The Opelousas courier., 1886-06-26
SUPERSTITIONS
And Beliefs Concerning the
Animal Kingdom.
No Foundation for the Monkeys Alleged
Mimiery of Man.

DR.. Felix L. Oswald says in the Chi
cago Times: A very widespread super
stition is the belief in the dismal conse
quences of a tarantula bite. Paralysis,
epilepsy, choera { st. Vitus' dance, pal,
sy, and idioey were enumerated among
the minor effects of the virus, which
more frequently was supposed to cause
the death of the sufferer. The Lycoss
ta%rantula, as well as its North American
cousin Lycosa carolinensis), is as pug
nacious as a bulldog and jumps even at a
walking-stick; but its bite, so far from
being fatal, is, in fact, considerably less
v~irulent than the sting of the common
hornet. In Arizona they have a hairy
spider of the genus Mygale, both larger
and fiercer than it's Italian relative, yet
the effect of its 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 the sting of a gadfy.
Both the Lycosa and the Mygale 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. The taran-
ella, a popular dance of the middle ages,
was named after the town of Taranto(the
ancient Tarentum), but afterward wasin-
troduced in regions where that derivation
was unknown, and where, as usual, the
fancy of the mythmaRers supplied an er-
! roneous ~etymology. BY a similar solecism
the tit-watch Qike tit-mouse) became a
death-watch, and Wodan, the world
! hunter (welt zager), "a wild huntsman.
The hGreat Bear, the puzzling name of
a constellation resembling a plow, if any,
thing has been traced to the Sanskrit
arkshos, the shining ones" q word which
the Greeks adopted and changed into
arktos, the bear, just as Jack-tar changed
the French name of a go~lden-yellow fish
game do1ee) into john Dory.
The '.joint-snake" superstition seems
to be limited to the Anglo-American pop
ulation. There are several kinds of
snakes and lizards that break at the mere
touch of a switch, but the pieces can
never be reunited. 1t 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 penchant of our quadrumanous rela-
tives should not have survived this age of
geological gardens. have owned more
than forty varieties of f~our-handers-
monkeys, balloons and lemars-and have
never been able to discover a trace of the
alleged propensity. The prehensilc
hands of a monkey are often used in a
way suggesting the manipulations of his
tWo-handcd relative, but that resemblance
is as unintentional as unavoidable. None
except trained monkeys ever clap their
hands because a visitor happens to ex-
press his delight in that way, nor stick
out their tongues because they see a boy
indulge in that pleasantly. Gestures,
.pantomimes, grimaces can be repeated a
hundred times without inducing an any
known species of monkey to make an at
tempt at mimicry. The imitation of
tricks, though, may often be in
by motives of se~lf-intercst. MY
pet baboon once exhausted his patience
in q vain attempt to open a box with a
screw-lid, and was just going to try the
efficacy of his teeth when a visitar yolun-
teered to solve the problem by less vio-
lent means. Ever since Jenny attempts
to overcome the resistance of a tightly $
box by trying to give the box a {
rotary motion. The instinct of self 5
preservation, too, may sometimes simu- |
ate the effects of mimicry. II an angry
man should lift his hand Jocko naay imi- |
ate the motion-to ward off an expected /,
blow. IF my boy runs to the window !
Jenny will follow suit. to ascertain the {
Of the excitement. But, as a rule, {
he stories Of cumulative apes and the pre- 6
oosterous results Of their propensity are :
= purely a~pocryphal as the anecdotes Of t
conversational parrots. A parrot may il
to repeat o hundred notices with b
nut attaching the least meaning to the I
aforementioned word Of his vocabulary Ii
houggh, Of course, q constantly repeated d
phrase is not apt to be used a1aoays mala- /.
Parrots, like many other birds, a
manifest their emotions in a versatile Ian +,
:uage Of their own, but they never ex- n
them in words. d
=
Cutting Mahogany in Meatco. s
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