THE WOLF. 131 



The learned Dr. Kay* acquiesced in the vulgar 

 opinion of the extinction of Wolves in England by 

 King Edgar, and in his work on "British Dogs/' pub- 

 lished in 1570, treating of the sheep-dog (Pastoralis) 

 he says : " Sunt qui scribunt Ludwallum Cambrics 

 principem pendisse annuatim Edgaro regi ^ooluporum 

 tributi nomine, atque ita annis quatuor onmem Cambriam, 

 atque adeo omnem Angliam, orbasse lupis." 



" Regnavit autem Edgarus circiter annum 959, a quo 

 tempore non legimus nativum in Anglia visum lupum." 



The worthy doctor seems to have been little aware 

 that even at the date at which he wrote wolves still 

 existed in the British Islands. Dr. John Walker 

 was almost as much at fault when he wrote : " Canis 

 lupus. Habitavit olim in Britannia. Quondam incola 

 sylvai caledonice. In Scotia seculo xv. extinctus, et 

 postremo in regions Navernice."^ 



Pennant, referring to the received opinion that a 

 great part of the kingdom was freed from Wolves 

 through the exertions of King Edgar, says : " In 

 England he attempted to effect it by commuting the 

 punishments for certain crimes into the acceptance 

 of a number of Wolves' tongues from each criminal ; 

 in Wales by converting a tax of gold and silver into 

 an annual tribute of 300 Wolves' heads. Notwith- 

 standing his endeavours, however, and the assertions 



* " Joannis Caii Britanni 'de Canibua Britannicis.' " Liber unus. 

 Londini, per Gulielmum Seresium. 8vo, 1570. There is a transla- 

 tion of this work in the British Museum, entitled, " Of Englisho 

 Dogges, newly drawn into English." By Abraham Fleming, Student. 

 London. 4^0,1576. A reprint of this has been recently published. 



f* Mammalia Scotica,' in "Essays on Nat. Hist, and Kural 

 Economy," 1814, p. 480. 



K 



