Leech-lore. 359 



capture with great success. Sometimes portions of tlie bodies 

 of animals are thrown into the water, and taken out after some 

 hours with the adherent leeches ; they are scooped out with 

 ladles when the weather is rough, at which time they sink to 

 the bottom, and hide in the mud. At Bonfarick, leeches are 

 taken in great numbers by means of a wooden box, which is 

 pierced on every side with a number of small openings suffi- 

 ciently large to allow them to enter, but which are narrowed in 

 the interior ; this box is filled with moss and aquatic plants, and 

 then, being attached by a cord, is thrown into the pond ; the 

 leeches collect in the plants. The spring is the season when 

 the most leeches are taken, but the time varies according to 

 climate. To prevent the complete exhaustion, the cocoons 

 which contain the ova are carefully placed at the proper time in 

 the reservoirs. 



Leeches have enemies, and form no exception to the general 

 law in the animal kingdom ; various web-footed birds devour 

 them, and herons, moles, shrew-mice, water-rats, and mole- 

 crickets are also said to be their destroyers. It is related by 

 Puymaurin that a certain dealer who had made 30,000 francs in 

 four years by the sale of leeches, endeavoured to increase his 

 number in a small pond, and when they amounted to about 

 200,000, a flock of wild ducks came, and in five hours destroyed 

 them all. Besides these enemies above-mentioned, some kinds 

 of fish, the larvas of various aquatic insects, and ev.en other kinds 

 of leeches, such as Aulastoma and Troclteta, occasionally prey 

 upon Hirudo medicinalis . 



It has long been a subject of belief with some persons that 

 leeches are so susceptible of atmospheric changes that they may 

 be employed as useful barometers.* 



A writer in Hone's Every Bay Boole (ii. 491) mentions the 

 case of a gentleman who for several years kept a leech in a 

 phial of water for the purpose of a weather-glass. If the 

 weather was fine and calm, the leech lay motionless at the 

 bottom of the vessel, and rolled together in a spiral form ; if it 

 rained, it crept up to the top of the glass ; if wind was about to 

 rise, ' c the poor prisoner galloped through its limpid habitation 

 with amazing swiftness ;" if a storm was at hand, the leech 

 crawled up the glass and lodged out of the water, and " dis- 

 covered great uneasiness in violent throes and convulsions." 



On this subject M. Moquin-Tandon observes (213) that "on 

 the eve of high wind, the leeches wander about their habitation 

 with a surprising quickness ; if the weather is cloudy they hide 

 themselves in the mud ; on the approach of storms they mount 

 to the surface of the water, and fishermen profit by this circum- 

 stance to take them. These different movements are very far 

 * See Inquire Within v.pon 'Everything, No. 2180. 



