VOL 1. | Cenurus of the Hare. 265 
ports. The introduction of the Australian species is even more un- 
accountable; nor can Chili be considered as the stepping stone by 
which it might have reached us, for the Chilian plant, even if not 
‘specifically distinct, is at least so different a form as to preclude it 
_ from being considered the parent of the Californian. 
Nor are the Mesembrianthemums an anomaly in our flora. They 
belong, it is true, to an order which is very feebly represented in 
America. But it includes Sesuvinm portulacastrum, a near ally of 
the ice-plants, which it closely resembles in appearance and habits. 
Like them it also is found in widely separated regions of the globe; 
but its place among our native plants has never been questioned. 
On the contrary side there is the bare fact that there are Mesem- 
brianthemums in other parts of the world which are believed to be 
identical with those growing here. This identification has not been 
made in all cases without doubt, while the plants are confessedly 
difficult to determine from dried specimens, which very inadequate- - 
ly represent the living plant. 
No historical evidence is known, so that there only remains a 
consideration of probabilities, and the difficulties seem less in re- 
garding them as indigenous than in adopting the opposite opinion. 
CAENURUS OF THE HARE. 
BY KATHARINE BRANDEGEE. 
{Read before the California Academy of Sciences February 6, 1882.) _ 
Any one who has noticed the hare or ‘‘ Jack rabbit” (Lepus 
Californicus) whichis brought in such quantities to our markets 
from November to March, must have occasionally observed upon _ 
their loins and thighs swellings of considerable magnitude. Many 
are killed in which these tumors have developed to the size of an 
orange, though probably none so ‘greatly disfigured are ever found 
in the markets. The health of the animal seems not to be at all 
affected by the parasite, and even in cases where its growth has _ 
_ been greatest very little inflammation is caused i in the oe which | 
are gradually pushed aside. , : 
These swellings, which are well known to hunters and marketmen 
as ‘‘water blisters” or ‘“‘ water boils,’ are found in a very consid- 
erable sepia ps the hares, but, so far as I have observed, do 
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