144 



A R R I A N 



Chap. XXX. If you wisli a brood-bitch to recover her previous speed, ^ 

 Management you must not let her suckle her whelps, - except merely to 



after whelping. "^ f ' r J 



almost ouTo\e|eJ, by Varro, de Re Rustic^, L. ii. c. ix. In the latter reference, the 

 author expressly says the bitches are more nourished by barley than wheaten bread, 

 " magis 60 aluntur, et lactis praebent niajorem facultatem." But the experiments of 

 the late Sir H. Davy on the quantum of nutritious matter contained in the different 

 varieties of bread corn, and tlie lest to which they have been put, in kennel feeding, 

 by practical sportsmen, induce us to believe that the " Scriptores de Re Ruslica" are 

 mistaken on this point. The farina of wheat is the best food for brood bitches, 

 boiled with milk, or scalded with meat-broti). Of the importance of keeping brood 

 bitches on highly nutritious food, the old huntsman. Pan, " Deus ArcadijE," was 

 fully aware ; for Diana found him carving a lynx for their repast : 



Callimach. II. 

 in Dian. 



?/c60 S' ail A if 



'ApKaSi/CTjc fir\ UavSs' d Se Kpea \vyKhs eTUfive 

 MoicaAiTjs, 'Iva ul roKaSes Kwes fiSap fSonv. 



Aristotelis 



Hist. Animal. 



L. VI. 286. 



Aldrovaiidi 



de Quad. Digit. 



Vivip. L. III. 



De Re Rust. 

 L. VII. c. 12. 



1. The number of whelps in a litter varies much. The translator's experience 

 affords instances of twelve at a birth, and of a solitary P'ippy, from the same Celtic 

 dam. Aristotle states the former nuniher to be the greatest in a canine litter; but 

 Julius Caesar Scaliger (a celebrated dog-fancier) certifies, in his annotations on the 

 Stagirite's Animal History, a litter of fourteen whelps, as within his own knowledge : 

 and this is again surpassed by the case of the canis leporaria recorded by Aldrovan- 

 dus, " Canis leporaria hie Bononiae, unica foetura, catulos septenos supra decern enixa 

 est." 



2. Mr; tav iKTpf(f>eiv avTi]v. Whether the bitch be again required for the field or 

 not, no humane courser will allow her to suckle more than four or five whelps. If 

 she be young. Columella advises that the first litter should be tak'en from her : " pri- 

 mus effcetai partus amovendus est, quoniam tiruncula nee recte nutrit ; et educatio 

 totius habitus aufert indreinentum." Nemesian also destroys the first litter, and the 

 smallest pups of subsequent litters : 



Cyneget. 

 Ts. 134. 



De Re Rust. 

 L, II. c. 9. 



Sed quamvis avidus, primos contemnere partus 

 Malueris, mox non omnes nutrire minores. 

 Nam tibi si placitum populosos poscere foetus. 

 Jam macie tenues, succique videbis inanes, 

 Pugnantesque diu, quisnam prior ubera larabat, 

 Distrahere invalidam lassato viscere niatrem. 



" In nutricatu secundum partum," says Varro, " si plures sunt, statim eligere 

 oportet (|uos habere velis, reliquos abjicere : quam paucissimos reliqueris, tani optimi 



