The Zoologist— April, 1868. 1175 



When these notes were written I was not aware that many of the 

 Scotch rhymes quoted had already been published in the ' Zoologist' 

 by Mr. R. Dick Duncan (Zool. 556). I had originally intended to 

 include also the superstitions regarding reptiles and fishes, but these 

 1 must now postpone to some future time. I will therefore conclude 

 wilh a few additional notes, which were either accidentally omitted or 

 which have since come to my knowledge. In so doing 1 must return 

 thanks to my kind friends Messrs. Gray, Halting and Norman, for 

 their assistance. 



Cat (Zool. S. S. 921). — In many parts of Scotland it was formerly 

 believed that if a cat leaped over a corpse it boded misfortune ; some 

 said that the next person it leaped over would be stricken with blind- 

 ness. Hence cats were carefully excluded from the room where a 

 corpse lay (Jamieson, Scot. Die). Every old woman will tell you 

 that cats will "suck a child's breath" and thus kill it, and I would 

 hardly call this an idle superstition, for cats are proverbially fond of 

 warmth, and if they nestled over a young baby's face in its cradle 

 might easily suffocate it. 



Wolf [7ioa\. S. S. 921) — Mr. Halting sends me the following charm, 

 repeated by shepherds to protect their flocks from the wolf: — Come, 

 beast of wool, thou art the lamb of humility! I will protect thee! Go 

 to the right about, grim, gray and greedy beasts, wolves, she- wolves, 

 and young wolves; ye are not to touch the flesh which is here ! Get 

 thee behind me, Satan !" Uttering this somewhat incoherent spell 

 was, however, regarded as sorcery, and punished with death. 



Black Rat (Zool. S. S. 976).— Mr. Harling has reminded me of a 

 superstition which I accidentally omitted in noticing this species. It 

 was formerly believed that not only could no rats live in the parish of 

 Roseneath, Argyleshire, but that the earth of that district was fatal to 

 the species, and it is said that a West India proprietor actually sent 

 several barrels of earth from Roseneath to Jamaica, in the hope of 

 extirpating the rats there ! I am also indebted to Mr. Halting for the 

 following note: — "It was a prevalent notitn in past ages that you 

 might extirpate rats by a persevering course of anathematizing iu 

 rhyme. Reginald Scott says that the Irish thought they could rhyme 

 any beast to death, but the notion was in general restricted to the rat. 

 It is with reference to this belief or practice, that Rosalind, in ' As 

 You Like It,' says : — ' I never was so berhymed since Pythagoras' time, 

 that I was an Irish rat, which I can hardly remember.' (Act iii. 

 Scene 2)." 



