Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-08-01
SIGHTS IN MEXICO.
Jumbo snails Wonderful Butterflies
-Armadillos as Food.

The trees are covered with orchids,
lovely in form and hue, exquisite OF
odor, infinite in variety. In the course
of one afternoon gathered more than
dozen species, besides whole flower
press full Of ferns and blossoms, as an
| incidental in the collection of butterflies
and land-shells.
or the latter there are over one hun
dred varieties in the neighborhood OF
Xalapa, from the tiny Stretching, newly
discovered by my hostess, who is full
blooded Totonac Indian, to the great
hermaphrodite Glandina Sowerbyana,
whose shell reaches length of eleven
centimetres or five inches, while the ex-
tended snail not infrequently measures
eight and one-half or nine inches. And
the butterflies oh, the butterflies l
remember once cavilling at Edwin Ar
nold's smile in "The Light of Asia,
wherein he speaks of butterflies as 'Jew-
elled objects" The term seemed map
propriate to the velvety texture OF the
butterfly; but / bow to its accuracy, hav-
ing seen the butterflies of Xalapa.
White, black, red, purple, brown, golden
they shine, aud many of them glitter
with the blilliancy of gems. One par
ticularly beautiful variety is Familiarity
known as 'the figure 8, " from the mark
on the under side of its wings The
spread of wing Of some Of these gorge
Gus creatures is often eight or ten inches
and the night moths have wings larger
than those Of doves in many species.
Armadillos are, if not abundant, not
rare herabouis, and they find ready pur
chasers at from thirty to fifty cents. The
flesh is very delicate and savory. The
favorite mode of cooking is by sort of |
barbecue in its own shell. This shell is
a slightly object, with its graduated bos-
ses and corrugat ons, and it has been |
utilized by deft needlewomen for the
groundwork Of many pretty bags and |
boxes. The poems employed in field |
labor use these shells to hold the seed /
for sowing. Tomeet these purposes the
lateral edges are bent together while
green, and laced fast by cords or hide
thongs Although it would appear to
be a cleaner animal than the armadillo,
the opossum, it seems, is disdained as a
food element by the Mexicans, although
it is so plentiful hereabouts that it is
largely trapped for its depredations
in the poultry yard. Strange that
this discrimination should exist, for the
is somewhat omniyerous, and
it has been asserted that it has been
known to make ghoulish raids on grave
yards, while the opossum is a more fas-
tidious creature.
There exists hereabouts a belief that
the tail of the opossum, dried and pull
Ferized and drunk in wine, is a sover-
sign remedy for chills and fever.
Another animal, considered n tidbit by
.he people of the lowlands. makes a de
,idedly repulsive impression upon I'M
accustomed strangers. This is an
guiana or lizard, which the natives
iatch and confne in the thatched rooted
leaks of their houses. Some people de-
'lare, that in order to fatten properly,
he mouth of the iguana must be closed
~ a few stitches to prevent it from
ating. The truth probably is that the
wider the poor creatures mouth is left
pen the sooner it completes the process
# fattening, as it doubtless lives on the
arious larvae and beetles bred in the
traw or palm Of the thatching. Another
4 the resources Of the commissary de-
is shrub which is called he
Iuinite, or else pitos (whistles), from
he shape of the flowers, which are of
eep scarlet, some three inches in length,
rowing IL clusters. These conieal
eads are cooked either as green's or in
he shape of forcemeat balls, and they
ave, it is said all the flavor of good
leat have not tasted them.
There are mosquitoes in abundance
nd vicious little gnat called rodador .
r ''rounder," whose sting burns like
re and leaves tiny speck Of scarlet in I
he flesh of its victim. Happily this
est is not common. There are scor-
ions and other venomous insects, but
leir sting is only painful, not fatal.
here is also a Iattlesnake which is not
enormous, and horned serpent, and
mother snake which the wiseacres were
lin to find a realization of the tabled /,
which was said to have g =
cad at each end and to run with equal /
Icility in either direction. The present o
ariety has been shown, however, to
ave the customary head and tail end.
le two being markedly alike in appear