256 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[November 1, 1898. 



AN IRISH SUPERSTITION. 



By Frances .J. Battersby. 



A QUAINT old book, written by Sir Henry Piers of 

 Insternaglit in 1G82, and entitled " A Cbrora- 

 graphical Description of the County West Meath," 

 gives the following account of the " Connagh 

 worm," which may prove interesting to some 

 readers of Knowledge. 



"We have a certain reptile found in our bogs called by 

 the Irish the ' Connagh worm.' This is an ugly worm, 

 sometimes as thick as a man's thumb, about two or three 

 inches long, having, as all reptiles have, many short feet, 

 a large head, great goggle eyes and glaring, between 

 which riseth orjutteth forth one thick bristle, in shape 

 like a horn, which is prominent and bendeth forward about 

 three-quarters of an inch. Whatever beast happeneth to 

 feed where this venomous worm hath crept (some say if 

 he do but tread there) is certainly poisoned, yet may be 

 infallibly cured if timely remedy be applied ; the case is 

 twofold, yet in effect but one, both proceeding from the 

 very worm itself. Some there are that take this worm and 

 putting it into the hand of a new-born child close the 

 hand about it, tying it up with the worm closed in it till it 

 be dead. This child ever after, by stroking the beast 

 affected recovers it, and so it will if the water wherein the 

 child washes be sprinkled on the beast. I have known a 

 man that thus would cure his neighbour's cattle tho' he 

 never saw them. 



" The other method of cure, which I like much better, is 

 by boring an augur-hole in a well-grown willow tree, and 

 in it imprisoning, but not immediately killing the worm, 

 so close by a wooden peg that no air may get in, and 

 therein leaving him to die at leisure. The leaves and 

 tender branches of this tree ever after if bruised in water, 

 and the affected beast therewith be sprinkled, he is cured. 

 The All-wise and Ever-gracious God having thus in his 

 Providence ordered it that not only this venomous reptile, 

 but divers others, and who knows if not all, did we know the 

 right method of using them, should have in themselves 

 their own antidotes, that so we might have a remedy at 

 hand as the poet sayeth — ' Una eademque manus vulnus 

 opemque ferat.' " 



The first time I saw the "reptile" it was brought to me 

 by a country girl, who had picked it up by the aid of two 

 sticks as it was crossing a road, as she was afraid to handle 

 it. Subsequently, a friend brought me several specimens 

 taken off a fuchsia in her garden, and there were few 

 seasons for many years in which two or three specimens 

 were not obtained by the first finder, now grown fearless 

 of its " poisonous " powers. Last autumn a neighbouring 

 clergyman's daughter walking near a ditch " saw her little 

 dog barking and snapping at a most curious looking 

 creature with staring goggle eyes." 



We made many inquiries amongst our labourers and 

 country folk as to what this so-called "reptile" could be, 

 and the various accounts proved very amusing. One man 

 said " he had seen one years ago, about thres inches long, 

 and as thick as two black slugs put together; it had a 

 round head like a cat's, and goggle eyes." He was afraid to 

 touch it as its eyes glared like a frog's, and said it bit or 

 stung cattle, when their heads swelled up, and a man was 

 once bit on the leg, which swelled up, and he nearly died. 



A labourer said that once, having taken his dinner to a 

 field, he was going to fetch the tin basin in the evening, 

 when he found a Connagh sitting in it, glaring at him ; 

 and this informant, when offered a reward for a specimen, 

 said he would not touch one for ten shillings. The most 



reliable and graphic account we obtained was from a 

 woman who thirty years ago saw upon a stem of meadow 

 sweet a creature three or four inches in length, almost 

 black, and banded. She let it climb on a stick. " When 

 it stretched itself, its head came to a point like a leech ; 

 when it pulled in the front part, the head seemed very 

 large, and the eyes could not be seen. As it crawled 

 towards her they were glaring and banded across in an odd 

 way, and it had a thing like a gooseberry thorn in its tail." 

 It fell off the stick, and when she came home her father 

 reproved her for not having killed the Connagh by smashing 

 it with a stone, "as now it would sting the cattle.'' 



All these accounts pointed to the larva of the elephant 

 hawk moth, and upon a fine specimen having been brought 

 us this season, tho last informant at once identified it with 

 the Connagh named by her father. A friend of the writer 

 told her of an old man who brought her a caterpillar of the 

 elephant hawk moth which he called by the dreaded name. 

 It seems certain, then, that the dreaded "Connagh worm" 

 is nothing more than a harmless caterpillar. 



There are two models of the " Connagh ' in the Dublin 

 Museum at present. They are studded with coloured stones, 

 and supposed to have been used as charms in days gone by. 



yptfecs of ISOOltg. 



The Mammals, Bcptiles and iVs/i- s of Essex. ByHenry Laver, 

 M.R.C.S., F.S.A., 1-.I..S. (London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 

 1898.) This catalogue of the vertebrate fauna of Essex, 

 excluding the birds, will, Uke all local lists, prove of value 

 to students of geographical distribution. It is published 

 under the cpffis of the Essex Field Club, being the third of 

 a series of special memoirs for which this enterprising and 

 enthusiastic body of naturalists is responsible. We are 

 glad that Mr. Laver has given considerable attention to 

 the fishes of Essex ; there is still room for work in this 

 direction, but though some species will doubtless have 

 been omitted from the catalogue before us, a good beginning 

 has now been made. The publication of the work will 

 certainly encourage the study of natural history in Essex. 

 Text- Book of Entomnhniy. By Alpheus S. Packard, 

 M.D., pii.D., Professor of Zoology and Geology at Brown 

 University. (New York : The MacmiUan Company.) 

 18s. net. Professor Packard's volume deals with the 

 anatomy, physiology, embryology, and metamorphoses of 

 insects, and will prove eminently useful to the working 

 entomologist as well as to students in agricultural colleges. 

 It is presumed that the reader already has some know- 

 ledge of invertebrate life, and at the outset the relations 

 of insects to other arthropoda are discussed. The whole 

 of the seven hundred and more pages bear evidence to 

 the extent of the knowledge which Prof. Packard has 

 accumulated through thirty years of assiduous labour. 

 Though the greater part of the volume, perhaps, is taken 

 up with minute and careful accounts of technical detail, 

 some of the subjects would, we are sm-e, prove of the 

 greatest interest to every intelligent reader. Thus, on 

 p. Ill the question of how flies and other insects are 

 able to walk up, or run with the body inverted, on 

 smooth surfaces, is dealt with. A series of instanta- 

 neous photographs, showing the mode of progression 

 of a beetle, on p. 112, is another instance of information 

 which would be popular anywhere. The theory of 

 insect flight, exemplified also by instantaneous photo- 

 graphs after Marey, is a charming piece of reading, 

 and these are but a few instances which afford evidence 

 enough that the amateur entomologist will find much in 

 this important volume which he wiU be able to understand 

 and appreciate. 



