_Buarach-bhaoi, lamprey._—The _Buarach-bhaoi_ (lit. wild or wizard shackle), called also _Buarach na Baoi_ (the shackle of the furious one), was believed to be a leech or eel-like animal to be found at certain fords and in dark waters, that twisted itself like a shackle round the feet of passing horses, so that they fell and were drowned. It then sucked their blood. It had nine eyes or holes in its head and back, at which the blood it sucked came out. Hence it was called _Buarach-bhaoi nan sùilean claon_ (the furious shackle of the squinting eyes). In Skye, it was believed the animal was to be found in Badenoch. It was said to haunt the dark waters of Loch Tummel (_Tethuil_, hot flood, from the impetuosity of the river), in Perthshire, and was also known on the west coast of Argyllshire. The word is translated ‘lamprey’ in dictionaries, but the description suggests the tradition of some species of gymnotus or electric eel. _Cirein Cròin, Sea Serpent._—This was the largest animal in the world, as may be inferred from a popular Caithness rhyme: “Seven herring are a salmon’s fill, Seven salmon are a seal’s fill, Seven seals are a whale’s fill, And seven whales the fill of a Cirein Cròin.” To this is sometimes added, “seven Cirein Cròin are the fill of the big devil himself.” This immense sea-animal is also called _Mial mhòr a chuain_, the great beast of the ocean, _cuartag mhòr a chuain_, the great whirlpool of the ocean, and _uile-bhéisd a chuain_, the monster of the ocean. It was originally a whirlpool, or the sea-snake of the Edda, that encircled the whole world. _Gigelorum._—The _Giolcam-daoram_, or Gigelorum, is the smallest of all animals. It makes its nest in the mite’s ear and that is all that is known about it. _Lavellan._—This animal is peculiar to the north, where it is said to be able to hurt cattle from a distance of forty yards: “Lavellan, animal in Cathanesia frequens, in aquis degit, capite mustelae sylvestri simile, ejusdemque coloris, bestia est. Halitu Bestiis nocet. Remedium autem est, si de aqua bibant in quâ ejus caput coctum est.” (Sibbald’s _Scot. Ill._, lib. 3, fol. 11.) Pennant, when at Ausdale, Langwell, Caithness-shire, says: “I inquired here after the Lavellan, which, from description, I suspect to be the water shrew mouse. The country people have a notion that it is noxious to cattle; they preserve the skin, and, as a cure for their sick beasts, give them the water in which it has been dipt. I believe it to be the same animal which, in Sutherland, is called the water mole.” It is also mentioned by Rob Donn, the Sutherland bard, in his satirical song on “Mac Rorie’s Breeches”: “Let him not go away from the houses, to moss or wood, lest the Lavellan come and smite him.”