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I forgot to include this earlier, but perhaps its pertinent to Susan's reminding us of her original query -- Last week (4/7/99) the New York Times ran a story about a controversial proposal to move 250 cats from an island sanctuary in Venice. It reported that Venice's cat population is currently about 5,000, and that the city guarantees stray cats an area to live in and provides money to feed them. According to the Times, this is because: "Venetians believe that cats helped save the city from the devastating plague of 1348 by killing diseased rats...." I've no idea, though, how far back this belief actually goes, or whether it was contemporary to 1348 itself. Also, catskins were a commodity; perhaps some cat "massacres" (if they occurred) were motivated by profit rather than fear of the devil? Sharon Arnoult History Dept. SWTSU %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%