Multi-legged reptiles such as centipedes and centipedes often haunt the family home, and some of them are huge, and legend has it that they will turn into monsters and come out to harm people. In the pictorial newspapers of the late Qing Dynasty, there are many records of multi-legged reptiles becoming sperm, which reflect people's fear of multipod reptiles from the side.
Centipede Zhiju Qing Guangxu "Dianshizhai Pictorial"
Centipede is huge
Centipedes, that is, centipedes, are most afraid of spiders, and only spiders can detoxify centipedes. There is a cave in Tansei-gun, Fukui Prefecture, Japan, and it is said that there is a large centipede that has been entrenched in the cave for many years, and the local residents dare not come near it. In the middle of June, Kataoka Hayashiya and Rinchi went to cut firewood, heard a loud noise, looked back, saw a huge centipede, about a foot long, hanging upside down outside the cave, saw people and wanted to pounce, Rinji wanted to escape, but accidentally fell into the valley, fortunately there were companions to rescue, only to survive.
This story takes place in Japan, and it belongs to the strange stories of a special exotic land. People prefer to believe that distant lands are full of rare animals and beasts, including monsters. The legend of the great centipede is everywhere, and the centipede here just came out to show its face. Placing the legend of the monster in an unreachable place is also a common trick used by the storyteller, and everything that can be shocking and shocking cannot be verified, and can only be listened to in vain.
Zhizhu uniquely won Qing Guangxu "Dianshizhai Pictorial"
Zhizhu is unique
The ancients believed that there were treasures on animals, and it was said that they absorbed the essence of the sun and the moon, and formed the jewels over the years. It is said that the beads of the dragon are on the forehead, the beads of the jiao are in the skin, the beads of the snake are in the mouth, the beads of the turtle are on the feet, the beads of the fish are in the eyes, and the beads of the mussels are on the abdomen. And the centipede also has beads on it, which is outside the above range. At noon on the 19th of May in Guangdong Province, there were black clouds rolling, thunder rumbling, suddenly heard a thunderbolt, thunder sounded from the Shengchang Dangdang in Penglaili, Xiguan, split off a few bricks, a centipede has been burned by lightning, weighing about a pound or so, the shop owner came out to see, suddenly saw the centipede's head revealed a bead, picked it up and placed in the palm of the hand, crystal flashing, then treasured, even if it is a close relative, it is not easy to take out to see, do not know how much this jewel is worth.
Silkworm Qing Guangxu "Dianshizhai Pictorial"
Salamander (qúsǒu)
Changzhou people Zhang Mou love to drink, this day drunk back, through the Situ Temple, far away to see the main hall majestic, there are fire flashes on the hammer, like hundreds of golden snakes, look closely, see a monster, there are hundreds of feet, running around the pillar, Zheng Zheng has the sound of metal collision, look closely at the original is a huge salamander. Zhang Mou was bold after drinking, picked up a stone to throw, and the monster ran to the back of the temple. The next morning, I went to see that there was a foot under the pillar, more than two feet long, and I showed it to people, and everyone who saw it was dumbfounded.
Commonly known as the ear clip worm, or scissor worm, the body length varies from less than one centimeter to five centimeters, the abdomen is free to stretch, the tail pliers are straight at the end, the female tail pliers are straight, and the males are bent and grow under soil, leaf litters or rocks. However, from the text description and image, although it is a salamander, it looks more like a worm, commonly known as a grass shoe worm, with fifteen pairs of feet, when a part of the worm's foot is caught, this part of the foot is broken from the body, so that the body can escape. This is a way for the worm to escape the enemy, similar to the situation encountered by Zhang. Perhaps it is the author who confused the silkworm and the worm to have this misremember.