ARATHCON TO 'COON 



camp, blankets, knives, and indeed all removable para- 

 phernalia. The glutton when dead is much better than 

 a living dog. Its skin is of course immensely valuable. 

 In mediaeval medicine the glutton, like the beaver, the 

 toad, and the woodlice, in fact the animal creation 

 generally, figured in prescriptions. The blood when 

 diluted with hot water is recommended to the hunter 

 who desires success, mingled with honey it is a sine qua 

 non for the lover who would gain his ends. 



THE RACCOON 



The French anatomist de Blainville aptly called this 

 small carnivore " Subursus," a name which exactly ex- 

 presses its relationship to other carnivora. For it 

 belongs to the bear tribe in a wide sense, though pre- 

 senting us with many points of difference to the true 

 bears. Its general aspect is not unbear-like ; but the 

 long ringed tail is a character which no real bear in 

 the restricted sense possesses. Like the bears, too, the 

 raccoon walks flatfootedly ; it is plantigrade instead of 

 walking on the toes, as do the cats and dogs. Its limbs, 

 moreover, are very long for an animal of this group, 

 which gives to it when walking a curious bunched up 

 appearance. The word " coon," as most persons know, 

 is but a corruption of raccoon, and raccoon itself, as 

 fewer persons know, is again a corruption from the 

 Indian name for this animal, viz. Arathcon. It is a 

 purely American beast, and the " washing " raccoon as 

 it has been termed, Procyon lotor, is an inhabitant of 

 North America. The crab-eating raccoon, P.cancri- 

 vorus, is from the South. A number of other names 

 have been given ; for instance one form has been called, 

 after the historian of South American natural history, 

 Procyon Hernandezi. Our English Pennant, the corre- 

 spondent of Gilbert White, and historian of London as 

 well of as beasts, wrote of the 'coon that it is " very good- 



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