Since we are dealing with British humour here, perhaps we should give the last word on the vexed question of taxonomy to the caption of one of our more famous cartoons:
Railway Porter (to Old Lady traveling with a Menagerie of Pets).
“‘STATION MASTER SAY, MUM, AS CATS IS ‘DOGS,’ AND RABBITS IS ‘DOGS,’ AND SO’S PARROTS; BUT THIS ‘ERE ‘TORTIS’ IS A INSECT, SO THERE AIN’T NO CHARGE FOR IT!”
[Punch, 1869, Vol. 57, p. 96]
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