ANIMAL AND PLANT LORE. 247 



regard, to the nature of the bristly-looking little fellow, I was 

 told of his protective power of discharging a volley of quills at 

 either a hunter or any four-footed enemy. This interesting fable 

 about our own unaggressive rodent is doubtless an application of 

 a similar exaggeration of earlier origin concerning the African 

 porcupine. No doubt the story arose at the outset from the 

 extreme readiness with which the quills are detached from the 

 skin of their owner, contrasting remarkably as it does with the 

 savage hold which their minute barbs take of the flesh of the in- 

 cautious meddler in whom they lodge. 



A cure for a felon, recommended in central Maine, is to wrap 

 the offending finger in the thin membrane which lines an egg- 

 shell. More interesting than this is the south of Ireland conceit 

 that sucking the first egg laid by a black hen will clear the voice 

 and render it musical, 



One of the most unique of veterinary remedies is the following 

 sent me from Bradford, Mass. : " If a cow lose her cud, put a 

 live frog down her throat and it will bring back the cud." 



In Alabama and Texas a hymenopterous insect, of the family 

 Mutillidce,, which bears a superficial resemblance to a red ant, is 

 locally known by the entirely undeserved name of cow-killer, from 

 the supposed destructive effect of its sting upon cattle. 



The dragon-fly is greatly feared by little folks in Maine, as 

 they believe that it often sews together the lips of children, and if 

 the mouth be left open to prevent the sewing of the lips the warn- 

 ing cry, is " Look out, he'll sew up your swallow ! " A very cau- 

 tious little girl, therefore, was accustomed on sight of ene of these 

 insects to open wide her mouth, keep her lips far apart, and then 

 cram her fist into her mouth to keep the enemy out of her throat. 

 In parts of Massachusetts the story goes that it is only children 

 who tell lies who are in danger of having their mouths sewed up 

 by the " devil's darning needle," while in New Hampshire and 

 parts of Pennsylvania, the children think that their ears, eye- 

 lids, nostrils, and lips must be guarded, or they may be sewed up 

 by the dreaded darning-needle. This graceful and beautifully col- 

 ored insect has various names besides the well-known one just men- 

 tioned. In New Jersey it is often called " spindle " ; in the neigh- 

 borhood of New Orleans, " mosquito-hawk," and very likely this 

 may be a most rational appellation; but it goes without saying that 

 that of " snake-doctor," common in many of the Southern States, 

 is entirely senseless. The negroes and ignorant whites, however, 

 really believe that ailing snakes are attended by these flying "doc- 

 tors." In Tennessee and Illinois either " snake-doctor " or " snake- 

 feeder " is the popular name, and the latter is the one in general 

 use both among children and adults in Ohio, Indiana, and some 

 other States of the Mississippi basin. When a child in northern 



