gods, and this
wolf-type--perhaps a local wolf-totem ancestor assimilated to a local
"Dispater"--may have been the god of a clan who imposed its mythic wolf
origin on other clans. Some Celtic bronzes show a wolf swallowing a man
who offers no resistance, probably because he is dead. The wolf is much
bigger than the man, and hence may be a god.[740] These bronzes would
thus represent a belief setting forth the return of men to their totem
ancestor after death, or to the underworld god connected with the totem
ancestor, by saying that he devoured the dead, like certain Polynesian
divinities and the Greek Eurynomos.

In many individual names the first part is the name of an animal or
plant, the second is usually _genos_, "born from," or "son of," e.g.
Artigenos, Matugenos, "son of the bear" (_artos_, _matu_-); Urogenos,
occurring as Urogenertos, "he who has the strength of the son of the
urus"; Brannogenos, "son of the raven"; Cunogenos, "son of the
dog."[741] These names may be derived from clan totem names, but they
date back to a time when animals, trees, and men were on a common
footing, and the possibility of human descent from a tree or an animal
was believed in. Professor Rh[^y]s has argued from the frequency of
personal names in Ireland, like Curoi, "Hound of Roi," Cu Corb, "Corb's
Hound," Mac Con, "Hound's Son," and Maelchon, "Hound's Slave," that
there existed a dog totem or god, not of the Celts, but of a pre-Celtic
race.[742] This assumes that totemism was non-Celtic, an assumption
based on preconceived notions of what Celtic institutions ought to have
been. The names, it should be observed, are personal, not clan names.

(2) _Animal tabus._--Besides the dislike of swine's flesh already noted
among certain Celtic groups, the killing and eating of the hare, hen,
and goose were forbidden among the Britons. Caesar says they bred these
animals for amusement, but this reason assigned by him is drawn from his
knowledge of the breeding of rare animals by rich Romans as a pastime,
since he had no knowledge of the breeding of sacred animals which were
not eaten--a common totemic or animal cult custom.[743] The hare was
used for divination by Boudicca,[744] doubtless as a sacred animal, and
it has been found that a sacred character still attaches to these
animals in Wales. A cock or hen was ceremonially killed and eaten on
Shrove Tuesday, either as a former totemic animal, or, less likely, as a
representative of the cor