17. In Devonshire it is thought unlucky not to catch the first butterfly.

18. Mackerel not in season till the lesson of the 23rd and 24th of Numbers

is read in church. I cannot account for this saying. A better authority

could have been laid down for the remembering of such like incidents. You

may almost form a notion yourself without any help. The common saying is,

Mackerel is in season when Balaam's ass speaks in church.