THE VINEGAROON 



"MATA VENADO! mata venado!" l screamed a 

 Mexican laborer as he hastily jumped up from 

 his seat by the camp-fire. Judging from his 

 excitment I might have expected to see some 

 reptile as big as a rattlesnake crawling out from 

 the place where he sat. "Mata venado! mata 

 venado!" he hysterically cried again as he 

 pointed down with quivering finger to a queer, 

 tan-colored spiderlike creature that ran swiftly 

 off his sleeve and almost into the fire. 



"It is only a harmless vinegaroon," I said. 

 "He cannot hurt you." 



But the poor man was so frightened he could 

 not be quieted, and all my explanations did not 

 avail to get him to sit down with us again. 



"Did he bite you, sefior?" I asked. 



" No! No! But he might, and if he did I would 

 die. That is what happens to all who are bitten. 



1 Spanish name locally applied to the vinegaroon ; literally, 

 kill deer. The common name is a misapplication of a name gen- 

 erally given to a Mexican species of whip scorpion which emits, 

 when alarmed, a vinegar-like odor. 



