cradle (upside down) Cat’s Eyes Fish.] The game is known to savage peoples. Professor Haddon noted it among the Torres Straits people, who start the game in the same manner as we do, but continue it differently (_Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, vol. xix. p. 361); and Dr. Tylor has pointed out the significance of these string puzzles among savage peoples in _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, ix. 26. Cat-gallows A child’s game, consisting of jumping over a stick placed at right angles to two others fixed in the ground.—Halliwell’s _Dictionary_.