The Zoologist— September, 18G7. 881 



Notes on the Folk-lore of Zoology. By Edward R. Alston, Esq. 



Following in the path in which my friend Mr. Harting has so ably 

 shown the way, I propose to throw together a few notes on the folk- 

 lore of our Science, that is, on the various legends, superstitions and 

 popular beliefs concerning animals. In old days many of these were 

 articles of faith with refined poets and grave philosophers; now they 

 only find refuge with the uncultivated and ignorant, and even there 

 the spread of education and intelligence is fast rooting them out. Still 

 they are of interest, both to the antiquarian and the naturalist, and 

 therefore I have collected the following observations from various 

 sources, trusting that other readers of the 'Zoologist' will be able to 

 add to them, and thus preserve interesting information from being lost. 

 In order to keep the matter within reasonable bounds, I have confined 

 these notes to the vertebrate fauna of Europe. 



I. Quadrupeds. 



Bat. — The bats, with their weird appearance, shadowy flight and 

 nocturnal habits, have been beasts (or birds) of evil omen from the 

 earliest times ; their habit, too, of haunting churches, ruins, caves and 

 other ghostly localities, has assisted in the formation of their bad 

 character: no poet omits them in his fearful scenes, while painters 

 and sculptors have adorned the devil and his imps with bats' wings 

 from time immemorial : the consequence is that to this day many 

 people would rather not meddle with a bat, although not able to say 

 what harm it can do. 



Hedgehog. — The hedgehog is another victim of slander. Not con- 

 tented with his real sins against game and poultry, the vox populi 

 must needs accuse him of milking the cows, and also of climbing apple- 

 trees, shaking down the fruit and then rolling on it so as to cany it 

 off impaled on his spines ! Nor was this all, according to Pliny the 

 hedgehog maliciously destroys the value of its skin, used as a hackle 

 by the Romans, by voiding a stinking secretion on it in the moment 

 of death (Bell's l Quadrupeds'). Then it, too, was a beast of evil omen, 

 and as such is introduced by Shakespeare : — 



" 1st Witch. Thrice the hrindled cat hath mewed. 

 2nd Witch. Twice aud ouce the hedge-pig wliin'd.'' 



Macbeth, Act iv. Scene 1. 



SECOND SERIES — VOL. II. 2 Z 



