There are two river fish which deserve a higher rank, the river burbot (gadus lota), and the eel. Of the former, the liver, like the trail of the surmullet, is a peculiar delicacy; and the latter is a fish often very rich and highly flavoured; nor have we found it an inconvenient food, even in weak stomachs. The eel, however, is very strictly a fresh water fish; and its ova preserve the principle of life so long, that, in India, the tanks, after having been dry many months, when again filled, are said soon to swarm with eels. Some small fish, as the sand eels, the minnows, the groundlings, and weather fish (cobitis barbatula & fossilis), scarcely deserve notice as articles of diet. These resemble the turbot in the structure of their flesh, while the other species approach the firmer flakes of the whiting tribe.

The animals which connect the inhabitants of the sea with those of the land are the cetaceous tribe, differing from fish in their structure, though adapted for the same element in other respects. We find among the edible cetacea the balaena mysticetus and physeter; the nord caper, and the fin-fish. The flesh of the whale is in general hard and coriaceous; near the tail it is more succulent. The Russians, in the Fox Islands, who eat it, ascribe to this aliment a deleterious effect, producing an offensive perspiration, and irritating the urethra so as to produce a disease resembling gonorrhoea. The Japanese, on the contrary, prefer it as a strengthening aliment, and chiefly eat it when engaged in any laborious occupations. The Greenlanders cat the skin and the fins of the nord caper, and, in the early periods of the whale fishery, the Basque sailors commonly lived on the meat of these animals. Captain Colnet tells us, that the heart of a young whale considered by his crew as a peculiarly delicate food.

The muscular fibres must be obviously hard and dense, since, when the whale is not fat, or after the fluid oil has escaped, the flesh sinks in the sea like a heavy-stone. The monodon monoceros, and two species of dolphin, d. phocoena and delphis, have been occasionally eaten, but are hard and indigestible.

Other animals that occasionally inhabit the ocean are sometimes eaten. The trichaecus manatus is mentioned as a highly flavoured food, particularly the northern variety. The fat is employed as butter. The flesh of the t. dugong, the Indian walrus, resembles, it is said, that of the ox. The lips and snout, boiled to a jelly, are considered as a delicacy by the Tshutski. The meat of the phocae is also said to be wholesome and pleasant. The p. ursina and vitulina (sea bear and sea calf) are preferred; though the sea lion, p. leonina, is occasionally eaten. The meat of the sea calf is said to be fat and watery, and to soon cloy. The flesh of the sea lion is dry and fishy. The flesh of the ursine seal is blue, but when the animal is young it is well tasted. The mustela lutris, the sea otter, is mentioned among the animal foods; but we know not its quality, or the authority on which its alimentary properties are founded. The animal, when young, we are told by Sauer, is as delicate as a sucking pig, and resembles it. It may perhaps be proper, in this place, to notice the animals which live very commonly in water, viz. the beaver and the river or fish otter, the castor fibra, and mustela lutra Lin. The flesh of these animals, however, furnishes our food so rarely, that our experience of it must be limited. The flesh of the beaver has been thought to resemble beef. It is hard and difficult of digestion, and the smell is offensive. The tail is, however, an exception; as it is tender and more delicate. The native Canadians often eat it, and in Lorraine it is said to have been no uncommon food. When well seasoned, it is supposed to resemble lampreys.. The flesh of the otter smells and tastes of fish; it is dry and coriaceous; eaten only by the monks when fish cannot be procured. In this scarcity they sometimes even employ the grossest fishy wild fowl.

We now arrive at the quadrupeds, the class from which the greater portion of our food is taken. In a dietetic view, the pecora, with ungulated feet, are the most easy of digestion, and perhaps the most nutritious; and it is a rule, apparently general, that the further the claws are extended, till they become palmated, the less digestible and wholesome is the food which the animal affords. We have said that the flesh of wild animals is more digestible than that of tame ones. The genus cervus claims the pre-eminence; and perhaps not a single species exists which is not, in some country, a delicacy, if well fed: many, in the more emaciated state of a wild animal, are highly esteemed. The various species of the sheep follow: nor need we stop to enumerate the warm commendation of the tails of the African sheep, or the delicate flavour of the Siberian. In general, the small wild kind are preferable: the larger and fatter varieties are rank and less digestible. The modern improvers, who have covered the muscles with immense loads of fat, have not rendered the flesh of a superior flavour, or more ready solubility. The goat, so nearly allied to the sheep, should be next men-ijoned, though probably not the next in the view of its digestibility. Our praises must be limited to the animal in its earlier periods, when most of the species afford a delicate nutriment. When older, the flesh is rank, hard, and dry. The antelopes are not equally excellent; and indeed many of the species have not been employed as food. The a. rupicapra, gnu and sylvatica, are particularly commended. Some of the other species, particularly the a. sagea, are scarcely eatable: many are rank, and have the offensive smell of musk.

The genus came/us affords species so nearly resembling the sheep, that it should certainly be placed at no great distance. We allude to the sheep of Peru and Chili, which wander over the immense chains of the Andes. The lama of Buffon, the c. glama, c. arcuca-nus, vicugna, and paco, afford a meat of high flavour, and very digestible. The flesh of the c. huanucus, discovered by Molina in Chili, is more hard and insoluble; though, when young, highly esteemed. The camel and dromedary (c. bactrianus et dromedarius have always been highly esteemed in the East, as food. The Arabians consider the latter, usually called the camel, as the greatest delicacy. The rank odour of the musks (moschus Lin.) has prevented many of the species from being employed as diet; and we find only the m. moschiferus, the Thibet musk, spoken of with approbation. The meat of the younger animals is of a delicate flavour. Of the ox we need scarcely speak; and of its various species,-many of which are varieties only, the common ox is almost exclusively eaten. The flesh of the b. moschatus is strongly perfumed; that of the b. gruniens hard and indigestible, unless in its earlier period of life. Of the Cape ox {b. cafer), the flesh is coarse, but juicy, and of a wild taste.