68 Mr Jameson on the Natural History and Statistics 



dus, cuniculus, Mus musculus, rattus. Mustela foina is much 

 dreaded by the peasantry from the havoc it makes amongst their 

 poultry ; they have many contrivances for its destruction, which 

 keep its numbers in check. The only locality for the Lepus cu- 

 niculus is in the crevices of one of the Dragoneres islands, 

 and it may have been brought thither by the bands of pirates in- 

 habiting it ; and, in fact, it was a famous rendezvous in the 17th 

 century. A key as the spot is to the Levant, none could be more 

 favourable to such people. Merchantmen, from the nature of the 

 winds there, could have only escaped them accidentally, and 

 they must have assumed the authority of Cerberi of the then 

 passage of eastern commerce. 



Of domestic mammifera sheep are the most abundant. There 

 are scarcely a dozen horses in Cerigo. Mules and asses, on an 

 average for five years, there are annually 871 ; horned cattle 

 3132, goats 5524, and sheep 16,809. In Cerigotto, mules 

 and asses 20, horned cattle 153, sheep 303, and goats 806. 

 The oxen are short and stout, usually of a dark brown colour. 

 They are used for agricultural purposes, and the few fed for 

 slaughter are those either useless from age, or purposely im- 

 ported from Greece. Cabbage and other succulent vegetables, 

 often withered and unboiled, are used for fattening, to which 

 circumstance we may in a certain degree attribute the bad qua- 

 lity of the flesh. More attention than has ever yet been 

 paid here to this subject is much required. Sheep are small, 

 and of a white or grey colour, but sometimes entirely or partly 

 brown or black ; there is a large variety with a much broader 

 tail than the others, which seems to have been derived from the 

 African breed. Mutton is better flavoured than usually met 

 with in this part of the globe. The goat is much valued for 

 many reasons. It varies in appearance as to colour, although 

 black with white and brown markings are the most common ; a 

 few varieties almost entirely white or brown are generally met 

 with in a large flock. Many shepherds have names for their 

 goats from the forms and colours of the markings. Sheep com- 

 mence to bring forth in November, and goats somewhat later. 

 Kids' flesh is delicate and well-flavoured, but goats' is coarse 

 and ill-tasted. Cows are never milked, goats and sheep only in 

 spring : from the milk of the latter a dry peculiarly flavoured 



