I had a mouse trained the same as the one above described, and was in
dread lest a warder should see and destroy it. Therefore, in the hope of
getting a guarantee for its safety, one day when the medical officer on
his round came to my cell with his retinue I put my mouse through the
"dead dog" performance. The little fellow lay exposed in my hand with
one of its twinkling eyes fixed on me, and the other on these strangers.
Such was its confidence in me that it went through the performance
perfectly, and when I gave the signal in an instant it was in my (as the
poor thing believed) protecting bosom. The doctors laughed, and the
retinue of course followed suit--if they had frowned the latter would
have done likewise. The doctors appeared so pleased that I felt certain
they would order the warder, as was in their power, to let me keep my
harmless pet, the sole companion of my solitude and misery, unmolested.

They went outside the cell and lingered; in a moment then the warder
came in, and after a struggle got the mouse out of my bosom and put his
heel upon it. I am not ashamed to confess that I cried over the loss of
this poor little victim of overconfidence in human beings.

I once procured a beetle with red stripes across its wing-sheaths, and
trained it to show some degree of intelligence. This was for months the
sole companion of my solitude, but it was at last discovered in my
possession and taken away.

I made friends with the flies, and found that they displayed no small
degree of intelligence. I soon had a dozen tamed, and in the course of
my long observations I discovered, among other things, that the males
were very tyrannical over the fair sex, and tried to prevent them from
getting any of the food. In the Summer mornings at daylight they would
gather on the wall next my bed and wait patiently until I placed a
little chewed bread on the back of my hand, when instantly there was a
rush, and the first one who got possession, if a male, tried to prevent
the rest from alighting, and would dart at the nearest, chasing it in
zig-zags far away. In the mean time another would have attained
possession, and it went for the next corner, and for a long time there
would be a succession of fierce encounters, until at last all had made
good their footing and feasted harmoniously; for as fast as one
succeeded in alighting it was let alone. Sometimes a male would take
possession of my forehead, and, in case I left him unmo