120 DOMESTIC RABBITS : Chap. IV. 



If the history of these Porto Santo rabbits had not been 

 known, most naturalists, on observing their much reduced 

 size, their colour, reddish above and grey beneath, their tails 

 and ears not tipped with black, would have ranked them as a 

 distinct species. They would have been strongly confirmed 

 in this view by seeing them alive in the Zoological Gardens, 

 and hearing that they refused to couple with other rabbits. 

 Yet this rabbit, which there can be little doubt would thus 

 have been ranked as a distinct species, as certainly originated 

 since the year 1420. Finally, from the three cases of the 

 rabbits which have run wild in Porto Santo, Jamaica, and 

 the Falkland Islands, we see that these animals do not, under 

 new conditions of life, revert to or retain their aboriginal cha- 

 racter, as is so generally asserted to be the case by most 

 authors. 



Osteological Characters. 



When we remember, on the one hand, how frequently it is 

 stated that important parts of the structure never vary ; and, 

 on the other hand, on what small differences in the skeleton 

 fossil species have often been founded, the variability of the 

 skull and of some other bones in the domesticated rabbit well 

 deserves attention. It must not be supposed that the more 

 important differences immediately to be described strictly 

 characterise any one breed ; all that can be said is, that they 

 are generally present in certain breeds. We should bear in 

 mind that selection has not been applied to fix any character 

 in the skeleton, and that the animals have not had to support 

 themselves under uniform habits of life. We cannot account 

 for most of the differences in the skeleton ; but we shall see 

 that the increased size of the body, due to careful nurture and 

 continued selection, has affected the head in a particular 

 manner. Even the elongation and lopping of the ears have 

 influenced in a small degree the form of the whole skull. 

 The want of exercise has apparently modified the propor- 

 tional length of the limbs in comparison with that of the 

 body. 



As a standard of comparison, I prepared skeletons of two vrild 

 rabbits from Kent, one from the Shetland Islands, and one from 



