Laurices

[3] As the domestication of rabbits became established, the source of laurices was extended to newborns, because it became possible to harvest them without sacrificing the breeding doe, the time of birth being able to be monitored.

The first known mention of this gastronomic speciality is with Pliny the Elder (23—79) in his Naturalis Historia : Leporum generis sunt et quos hispania cuniculos appellat, fecunditatis innumerae famemque baliarum insulis populatis messibus adferentis.

- (fetus ventri exectos vel uberibus ablatos, non repurgatis interaneis, gratissimo in cibatu habent; laurices vocant)....[4] There is also a species of hare, in Spain, which is called the rabbit; it is extremely prolific, and produces famine in the Balearic Islands, by destroying the harvests.

The young ones, either when cut from out of the body of the mother, or taken from the breast, without having the entrails removed, are considered a most delicate food; they are then called laurices.

[7] The common theory that Pope Gregory I (540 – 604) authorized the consumption of laurices during Lent and other fasts, declaring them to be a marine species, like fish or shellfish, is false.