MOONEY] INSECTS 309 



nier they say: " Tho jur-fly liiis })r()ui;lit the lioans," his song' l)?!!!^ 

 taken as the siyiial that hcaiis are i-ijx' and that green corn is not far 

 behind. When the katydid (Av/^v'Z/') is heai-d a litth^ later they say, 

 '"Katydid has ln-ouyht the roastinof-ear bread."" The cricket {filhi'tu') 

 is often called ■■tile liarhiM'"" ((litiisf<(y,_''.sl'i). on account of its hat)it of 

 tinawint;- liair from furs, and when the Cherokee meet a man w itli his 

 hair clipped uneveidy they sometimes ask playfidly. '■Did the cricket 

 cut your hair;"" (see story. ■■Why the Possum"s Tail is Hare""). Cer- 

 tain ]iersons are said to drink tea made of crickets in order to become 

 good singers. 



The mole cricket ( Gryllotaljyi), so called because it tunnels in the earth 

 and has hand-like claws litted for digging, is known to the Cherokee 

 as (jCifkirih/i, a word Mhich literally means " seven,'" l)ut is probabI\- 

 an onomatope. It is reputed among them to ))e alert, hard to catch, 

 and an excellent singer, who "" never makes mistakes."" Like the 

 crawtisli and the cricket, it ]ilays an important part in preparing people 

 for the duties of life. Infants slow in learning to speak have their 

 tongues scratched with the claw of a gfd kwagi, the living insect being 

 held in the hand during the operation, in order that they may soon 

 learn to speak distinctly and be eloquent, wise, and shrewd of speech 

 as they grow older, and of such quick intelligence as to remember 

 without eflfort anything once heard. The same desiralile result may 

 be accomplished with a grown person, but with much more ditKculty, 

 as in that case it is necessary to scratch the inside of the throat for 

 four successive mornings, the insect being pushed dowTi with the fin- 

 gers and again withdrawn, while the regular tabus nuist l)e strictly 

 observed for the same period, or the operation will be without effect. 

 In some cases the ins(»ct is put into a small bowl of water overnight, 

 and if still alive in thi- morning it is taken out and the water given to 

 the patient to drink, after which the gurkwagi is set at iil)erty. 



Bees are kept by many of the Cherokee, in addition to the wild bees 

 which are hunted in the woods. Although they are siiid to have 

 come originally from the whites, the Cherokee have no tradition of a 

 time M'hen they did not know them: there seems, however, to be no 

 folklore connected with them. The cow-ant {Myrmlca'.). a large, red, 

 stinging ant, is called properly dasun'tdJl atatmn'sM. "stinging ant," 

 but. on account of its hard liody-case, is fre(|ueritly called /n'lTi'i/imu'wi, 

 "stone-dress,"" after a celebrated mythic monster. Strange as it may 

 seem, there appears to be no folklore connected with either the lirefly 

 or the glowworm, while tlie sjjider, so prominent in other ti'ibal 

 mythologies, ajjpcars in but a single Chei'okee myth, where it brings 

 back the fire from across the water. In the fornuilas it is fiequently 

 invoked to entangle in its threads the soul of a victim wiiom the con- 

 jurer desires to bring under his evil s{)ells. From a fancied resem- 

 blance in appearance the name for spitler, /id'ndne'ski, is applied also 



