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XIV. On the Irish Hare. (Lepus Hibernicus.) ^^ William Thompson, Esq., 

 Vice-President of the Natural History Society of Belfast. 



Read 28th May, 1838. 



The Earl of Derby was the first to call the attention of English zoologists to 

 the differences existing between the common hare of Great Britain and that of 

 Ireland ; and for the purpose of having the matter duly investigated, he, in 

 April, 1833, transmitted specimens of the Irish hare to Mr. Yarrell, who exhi- 

 bited them at a meeting of the Linnaean Society. In the month of July in the 

 same year, this gentleman introduced the subject to the Zoological Society, at 

 the same time pointing out some of the more prominent characters which distin- 

 guish the two animals. With regard to the specific difference of the Irish hare, 

 Mr. Yarrell did not on either occasion offer an opinion. Mr. Jenyns, in his 

 Manual of British Vertebrate Animals, published in 1835, introduced the Irish 

 hare as a variety of the Lepus timidus, with the remark, that it " might almost 

 deserve to be considered a distinct species." Mr. Bell, in his work on British 

 Quadrupeds, completed in 1837, judging from external characters, brought it 

 forward for the first time as a different animal from the common hare of England. 

 In a communication to the Magazine of Zoology and Botany for August, 1 837, 

 Mr. Eyton stated, that from an investigation of the anatomical characters of the 

 Irish hare, he detected such differences as " would probably distinguish it as a 

 species, distinct from the common hare, did no other characters exist," (vol. ii. 

 p. 283.) 



Having thus looked retrospectively to the Irish hare, from the first simple 

 announcement of the characters in which it differs from the Lepus timidus, 

 until from internal, as well as external evidence, it is considered specifically dif- 

 ferent, it may be thought unnecessary to treat further on the subject, but the 

 sequel will, I trust, show, that it has not yet been entirely exhausted. 



