The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-06-15
T
And Beliefs Concerning the
Animal Kingdom.
No Foundation for the Monkeys Alleged
Mimiory of Man.

IT. fcllS -. oswald says IN the Cnl-
cago Times: A very widespread super
stition is the belief in the dismal conse-
qucnccs of a tarantula bite. Paralysis,
epilepsy, choera { st. Vitus' dance, pal
sy, and idiocy were enumerated among
tho minor effects Of the virus, which
more frequently was supposed to cause
the death of tho sufferer. The Lycosa
tarantula, rs we'll as its North American
cousin Oycosa carolinensis), is as pug
nacious as a bulldog and jumps even at a
walking-stick; but it's bite, so far from
being fatal, is, in fact, considerably less
v%irulent than the sting of the common
hornet. In Arizona they lave a hairy
spider of the genus Mygale, both larger
and ficrcer than its Italian relative, yet
the effect of it's virus can but rarely be
felt for more than ten minutes. The
bite of the true Lycosa penetrates the
skin only in exceptional cases, when it
produces an itching sensation, similar to
that following tho sting of a gadhy.
Both the Lycosa and the Mygalo prey on
such small creatures that a potent virus
would be a sheer waste of chemicals.
And, moreover, the tarantula superstition
has been traced to its origin. Tho taran-
teua, a popular dance of the middle ages,
was named after the town of Taranto(the
ancient T~arentum), but aftcrwsrd was in
troduced in regions where that derivation
was unknown, and where, rs usual, the
fancy of the m~yth1nakers supplied an er-
roneous etymology. BY n similar solecism
the tit-watch Qike tit-mouse) became a
death-watch, and wodan, the world
hunter (welt zsger), q wild huntsman.
Tho "Grcat Bear the puzzling name OF
a constellation resembling q pillow, if any
thing has been traced to the Sanskrit
arkshos, tho shining oncs'' a word which
tho Greeks adopted and changed into
arhos, tho bear, just as Jack-tar changed
the French name of a goldcn-yellow fish
Gaune doree) into John Dory.
The '.joint-snake" superstition seems
to be limited to the Anglo-Amcrican pop
ulation. There are several kinds of
snakes and lizards that break ut the mere
touch of a switch, but the pieces can
never be reunited. It is true, though,
that a bob-tailed lizard will recover its.
normal length ina surprisingly short time
The very prevalent belief in the imita-
tive pcnchant of our quadrumanous rela-
tivcs should not have survived this age of
geological gardens. I have owned more
than forty varieties of four-handers-
monkeys, balloons and lemurs-and have
never been able to discover a trace of the
alleged propensity. The prehcnsilc
hands Of a monkey are often used in a
way suggesting the manipulations of his
two-handed relative, but that resemblance
is as unintentional as unavoidable. None
except trained monkeys evcrsclap their
hands because a visitor happens to en-
press his delight in that way, nor stick
out their tongues because they see a boy
indulge in that pleasantly. Gestures,
pantomimes, grimaccs can be repeated a
hundred times without inducing an any
known species of monkey to make IN at
tempt ut mimicry. The imitation of
special tricks, though, may often be in
cited by motives of sclf-intercst. My
pet baboon once exhausted his patience
in a vain attempt to open a box with a
scrcw-lid, and was just going to try the
efficacy of his teeth when a visitar volun-
teered to solve the problem by less vio-
lent means: Ever since Jenny attempts
to overcome the resistance of a tightly
closed box by trying to give the box a
rotary motion. The instinct of self
preservation, too, may sometimes simu-
late the effects of mimicry. II an angry
man should lift his hand Jocko may imi-
tate the motion-to ward off an expected
blow. If my boy runs to the window
Jenny will follow suit, to ascertain the
cause of the excitement. But, rs a rule,
the stories Of cumulative apes and tho pre-
posterous results of their propensity are
as purely apocryphal as the anecdotes of
conversational parrots. A parrot may
learn to repeat a hundred notices with
out attaching the least meaning to the
best-remembered word of his vocabulary;
though, of course, a constantly repeated
phrase is not apt to be used alsOays mala-
propos. Parrots, like many other birds,
manifest their emotions in q versatile Ian
guage of their own, but they never ex-
press them in words.
"
At Home aud Abroad.