Ita habes (mi Gesnere) non solum canum nostratium genera, sed & nomina quoque Latina atque Anglica, officia atque usus, differentias atque mores, naturas & ingenia, ut non sit quod desideres in hoc argumento amplius. Thus (Friend _Gesner_) you haue, not only the kindes of our countrey dogges, but their names also, as well in latine as in Englishe, their offices, seruices, diuersities, natures, & properties, that you can demaunde no more of me in this matter. Et quanquam forsan omni ex parte non satisfecerim tibi in edendo (cui in desideriis omnis festinatio in mora esse videatur) quòd inhibuerim editionem rudioris illius libelli, quem ad te tanquam ad privatum amicum, non ad editionem publicam ante annos quinque dederim; tamen in hoc spero me satisfecisse tibi, quòd mora fecit aliquanto meliorem, & δεύτεραι φροντίδες lectu commodiorem. And albeit I haue not satisfied your minde peraduẽture (who suspectest al speede in the performaunce of your requeste employed, to be meere delayes) because I stayde the setting fourth of that vnperfect pamphlet which, fiue yeares ago, I sent to you as a priuate friende for your owne reeding, and not to be printed, and so made common, yet I hope (hauing like the beare lickt ouer my younge) I haue waded in this worke to your contentation, which delay hath made somewhat better and δευτέραι φροντίδες, after witte more meete to be perused. _Joannis Caii Britanni de Canibus Britannicis libelli finis._ _Iste liber scriptus fuit ante mortem Gesneri, etsi non ante publicatus, ut est ille de rariorum animalium atque stirpium historia._ The ende of this treatise. FINIS. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * [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.