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[Transcriber's Notes:
_Errors_
The editor's general introduction says:
In this volume no attempt has been made to produce a facsimile
reprint. Even if such a design had been entertained, the great
variety of form in which the original editions were issued would
have made it impossible to carry out the re-issue with any
uniformity. Obvious misprints have been corrected, but where a
difference in spelling in the same work or on the same page--_e.g._
_baccalarius_, _baccalaureus_--is clearly due to the varying
practice of the writer and not to the printer, the words have been
left as they stood in the original. On the other hand the accents
in the very numerous Greek quotations have been corrected.
_Dog Hybrids and Lobster-Hunting Dogs_
In _All the Year Round_ for September 5, 1885, Charles Dickens (son of
the author) or an unnamed contributor wrote:
Dr. Caius ... had his scholar's errors, else he would not talk of
lobster-hound, and of the urcanus (dogbear), "bred of a bear and
a bandog."
The wolf-dog (_lyciscus_) and bear-dog (_urcanus_) each requires no
comment. The fox-dog (_lacæna_) is genetically impossible.
Under _Leverarius_ (Harier), the Latin original names eight animals
hunted by dogs:
Nam alius leporis, alius vulpis, alius cervi, alius platycerotis,
alius taxi, alius lutræ, alius mustelæ, alius cuniculi ...
The English translation expands these to eleven:
Some for / The Hare [lepus] / The Foxe [vulpes] / The Wolfe /
The Harte / The Bucke / The Badger [taxus] / The Otter [lutra] /
The Polcat / The Lobster / The Weasell / The Conny [cuniculus], &c.
The addition of Wolfe--an animal said not to exist in England--is not
explained. The Harte (_cervus_) is the elk or red deer; the Bucke
(_platyceros_) is the roe deer. The Lobster is not a crustacean but
a regional term for "polecat", listed in the OED with citations of
appropriate date. The three-way distinction between Polcat, Lobster and
Weasell (subsumed under the single Latin word _mustela_) is not
explained.
_Cicero_
And albeit _Cicero_ in his oration had _Pro. S. Ross._ be of this
opinion...
_Pro S. Roscio Amerino_, 20 [56 end]:
Quod si luce quoque canes latrent, cum deos salutatum aliqui
venerint, opinor, eis crura suffringantur, quod acres sint etiam
tum, cum suspicio nulla sit.
_"Abridgement"_
The translator uses this term at least six times to describe his work.
The body text is about twice as long as the Latin original; note in
particular the section on _Delicati_ (the _Melitæus_ or Maltese).
_Names and Etymologies_
Note that "Dutch" means "German" (Deutsch). "Boethus" is not Boethius
but the Scottish John Boece, variously called Boethus and Boethius.
The word "Spaniel" does appear to mean "Spanish", though its derivation
is not exactly as described. "Hound" is related to the Germanic "Hund",
not to the English "Hunt".