38 



The Irish Naturalist. 



February, 



BELFAST NATURAL HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHICAL 

 SOCIETY. 



December 19.— a paper was read by James Tayi^or on "Stained 

 Glass, Ancient and Modern." 



January 3.— The Lord Mayor (Sir OTTo Jaffe) in the chair. HarTi^ey 

 T. Ferrar, B.A., F.G.S., lectured on "Some Results of the National 

 Antarctic Expedition." 



REVIEWS. 



A ZOOLOGICAL BY PATH. 



Superstitions about Animals. By Frank Gibson. Pp. 208. 

 Loudon and Newcastle-on-Tyne : The Walter Scott Publishing 

 Co. 1904. Price, 3^. 



In this bright and readable little volume the author has brought 

 together a large store of information on a fascinating subject. At the 

 opening of the book he deals with the numerous instances of particular 

 animals being regarded as omens of either good or bad fortune. Then 

 we are led to a discussion of the best-known popular fallacies about 

 common animals and their habits. Finally, there is a chapter on 

 imaginary animals. The subject-matter of the book, therefore, includes 

 such superstitions as the belief in the Raven or Crow as a harbinger of 

 ill-luck ; the sailors fancy that Sharks follow a ship on which a death is 

 shortly to take place; the supposed goat-sucking habits of the Night-jar 

 and the hibernation of Swallows, and the nature of the Basilisk and the 

 Phoenix, The various legends mentioned are illustrated with many 

 striking stories and appropriate quotations from the poets. 



Among superstitions about animals familiar to us in Ireland, the 

 Wren-hunting on St. Stephen's Day — practised also in the Isle of Man — 

 is described at some length, and explained as a survival of the enmity 

 on the part of early Christian teachers towards a bird venerated by the 

 Druids. The folk-lore of the "Devil's coach-horse" and of the 

 Elephant Hawk-moth caterpillar are not mentioned, however. Indeed, 

 throughout the volume, invertebrates are hardly recognised at all. 



As a scientific contribution to the subject the book is rather disappoint- 

 ing. The author has collected many facts, but his comments are, for the 

 most part, confined to moralisings on the foolishness of the beliefs which 

 he records. Perhaps the survival of superstition amongst us — even in the 

 twentieth centur}' — may call for some such corrective as this. But these 

 strange fancies have causes, and a comparison of the forms which they 

 assume among our own and allied races of men could not fail to be a 

 valuable contribution towards the history of human thought. 



G. H. C. 



