ZOOLOGY IN TIME OF SHAKESPEARE 261 



The " anchovies and sack after supper " 

 (i " Hen. IV.," II. iv. 588), recommended by Peto, 

 the " conger and fennel " (2 " Hen. IV.," IV. ii. 

 266), still a favourite combination in the Channel 

 Islands, and the " soused gurnet," i.e., gurnard 

 (i " Hen. IV.," IV. ii. 13) are still known. 



The animals we now classify as amphibia were 

 in Tudor times regarded as abhorrent. The 

 " engendering of toads " was hated, and this 

 harmless and in some respects attractive animal 

 was looked upon as envenomed, foul, and poison- 

 ous. The toad or paddock was useful in a witches' 

 broth, and the tailed amphibia (Urodela) newts 

 and blind worms (or limbless lizards) were adjured 

 to "do no harm." The tadpole, like the shrimp, 

 is mentioned as a synonym for babe (" Titus 

 Andronicus," IV. ii. 85). 



No animals are more frequently alluded to in 

 Shakespeare's plays than the serpent, the adder, 

 the viper, and the asp (aspick). Their love of 

 the sun, the beauty of their " painted skin," their 

 forked tongues are referred to over and over 

 again. The view that adders are deaf, which still 

 survives, is probably based on the absence of 

 external ears. Some of Shakespeare's characters 

 thought the double tongue the instrument which 



