ON THE FOOD OF ANIMALS. 135 



society of their own species, contrive to main- 

 tain themselves by preying upon their fellow 

 creatures. Men are omnivorous, although the 

 old saying of " fruges consumere nati," seems 

 to imply, that they would not do wrong in ab- 

 staining from carnal food. This arrangement 

 is easily accounted for, seeing that the food of 

 gregarious animals is plentiful, whilst that of 

 solitary ones is comparatively scarce. Were 

 lions to hunt in companies, the captured quarry 

 would be insufficient for their appetites; they 

 would fight for the slaughtered spoil ere they 

 had torn it in pieces, and the strongest would 

 be possessed of the prize. 



We have all noticed the growling habits of 

 the beasts of prey, when they approach too 

 near each other at the time of feeding. Carnal 

 food, by being confined to one particular spot, 

 must always bring the consumers into contact. 

 On the contrary, fruitage is widely spread, and 

 offers abundant maintenance to the weak apart 

 from the strong. Even hounds, whose nature 

 is mollified by art, and which are brought by 

 discipline to hunt in concert, cannot be pre- 

 vented from fighting for their share of the 

 dying fox ; and were you to treat them in the 



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