QUIROGA: a MEXICAN MtTNICIPIO — BRAND 



163 



(pulgas), spiders (of which only the black widow 

 and the tarantula are locally noted), weevils, 

 dung beetles, ants, wasps (including a vicious type, 

 known asjicote), mosquitoes {moscos or zancudos), 

 bedbugs (chinches) , lice (piojos) , and chicken mites. 

 Although feared and disliked, there are compara- 

 tively few ticks (garapatas or ivricatas), niguas 

 (Tunga penetrans), jijenes (Simulium sp.), centi- 

 pedes {cien pies), or scorpions (alacranes). The 

 most common diseases in which arthropods are 

 vectors are typhoid, dysentery, malaria, and 

 typhus. Represented on archeologic artifacts of 

 the area and often referred to in folklore are butter- 

 flies, beetles, grasshoppers, ants, spiders, and 

 scorpions. Seashells were imported by the pre- 

 historic Tarascans, but at present moUusks are 

 seldom eaten and only occasionally does a seashell 

 for medicinal use appear in the market. Amphib- 

 ians and reptilians are not numerous, although 

 the ancient Tarascans used turtle carapaces for 

 musical instruments, and they represented snakes, 

 turtles, frogs, lizards, crocodilians, and salaman- 

 ders in metal, stone, and terra cotta. The leop- 

 ard frog, garter snakes, and lizards (chiefly spiny 

 swifts) are the most common of these creatures at 

 present. Frogs, garter snakes, gopher snakes, 

 racers, rattlesnakes, "flying snakes," "horned 

 snakes," and poisonous lizards are most com- 

 monly mentioned m traditions and folklore. 

 There are only a few poisonous reptilians in the 

 area, chiefly three species of rattlesnakes (viboras 

 de cascabel), and two species of lyre snakes 

 (pichocuate) . The so-called coral snake or coralillo 

 in Quiroga is a kingsnake, and the escorpion is a 

 harmless Eumeces. Many birds were used by the 

 prehistoric Tarascans as decorative motifs (in- 

 cluding hawks or eagles, ducks, tm'keys, parrots, 

 owls, hummingbirds, etc.). In folklore and place 

 names, the most common birds are the humming- 

 bird, curve-billed thrasher, brown towhee, ducks, 

 hawks, owls, and doves. The dominant birds 

 in the settlements are linnets, wrens, warblers, 

 thrashers, towhees, swallows, swifts, doves, spar- 

 rows, and buzzards. In the fields and in the high- 

 land woods there are numerous kingbirds, hawks, 

 ravens, cowbirds, blackbirds, jays, woodpeckers, 

 flycatchers, orioles, and other birds. The birds 

 and fishes of the lake are not mentioned because 

 they are not part of the Quiroga scene. The 

 mammals represented by the greatest number of 



individuals are rodents, bats, rabbits, shrews, and 

 carnivores, with opossums, armadillos, and deer 

 far behind. The scourges of the field crops are the 

 ground squirrels, cottontail rabbits, gophers, and 

 several species of rats and mice. Among the 

 carnivores there are definitely present in the 

 Quiroga area one species of raccoon (known as 

 mapache and tejon), one ringtailed cat (locally 

 and incorrectly called a ttalcoyote), one weasel 

 (cuiniqui, onzita,comadreja), three skunks {zorrillo 

 and zorrilla, and specific names), one gray fox 

 [zorro and zorra), one bobcat {gato monies, mits- 

 papu), and occasional stray pumas, ocelots, and 

 jaguars. Ths most common mammalian subjects 

 of superstitions, stories, and other elements of 

 folklore are coyotes, dogs, raccoons, skunks, 

 opossums, deer, bats, gophers, squirrels, rabbits, 

 jaguars, and pumas. 



MINERALS 



The entire Quiroga area is dominated by vol- 

 canic rocks (andesitic and basaltic lavas, brecchias, 

 tufts, and sands) and their derivatives. Quiroga 

 and the Patzcuaro Basin lie between the highly 

 mineralized silver-lead zone of Guanajuato on the 

 north and the copper-gold zone of the Balsas on 

 the south. The absence of rhyohtes, latites, and 

 hornblende andesites (which in Mexico are so rich 

 in metals) undoubtedly is the key to the paucity 

 of metals and mines in the region of Quiroga. 

 There are no mines worked in the municipio of 

 Quiroga. Beaumont records that gold dust for- 

 merly was obtained from the red earths in the 

 vicinity of Tzintzuntzan; gold has been reported 

 for Acuitzio, Charo, Cuitzeo, Copandaro, Que- 

 r^ndaro, and Tarimbaro; gold was listed as an 

 item of tribute from villages in the vicinity in the 

 sixteenth century; and gold was worked and used 

 by the Tarascans in the Patzcuaro Basin accord- 

 ing to the Relaci6n de Michoacan and archeologic 

 finds. No gold has ever been reported for the 

 Quiroga area proper. Silver ore has been obtained 

 from the northern flanlis of Tzirate near Tere- 

 mendo, and from Nahuatzen, Cuitzeo, Quer^ndaro, 

 and Acuitzio in the general region. Silver also 

 is mentioned in the Relaci6n de Michoacan, and 

 has been found archeologically in the region. 

 Copper ranks, with gold and silver, among the 

 three metals most often mentioned in the Relacidn 

 de Michoacan; and it was the metal most used 



835847—50 



