Collectanea^ 3 1 9
short sojourn on the moon, fall upon the gander and quarrel with the whale, are all identical with Croker's episodes.^ As I did not visit Shark I give these on Lady Wilde's authority ; her Bofin tales seem to be generally reliable and unvarnished.
Mr. Allies told us much about the prophylactics and spells for the safety of men and animals used against the fairies in Bofin, but these must be reserved for a later section on charms and cures. The natives imagined that swarms of fairies sur- rounded the Allies children, and ran to spit on the infants' clothes as a preservative. I shall have to deal with the other aspects of this subject in the section on the evil eye, as it is rather hard to decide to what section to allot one's notes.
In Mayo and the neighbouring Sligo fairy-doctors are not uncommon. They usually possess elf-bags, containing in one recent case 3 or 4 ancient flint arrow heads, a piece of silver with a cross on it, and 3 pieces of copper. Some have 7 or 8 fiints, though only one was used in the disenchanting acts. Cows were also treated with water from three boundary streams, ladies-mantle juice and salt; the coins and one arrow head being dipped in it. It was given in three draughts to the cow, the rest poured on her back or into her ears.'
(To he continued.)
Traces of Couvade (.?) in England.
An interesting fact has lately come under my notice which appears to belong to the " Couvade " cycle of ideas. I note that in the March number of this Journal Mr. H. J. Rose published a short paragraph entitled " Couvade in Ontario," where beliefs seem to prevail similar to those which I have recently discovered to exist in some parts of England.
In a case which came under my immediate notice a woman, whose husband is a sailor now serving in the Mediterranean, was pregnant. She was in excellent health ; but her husband,
' Ancient Legends, etc., vol. i. pp. 56, 114, 175. '^ Irish Naturalist , xiii. p. 219 (Dr. A. D. Evelyn).
