Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 33.djvu/679

Rh In the Southern States the bite of a harmless little green lizard (Sceloporus?) is considered fatal. The negroes and poor whites call the little fellows "skyarpins" (scorpions?). Despite the reputed poisonous nature of these lizards, children are fond of teasing them, holding them at bay with a long stick, and provoking them to "show their money-bags," for, when angered, they have the power to distend and somewhat change the color of their throats. A queer superstition concerning another lizard (the Zoötoca vivipara) is found in the north of England. It is there said that if one pick up one of these creatures and touch its back with the tongue, that organ will thenceforth be endowed with a magical power to cure burns. The belief that a turtle can come out of its shell whenever it likes is not uncommon in the Southern States. In Bucks County, Pa., it is believed that if some one's initials be carved on the under shell of a turtle, it will never leave the locality—an excellent example of the post hoc ergo propter hoc style of reasoning.

The saying that if a turtle bites you it will not let go till it thunders, is sent me from both Tennessee and Maine. Being found in localities so far apart, I dare say it may be more widespread. In New Brunswick the story goes that the turtle will not let go until sundown. It is a fashion among children, and to some extent among grown-up people as well, along the New England coast, to carry in the pocket a small bone which is called a "lucky-bone." Sometimes this is a small bone cut from a turtle while the animal is yet alive. Again the small, serrated, enameled, and very white bone found in the head of a codfish serves the purpose of bringing good luck. Farther west, in the habitat of the gar, a small bone from the head of this fish is supposed to possess the charm; while in Petit Codiac, N. B., the globular head of the femur of a pig is often kept as a lucky-bone in a box or bureau-drawer. Somewhat akin to those just mentioned is a superstition found among the Russian peasantry, which runs as follows: If a bat which has become entangled in one's hair at midnight be killed, and a small bone in or about the shoulder (I can not ascertain just what one it is) be taken out and carried in the pocket, it will have the power to render the bearer invisible at will.

In one village at least in eastern Massachusetts the passer-by may often hear children call out to their playfellows, if a toad appear on the playground, "Don't step on that toad, or your grandmother'll die!" Less general than the belief that handling a toad will produce warts is the fancy that it will cause freckles. An English superstition is that to carry the head of a frog wrapped in silk will protect one from the gallows. In the neighborhood of Halifax, N. S., the yellow-spotted salamander