Lucky Charms are like the vampires of breakfast cereal. They're magical, they're delicious, they're a little bit dangerous and bad for you. They initially make you feel great, but then over time you realize that maybe your relationship with Lucky Charms is just a little bit unhealthy and you start to think, 'Maybe I don't want to be in a long-term relationship with a breakfast cereal that tastes delicious but damages my health.' But then the Lucky Charms gets all stalker on you and for some reason you kind of like that. It makes you feel special. So yeah, you spend your life with Lucky Charms. That's awesome. That's a great way to... get diabetes.
Robert Neville looked out over the new people of the earth. He knew he did not belong to them; he knew that, like the vampires, he was anathema and black terror to be destroyed. And, abruptly, the concept came, amusing to him even in his pain. … Full circle. A new terror born in death, a new superstition entering the unassailable fortress of forever. I am legend.
Film spectators are quiet vampires.
"Why, that he is no other than Lord Ruthven himself in a living form." This fresh allusion to Byron [*] drew a smile to Franz's countenance; although he could but allow that if anything was likely to induce belief in the existence of vampires, it would be the presence of such a man as the mysterious personage before him.
"I'll tell you," answered the countess. "Byron had the most perfect belief in the existence of vampires, and even assured me that he had seen them. The description he gave me perfectly corresponds with the features and character of the man before us. Oh, he is the exact personification of what I have been led to expect! The coal-black hair, large bright, glittering eyes, in which a wild, unearthly fire seems burning,--the same ghastly paleness. Then observe, too, that the woman with him is altogether unlike all others of her sex. She is a foreigner--a stranger. Nobody knows who she is, or where she comes from. No doubt she belongs to the same horrible race he does, and is, like himself, a dealer in magical arts. I entreat of you not to go near him--at least to-night; and if to-morrow your curiosity still continues as great, pursue your researches if you will; but to-night you neither can nor shall. For that purpose I mean to keep you all to myself." Franz protested he could not defer his pursuit till the following day, for many reasons. "Listen to me," said the countess, "and do not be so very headstrong. I am going home. I have a party at my house to-night, and therefore cannot possibly remain till the end of the opera. Now, I cannot for one instant believe you so devoid of gallantry as to refuse a lady your escort when she even condescends to ask you for it."
In various churches the dead are anointed with holy oil, to guard them against the vampires or ghouls which ever threaten to take possession of dead bodies and live in them. In the Armenian church, as formerly in many Greek churches, a cross is not holy until the Spirit has been formally led into it by means of prayer and anointing with holy oil. A new church is anointed at its four corners, and also the altar round which it is built; similarly tombs, church gongs, and all other instruments and utensils dedicated to cultual uses. In churches of the Greek rite a little of the old year's chrism is left in the jar to communicate its sanctity to that of the new. (F. C. C.) Entry: ANOINTING
According to the classification followed by Dr G.E. Dobson, the extensive family of New World bats known as _Phyllostomatidae_ was widely sundered from the two preceding groups; but in Prof. Max Weber's system they are placed next one another--an arrangement which has the great advantage of bringing together all the bats furnished with nose-leaves. It is indeed probable that the vampires, as the members of the present family may be collectively termed, are the New World representatives of the Old World _Rhinolophidae_ and _Nycteridae_. Entry: CHIROPTERA
_Fauna_.