Page:Life in Mexico vol 2.djvu/75

Rh but where the roofs are formed of beams, they are very apt to drop through.

There are other venomous reptiles, for whose sting there is no remedy, and if you would like to have a list of these interesting creatures, according to the names by which they are known in these parts, I can furnish you with one from the best authority. These, however, are generally to be found about out-houses, and only occasionally visit your apartments. There is the chicalina, a striped viper, of beautiful colors—the coralillo, a viper of a coral color, with a black head—the vinagrillo, an animal like a large cricket. You can discover it, when in the room, by its strong smell of vinegar. It is orange-colored, and taps upon the person whom it crawls over, without giving them any pain, but leaving a long train of deadly poison—I have fancied that I smelt vinegar in every room since hearing this—the salamanquesa, whose bite is fatal. It is shaped like a lizard—the eslaboncillo, which throws itself upon you, and if prevented from biting you, dies of spite—the cencoatl, which has five feet, and shines in the dark; so that fortunately a warning is given of the vicinity of these animals in different ways; in some by the odor they exhale, in some by the light they emit, and in others, like the rattlesnake, by the sound they give out.

Then there is a beautiful black and red spider, called the chinclaquili, whose sting sends a pain through all your bones; the only cure for which is to be shut up for several days in a room thick with smoke. There are also the tarantula and