"'Why, Basin, you know quite well who my aunt means,' cried the Duchess indignantly. 'He's the brother of that great graminivorous creature you had the weird idea of sending to call on me the other day. She stayed a solid hour; I thought I'd go mad. But I began by thinking it was she who was mad when I saw a person I didn't know come browsing into the room looking exactly like a cow.'"
Marcel Proust, The Guermantes Way, p. 238
OK, I admit it, I'm simply a child. I laughed out loud at the description of the unwanted visitor as a "graminivorous creature." As is pretty well documented, I have a real weakness for obscure references, especially if they're based on literature or history or mythology. As I've always said, the best references are the ones that only you get. I have much the same fascination with adjectives related to animals. Everyone knows the obvious ones: canine (dog), bovine (cow), asinine (ass), feline (cat) and equine (horse). However, if you really want to boost your vocabulary, but, more importantly, cause general mischief, make a more concerted effort to include these useful adjectives when describing your fellow humans: bubaline (buffalo), cameline (camel), cancrine (crab), hippopotamine (hippopotamus), hircine (goat), hystricine (porcupine), lacertine (lizard), lumbricine (earthworm), pavonine (peacock), porcine (pig), pteropine (bat), vespine (wasp), ursine (bat),vulturine (vulture) or zebine (zebra).
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