THE MAMMALS OF SHAKSPEARE, 325 
receive the royal assent. It has not, however, been of a kind that 
needed any action on the part of your Committee. 
In view of any proceedings which may be taken in the session 
of 1879 in regard to the recommendations of the Scottish Herring 
Fishery Commissioners already recited, as well as on general 
grounds, your Committee respectfully urges its reappointment. 
—o—— 
THE MAMMALS OF SHAKSPEARE. 
By Henry Reexs, F.L.S., F.Z.S. 
(Coneluded from p, 249.) 
Tue Ruroceros, Rhinoceros 
Once only does Shakspeare mention the Rhinoceros, and then 
apparently only for the purpose of illustrating a most formidable 
opponent, for Macbeth, speaking to the ghost of Banquo, 
exclaims— 
“ What man dare, I dare: 
Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, 
The arm’d rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger ; 
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves 
Shall never tremble.” 
Macbeth. Act iii., Scene 4. 
Tue Witp Boar, Sus scrofa. 
Until the extinction of the wild boar in Britain, probably during 
the seventeenth century, boar-hunting was considered royal sport. 
From the spirited descriptions given by Shakspeare (who mentions 
the wild boar upwards of thirty times), it would appear that the 
poet had himself joined in the chase :— 
““« Thou hadst been gone,’ quoth she, ‘sweet boy, ’ere this, 
But that thou told’st me thou would’st hunt the boar. 
O be advis’d; thou know’st not what it is 
With javelin’s point a churlish swine to gore, 
Whose tushes never sheathed he whetteth still, 
Like to a mortal butcher bent to kill.’” 
Venus and Adonis. Stanza 103. 
The flesh of wild boars was considered a great delicacy, and, 
from the difficulty of procuring it, an expensive dish. Can we 