--The fauna of Central America is more closely connected with the fauna of South than with that of North America. As the region is comparatively small, and its limits conventional, there are comparatively few species that it can claim as peculiarly its own. It is almost entirely free from the presence of animals dangerous to man. Of felines it possesses the jaguar (_Felis onza_), popularly called the tiger; the cuguar (_Felis concolor_), popularly called the lion; the tigrillo (_Felis tigrina_), which is sometimes kept tame; and other species. Several species of monkeys (_Mycetes_ and _Ateles_) are numerous in the warm coast region. The Mexican deer (_Cervus mexicanus_) has a wide range both in the lowlands and highlands. Besides the tapir there are several varieties of wild pig, such as the marrano de monte (_Sus torquatus_) and the jabali or javali (_Sus labiatus javali_). The _Edentata_ are represented by a species of armadillo, the honey-bear (_Myrmecophaga tomandua_), and the _Myrmecophaga didactyla;_ and among the rodents may be mentioned, besides rats, hares and rabbits, the fruit-eating cotorra and tepes-cuinte (_Dasyprocta aguti_ and _Coelogenys paca_), and the troublesome _Geomys mexicana._ The manatee is common in all the larger streams. Much annoyance is caused to the agriculturist by the little marsupial called the tacuacine, or the _Didelphys carcinora,_ its allied species. The bats are so numerous that villages have sometimes had to be left to their undisputed occupancy. In the south-east of Costa Rica the inhabitants are at times compelled to withdraw, with all their live-stock, before the swarms of large migratory vampires which in a single night can bleed the strongest animal to death. Most of the domestic animals--the horse, ox, goat, sheep, pig, dog, rabbit, common fowl, peacock and pigeon--are of European origin, and are popularly grouped together as _animales de Castilla._ For the bird collector there is a rich harvest. The catalogue of the National Museum at Washington shows that Costa Rica alone possesses more than twice as many species of birds as the whole of Europe. Among birds of prey it is sufficient to mention _Corogyps atratus,_ the commonest of the vultures, which acts as a universal scavenger, the _Cathartes aura,_ the beautiful _Polyborus vulgaris,_ and the king of the vultures (_Sarcorhamphus papa_). Neither the condor of the southern continent nor the great eagles of the northern are known. The parrot, macaw and toucan are found in all parts; the crow, blackbird, Mexican jay, ricebird, swallow, rainbird, wood-pecker, humming-bird and trogon are also widely distributed. A bird of the last-named genus, the quetzal, quijal or quesal (_Trogon resplendens_) is of special note, not only from the fact that its yellow tail-feathers. 2 or 3 ft. long, were formerly worn as insignia by the Indian princes, but because it has been adopted as the emblematical figure on the national arms of Guatemala. The gallinaceous order is well represented, and comprises several peculiar species, as the pavo de cacho, and the Peten turkey (_Meleagris ocellata_), which has a bronze sheen on its plumage; and aquatic birds, it is almost needless to add, are unusually numerous in a region so richly furnished with lagoons, rivers and lakes. Entry: CENTRAL
The oesophagus is narrow, especially in blood-sucking vampires. The stomach presents two types of structure, corresponding respectively to the two divisions of the order, Megachiroptera and Microchiroptera; in the former the pyloric extremity is, with one exception, elongated and folded upon itself, in the latter simple; an exceptional type is met with in the blood-suckers, where the cardiac extremity is elongated, forming a long appendage. The intestine is comparatively short, varying from one and a half to four times the length of the head and body; longest in the frugivorous, shortest in the insectivorous species. In _Rhinopoma_ and _Megaderma_ a small caecum has been found. The liver is characterized by the great size of the left lateral lobe, which occasionally equals half that of the whole organ; the right and left lateral fissures are usually very deep; in Megachiroptera the spigelian lobe is, with one exception, ill defined or absent, and the caudate is generally large; but in Microchiroptera the former lobe is large, while the caudate is small. The gall-bladder is generally well developed. Entry: CHIROPTERA
Under the head of demons are classified only such spirits as are believed to enter into relations with the human race; the term therefore includes (1) human souls regarded as genii or familiars, (2) such as receive a cult (for which see ANCESTOR WORSHIP), and (3) ghosts or other malevolent revenants; excluded are souls conceived as inhabiting another world. But just as gods are not necessarily spiritual, demons may also be regarded as corporeal; vampires for example are sometimes described as human heads with appended entrails, which issue from the tomb to attack the living during the night watches. The so-called Spectre Huntsman of the Malay Peninsula is said to be a man who scours the firmament with his dogs, vainly seeking for what he could not find on earth--a buck mouse-deer pregnant with male offspring; but he seems to be a living man; there is no statement that he ever died, nor yet that he is a spirit. The incubus and succubus of the middle ages are sometimes regarded as spiritual beings; but they were held to give very real proof of their bodily existence. It should, however, be remembered that primitive peoples do not distinguish clearly between material and immaterial beings. Entry: DEMONOLOGY
