And accordingly all Animals may be classified in the

following fashion:

a)   those that belong to the Emperor,

b)   embalmed ones,

c)   those that are trained,

d)   suckling pigs,

e)   mermaids,

f)   fabulous ones,

g)   stray dogs,

h)   those that are included in this classification,

i)   those that tremble as if they were mad,

j)   innumerable ones,

k)   those drawn with a fine camel’s-hair brush,

l)   others,

m)   those that have just broken a flower vase,

n)   those that resemble flies from a distance.

— from the tenth-century Chinese encyclopedia
The Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge^*