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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 1 



monly gathered are certain of the orchids. Thou- 

 sands of orchids are used annually in decorating the 

 churches, churchyards, and cemeteries at various 

 religious festivals, especially Corpus Christi (when 

 the Flor de Corpus, Laelia speciosa, is used) and All 

 Souls' Day (when two orchids, Laelia autumnalis 

 and Bletia campanulata, known as Flor de Muertos, 

 Flor de Animas, and Flor de Santos, are used). 

 When a family is too poor to buy soap it may use 

 some of the amoles or saponaceous roots of several 

 of the agaves, yuccas, and related plants. 



Although the list of uses of wild plants is by no 

 means completed, we will close this section by 

 mentioning the large canes or carrizos (Arundo 

 donax L.) which grow along the arroyos and 

 ditches in town and near some of the lowland 

 springs, and which are used for such items as 

 frameworks for fireworks, carrying crates or 

 huacales, and beds. Despite the space that we 

 have devoted to a discussion of collected plants, 

 they actually do not occupy an important place 

 in the life of a majority of the people of Quiroga. 

 Since clearings have pushed the vegetated areas 

 back from the immediate vicinity of Quiroga town, 

 and because of the paved highway and the many 

 passenger and freight vehicles that pass over it, it 

 is now much simpler to purchase most of the items 

 (or the equivalents) which formerly were gathered, 

 and possibly the time saved is spent to better ad- 

 vantage in pursuing regular gainful vocations. 



WILD ANIMALS 



Very little hunting or fishing is done by the in- 

 habitants of the Quiroga area. Since they have 

 no lake rights they neither catch fish nor hunt 

 ducks. These items are purchased from peoples of 

 Santa Fe, Tzintzuntzan, and other lake commu- 

 nities. There is not one professional hunter and 

 there are scarcely more than six or eight persons 

 who hunt consistently, either for pleasure or for 

 food. This is far dift'erent from the conditions 

 which obtained before the coming of the Spaniards. 

 In prehistoric times (according to the evidence 

 from archeology and the Relacidn de Michoacan), 

 fishing for the various fish of the lake, hunting 

 such bh-ds as ducks, quails, and doves (and pos- 

 sibly wild turkeys and chachalacas) , and hunting 

 of deer, rabbits, squirrels, small rodents (gophers 

 and rats), peccaries, armadillos, and cai'nivores 

 (jaguars, mountain lions, wolves, coyotes, etc.) for 



flesh and skins were very important. Further- 

 more, zoos and aviaries were maintained. Now 

 Quiroga has no lake rights, the forests have been 

 extensively cut down, domesticated animals supply 

 most of the requirements of flesh and skins, and 

 the number of all game animals has been reduced 

 to such an extent that some species are extinct in 

 the area. Among the animals which have become 

 extinct in the Quiroga area within the past 50 to 

 100 years are peccaries, wolves, jaguars, pumas, 

 wild tui'keys, and chachalacas. There are reported 

 to be only a dozen or so deer left in the highlands 

 back of Quiroga. Although there is no consistent 

 hunting, quite a few individuals go out occasionally 

 to shoot for food — principally rabbits and squirrels, 

 and a rare armadillo, deer, or opossum. Firearms 

 (shotguns and rifles) are most commonly used. 

 There is no use of bows and arrows. Boys may 

 employ slings, traps, and snares for the smaller 

 mammals and birds. There are no large ferocious 

 animals left in the area, but some of the smaUer 

 carnivores (coyotes, foxes, ring-tailed cats, bob- 

 cats, raccoons, skunks and weasels) which attack 

 lambs, calves, and poultry, and the rodents (rab- 

 bits, squirrels, gophers) which eat the field crops 

 are killed when the circumstances are convenient. 

 There is practically no hunting of birds, since the 

 doves and quails do not justify the expenditure of 

 ammunition. Occasionally the young of deer, 

 rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, and foxes are caught 

 and brought up as household pets. Also a few 

 solitaires, limiets, mockingbirds, and doves are 

 caught and kept as caged pets. There are no im- 

 portant bat caves, and the use of bat guano is rare. 

 No birds are caught or killed for their feathers, al- 

 though the feathers of domestic poultry are some- 

 times used in making dusters. From time to time 

 the hives of wild bees are raided for honey, but this 

 practice is not common. There is no eating of 

 grubs, grasshoppers, snakes, lizards, salamanders, 

 turtles, or frogs, such as obtains in some other parts 

 of Mexico. Neither are the eggs or ahuautli of the 

 local "water cricket" collected and eaten. In 

 terms of positive economic use wild animals are 

 quite unimportant. 



In terms of diseases carried, depredations on 

 crops and stores, and folklore, a considerable num- 

 ber of animals are involved. The most common 

 arthropods in the settlements are a great variety of 

 flies (moscas), cocki'oaches (cucarachas) , fleas 



