1842.] A Monograph of the Species of Lynx. 753 



and three-quarters long, or, with their tufts, half an inch more ; and 

 mouchetures, which barely acuminate below the considerably developed 

 ruff, an inch and three-quarters at most. The fur is seldom more 

 than an inch long upon the back, or at most an inch and one-eighth ; 

 and is of a grey-brown colour, more or less tinged with rufous, 

 much as in a rusty tabby Cat, or as in the Chaus ; and marked all over 

 with small round dark spots, indistinct on the back, and, in some, all 

 over the body, but always well-defined on the limbs, and more or less 

 so above them; enlarging and becoming deeper-coloured downwards, 



People should really be more particular than they are in eating fish, lobsters, &c, 

 to be consistent in following out their notion that the flesh of all carnivorous animals is 

 unfit for the table. Many English gourmands would sicken at the idea of a dish of 

 Snails, which in Hungary, more especially, is esteemed a delicate and is a very 

 frequent viand, so much so that not a few of the peasantry even pay their rents with 

 them (vide Mr. Paget' s recent 'Travels in Hungary and Transylvania'); but a 

 Hungarian lady would be fully as much horrified at the thought of swallowing an 

 Oyster, and would, at least, have this advantage over the British epicure, that Snails 

 are vegetable-feeders. One can fancy a civic bon vivant commiserating the barbarism 

 of the Persian Princes, who not long ago visited the British metropolis, and testified 

 their abhorrence at the custom of eating Turtle ! But that we civilized and enlightened 

 Carnivora are altogether free from irrational and totally unfounded misapprehension 

 on the subject of eating the flesh of creatures of prey is, the reader will perhaps begin 

 to think, a little questionable, if he do not go so far as to imagine that a hint might be 

 profitably taken on this subject, as on some others, from the philosophically omnivor- 

 ous Chinese. At all events, those who are disposed to rail at others for their fastidious- 

 ness about eating pork, may ponder awhile upon the reasonableness of their own aver- 

 sion to partake of various other kinds of flesh, and hesitate before condemning as 

 " unclean" and improper food, what they only presume to be such as a mere matter 

 of course, stigmatizing, by the appellation "carrion," what, in truth, they might have 

 eaten with great relish, had the tide of conventional prejudice happened to flow in the 

 opposite, direction. 



A-pro-po's to the foregoing remarks, I have just chanced to meet with a notice in 

 Ellis's « Tour through Hawaii' (p. 349), which is worthy of being here transcribed. 

 It is well known that the Polynesian natives generally, as well as the Chinese, each 

 rear a particular breed of Dogs for the table, though mainly on vegetable diet : and 

 the canivorous propensity is retained by the Chinese in this country ; at least I lately 

 saw a well-dressed China-man bargaining for a Corsac Fox in one of the Calcutta 

 bazars, and doubt not that he was prompted thereto by his palate. " Numbers of 

 Dogs, of rather a small size, and something like a terrier," writes Mr. Ellis, "are 

 raised every year as an article of food [in Hawaii, olim Owhyhee]. They are mostly 

 fed on vegetables ; and we have sometimes seen them kept in yards, with small houses 

 to sleep in. A part of the rent of every tenant who occupies land, is paid in Dogs 

 for his landlord's table. Though often invited by the natives to join them in partak- 

 ing of the baked dog, we were never induced to taste of one. The natives, however, 

 say it is sweeter than the flesh of the pig, and much more palatable than that of goats 

 or kids, which some refuse to touch, and few care to eat." — Chacun a son gout. De 

 gustibus, &c. &c. 



