The Squonk is a legendary creature reputed to live in the Hemlock forests of northern Pennsylvania. Legends of squonks probably originated in the late nineteenth century, at the height of Pennsylvania's importance in the timber industry. A legendary creature is a mythological or folkloric creature (often known as fabulous creatures in historical literature). ... Species Eastern Hemlock Carolina Hemlock Taiwan Hemlock Northern Japanese Hemlock Himalayan Hemlock Forrests Hemlock Western Hemlock Mountain Hemlock Southern Japanese Hemlock Tsuga is a genus of conifers in the family Pinaceae. ... Capital Harrisburg Largest city Philadelphia Area  Ranked 33rd  - Total 46,055 sq mi (119,283 km²)  - Width 280 miles (455 km)  - Length 160 miles (255 km)  - % water 2. ... Timber in storage for later processing at a sawmill Timber is a term used to describe wood, either standing or that has been processed for use—from the time trees are felled, to its end product as a material suitable for industrial use—as structural material for construction or wood...

The earliest known written account of squonks comes from a book by William T Cox called Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods, With a Few Desert and Mountain Beasts (1910). Mr. Cox's account is reprinted in Jorge Luis Borges' Book of Imaginary Beings (1969). A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of paper, parchment, or other material, usually fastened together to hinge at one side, and rots your brain. ... Brief History Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods, With a Few Desert and Mountain Beasts is a book created entirely by American Foresters. ... Jorge Luis Borges (August 24, 1899 – June 14, 1986) was an Argentine writer who is considered one of the foremost literary figures of the 20th century. ... Jorge Luis Borges wrote and edited the Book of Imaginary Beings in 1957 as the original Spanish Manual de zoolgia fantastica, or Handbook of Fantastic Zoology, expanding it in 1967 and 1969 to the final El libro de los seres imaginarios. ...

To summarize the legend of the squonk: It is a very ugly creature, and it knows this. Its skin is ill-fitting, and covered with warts and other blemishes, therefore the squonk hides from being seen, and spends much of its time weeping sorrowfully over its own ugliness. Hunters who have attempted to catch squonks have found that the creature is capable of evading capture by dissolving completely into a pool of tears and bubbles when cornered. A certain J.P. Wentling is supposed to have coaxed one into a bag, which while he was carrying it home, suddenly lightened. On inspection, he found that the bag contained only the liquid remains of the sad animal. In zootomy and dermatology, skin is the largest organ of the integumentary system made up of multiple layers of epithelial tissues that guard underlying muscles and organs. ... A wart is generally a small, rough tumor, typically on hands and feet, that can resemble a cauliflower or a solid blister. ... This page is a candidate to be copied to Wiktionary. ... In everyday language depression refers to any downturn in mood, which may be relatively transitory and perhaps due to something trivial. ... For the connotation of the term relating to chemistry, see Solvation. ... Soap bubbles Bubble may refer to: Soap bubble, spherical liquid film, also possibly of bubble gum Cavitation, pocket of air caught in a liquid Bubble (economics), where speculation causes prices to rise to unsustainable levels a (normally) transparent dome Light bulb, in theater lighting terminology [1] in poker tournaments, the... A liquid will usually assume the shape of its container A liquid is one of the main states of matter. ...

The "scientific name" name of the squonk, Lacrimacorpus dissolvens, comes from Latin words meaning "tear", "body", and "dissolve". In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal system of naming species. ...

Cultural references

• Mario Bava's 1971 film, Twitch of the Death Nerve (aka Carnage), written by Bava, Giuseppe Zaccariello and Filippo Ottoni, features dialogue around the ten-minute mark describing the squonk and its attributes.
• Steely Dan mentioned the creature in the song "Any Major Dude Will Tell You" on their 1974 LP, Pretzel Logic with the lyric "Have you ever seen a squonk's tears? Well look at mine."
• The story of the Squonk is set to music in a song of the same name on the Genesis album A Trick of the Tail from 1976.
• A 2002, short story by Glen David Gold entitled "The Tears of Squonk, and What Happened Thereafter" alludes to the myth and gives the name to the deceitful clown of the story, who cries "heedless crocodile tears."

Mario Bava (July 31, 1914-April 27, 1980) was an Italian director and cinematographer remembered as one of the greatest names from the golden age of Italian horror movies. ... Twitch of the Death Nerve (Italian title: Ecologia del delitto) is a 1971 horror thriller directed by Mario Bava. ... Steely Dan is a Grammy-Award winning American rock band centered on core members Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. ... Long play has several meanings. ... Pretzel Logic is a Steely Dan album originally released in 1974. ... It has been suggested that Six of the Best be merged into this article or section. ... A Trick of the Tail was the first studio album by progressive rock band Genesis following the departure of original vocalist Peter Gabriel. ... Glen David Gold is best known as the author of Carter Beats the Devil (Hyperion, 2001). ...

Scientific references

Squonks are also known in chemistry and biology. Some substances are stable in solution or some other "wild" form but cannot be isolated or captured without actually catalyzing their own polymerization or decomposition ("dissolving in their own tears"). For example, a molecule containing a carboxylic acid moiety and an acid labile moiety might be stable when initially prepared as the salt (e.g., barium prephenate) but unstable as the free acid (prephenic acid). Other examples can be found in: Toby J. Sommer, "Chemical Squonks", Chemical Innovation, 2000, 30 (April 2000), 24-32. ISSN 1527-4799. Chemical Abstracts: 133:73580 ; CAPlus: 2000:254494. Structure of a carboxylic acid The 3D structure of the carboxyl group A space-filling model of the carboxyl group Carboxylic acids are organic acids characterized by the presence of a carboxyl group, which has the formula -C(=O)OH, usually written -COOH or -CO2H. [1] Carboxylic acids are Bronsted... Prephenic acid, more commonly known by its anionic form prephenate, is an intermediate in the biosynthesis of the aromatic amino acids phenylalanine and tyrosine. ... Prephenic acid, more commonly known by its anionic form prephenate, is an intermediate in the biosynthesis of the aromatic amino acids phenylalanine and tyrosine. ...

See also

• Fearsome critters
• The alternative theater and performance art company Squonk Opera is not named after the squonk, but as an onomatopoeia of the sounds made by the group's jazz saxophonists.

Fearsome critters was a collective term coined in early American lumberjack folklore for a variety of strange or frightening imaginary beasts that inhabited the timberwoods of North America and Canada. ... Squonk Opera is a group of interdisciplinary performing artists from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ... Look up onomatopoeia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

External links

• Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods (William T. Cox's Book)