7. Lastly, a primitive interment guards against the double risk of the ghost haunting the living and of ghouls or vampires taking possession of the corpse. The latter end is likely to be achieved if the body is cremated, for then there is no nidus to harbour the demon; but whether, in the remote antiquity to which belong many barrows containing incinerated remains, this motive worked, cannot be ascertained. The Indo-European race seems to have cremated at an early epoch, perhaps before the several races of East and West separated. In Christian funeral rites many prayers are for the protection of the body from violation by vampires, and it would seem as if such a motive dictated the architectural solidity of some ancient tombs. Christian graves were for protection regularly sealed with the cross; and the following is a characteristic prayer from the old Armenian rite for the burial of a layman: Entry: 7
_Agriculture and Industries._--The name "Costa Rica," meaning "rich coast," is well deserved; for, owing to the combination of ample sunshine and moisture with a wonderfully fertile soil, almost any kind of fruit or flower can be successfully cultivated; while the vast tracts of virgin forest, which remain along the Atlantic slopes, contain an abundance of cedar, mahogany, rosewood, rubber and ebony, with fustic and other precious dye-woods. The country is essentially agricultural, and owes its political stability to the presence of a large class of peasant proprietors, who number more than two-thirds of the population. Coffee, first planted in 1838, is grown chiefly on the plateau of San José. The special adaptability of this region to its growth is attributed to the nature of the soil, which consists of layers of black or dark-brown volcanic ash, varying in depth from 1 to 6 yds. Bananas are grown over a large and increasing area; rice, maize, barley, potatoes and beans are cultivated to some extent in the interior; cocoa, vanilla, sugar-cane, cotton and indigo are products of the warm coast-lands, but are hardly raised in sufficient quantities to meet the local demand. Stock-farming, a relatively undeveloped industry, tends to become more important, owing to the assistance which the state renders by the importation of horses, cattle, sheep and swine, from Europe and the United States, in order to improve the native breeds. In the south-east farmers are often compelled to retire with their flocks and herds before the thousands of huge, migratory vampires, which descend suddenly on the pastures and are able in one night to bleed the strongest animal to death. The manufactures are insignificant; and although silver, copper, iron, zinc, lead and marble are said to exist in considerable quantities, the only ores that have been worked are gold, silver and copper. At the beginning of the 20th century the silver and copper mines had been abandoned. The goldfields are exploited with American capital, and yield a fair return. Entry: COSTA
Of the two genera, _Megaderma_, as represented by the five species of false vampires, is distinguished by the absence of ossified premaxillae and upper incisors (i. 0/2, p. (2 or 1)/2), the cylindrical narrow muzzle surmounted by an erect nose-leaf the base of which conceals the nasal orifices, the immense joined ears with large bifid tragus, and the great extent of the interfemoral membrane, in the base of which the short tail is concealed. _M. gigas_ (fig. 9), from central Queensland, is the largest species of the genus, and of the suborder. _M. lyra_, common in India (fore-arm 2.7 in.), has been caught in the act of sucking the blood, while flying, from a small bat which it afterwards devoured. The range of the genus includes Africa, the Indo-Malay countries and Australasia. _Nycteris_, which is common to Africa and the Malay Peninsula and Islands, has ossified premaxillae and upper incisors (_i._ 2/3, _p._ 1/2), and a long tail; but lacks a nose-leaf. As in _Megaderma_, the frontal bones are deeply hollowed and expanded laterally, the muzzle presents a similar cylindrical form, and the lower jaw also projects; but, instead of a nose-leaf, the face is marked by a deep longitudinal sharp-edged groove extending from the nostrils to the band connecting the base of the large ears; the sides of this depression being margined as far back as the eyes by small horizontal cutaneous appendages. With the exception of _N. javanica_, the species are limited to Africa. Entry: CHIROPTERA