ARATHCON TO ’COON 
camp, blankets, knives, and indeed all removable para- 
phernalia. The glutton when dead is much better than 
a living dog. Its skin is of course immensely valuable. 
In medizval medicine the glutton, like the beaver, the 
toad, and the woodlice, in fact the animal creation 
generally, figured in prescriptions. The blood when 
diluted with hot water is recommended to the hunter 
who desires success, mingled with honey it is a sine quad 
non for the lover who would gain his ends. 
THE RACCOON 
The French anatomist de Blainville aptly called this 
small carnivore “‘ Subursus,” a name which exactly ex- 
presses its relationship to other carnivora. For it 
belongs to the bear tribe in a wide sense, though pre- 
senting us with many points of difference to the true 
bears. Its general aspect is not unbear-like; but the 
long ringed tail is a character which no real bear in © 
the restricted sense possesses. Like the bears, too, the 
raccoon walks flatfootedly ; it is plantigrade instead of 
walking on the toes, as do the cats and dogs. Its limbs, 
moreover, are very long for an animal of this group, 
which gives to it when walking a curious bunched up 
appearance. The word “coon,” as most persons know, 
is but a corruption of raccoon, and raccoon itself, as 
fewer persons know, is again a corruption from the 
Indian name for this animal, viz. Arathcon. It is a 
purely American beast, and the “ washing ’”’ raccoon as 
it has been termed, Procyon lotor, is an inhabitant of 
North America. The crab-eating raccoon, P.cancri- 
vorus, 1s from the South. A number of other names 
have been given ; for instance one form has been called, 
after the historian of South American natural history, 
Procyon Hernandezi. Our English Pennant, the corre- 
spondent of Gilbert White, and historian of London as 
well of as beasts, wrote of the ’coon thatit is “ very good- 
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