Note 403 — CANES VENATICI. Class II.

Nor is the etymology of the English term Beagle of more easy solution. Skinner derives it from the French bugler, mugire; and Menage thinks, as the hounds were sent from Britain into Gaul, the name may be of British origin.Skinner, Etymolog. Anglican. A second derivation is proposed by the former philologist, founded on the diminutive stature of the dogs—cani piccoli—Ital. Canes minores. May not a third possible source of the name be found in the barbarous root bigla, vigilia, excubiæ, from the Greek Βίγλα, à Latino vigilia—? The watchful tricks of some of our terrier-beagles in a rabbit-warren, and Oppian’s graphic sketch of the Ἀγασσεὺς, his wiles, &c. favour the notion.