ADDER— ANT 395 



adders, as do also goats, which are their inveterate enemies. Struan, 

 in Athole, is, or was, also noted as being a special haunt of the 

 adder. The slopes of Goatfell, in the island of Arran, are also 

 well stocked with adders. The coat-of-arms of the Clan Donna- 

 chaidh bears the representation of an adder, perhaps in conse- 

 quence of that reptile being so plentiful in the old country of the 

 Clan. The sting of an adder is said to be cured by rubbing its 

 own skin over the wound or punctured place; this is seldom 

 required as the adder is always more anxious to escape than 

 attack, and is easily alarmed. They are known to swallow their 

 young even on a sudden alarm. The glass balls or amulets 

 possessed by the Druids, either for mysteries or ornament, or both, 

 were called "adder stones" or "the glass of the serpent," gloine 

 nathair. Some adders, in Sutherland, are reported to be very 

 poisonous, from twenty to fifty inches in length, of various colours, 

 some quite black, others beautifully marked, striped, and speckled, 

 some of a reddish and light hue ; sheep stung by them die in a 

 very short time. Adders have been known to feed on young or 

 newly-fledged birds, mice, beetles, flies, etc., etc., indeed almost 

 all kinds of insects. Their fangs are long and sharp with a hole 

 through, and with a small globular receptacle for reddish or 

 blueish matter underneath, which is a deadly poison and flows 

 through as they bite. They appear wise and cunning, very wary, 

 and sham death admirably when detected. 



ANT. — Deangan, dibheach ; Earc-luachra or luachrach ; Moirb, 

 moirbh (Ir.) ; Seangan, sneadhan (Perth). Mor-grugyn (Welsh). 



Aemet, aemete (A. S.), ammat, ampt, ampte, anaky ; Bishimer, 

 black-horse (large) ; Eemock, eemuch, emattie, emerteen, emmack, 

 emmak, emmet, emmis, emmock, emmot, emmut, emock, emote, 

 emothee, enanteen, enemy ; Fishimer ; Immick, immie, immis, 

 inaky ; Jack Camal (Campbell) ; Merratoo, mooratoig, mooratow 

 (Welsh) ; Pisimire, pissmote, pysmyre ; Scotch, semette ; Termite ; 

 Yam met. 



The word "ant" is merely a dowling or softening of the word 

 "emmet" by contraction; pismire is so called from acrid urinous 

 smell of an ant-hill ; the Welsh terra supposed to be from root 

 " mur," to swarm. There are black, brown, and red ants in the 

 Highlands. In the voyage of Mael Duin as given in Tome IX. of 

 Revue Celtique, " a great swarm of ants, each of them the size of a 

 foal," is mentioned. "Ealta mor de seanganaibh agus meud searr- 

 aich gach fear dhiubh." Ants are generally, some say always, 

 found in old land or soil, hence the designation " seangan sean- 

 talmhain." 



Cha n'eil aig seangan ach sealltuinn air iolaire gu fios fhaotainn 

 air cho suarach 's tha e. 



An ant has only to look on an eagle to know its own insig- 

 nificance. All things hang on comparison. 



