262 Mr. Thompson on the Irish Hare. 



the same time added, that we regarded the hare of Ireland only as a very distinct 

 and well-marked variety of Lepus timidus. Further than this, as has been 

 already noticed, Mr. Yarrell and Mr. Jenyns did not go, Mr. Bell being the 

 first to characterize it as a species.* That it really is such I became at once 

 satisfied on a very minute examination of Scotch and Irish specimens towards the 

 end of 1833. About this time my friend Mr. Yarrell requested from me the 

 fullest information on the animal, preparatory to his drawing up a paper on it, 

 and for him such facts as I was conversant with were reserved, knowing as I did 

 that in such truly able hands the subject must be judiciously treated. In fur- 

 therance of the inquiry, I had at that time the pleasure of transmitting him a 

 specimen of the animal, and of presenting others to the British Museum. In 

 consequence of Mr. Yarrell having now relinquished this intention, I am induced 

 to bring together here such particulars of the history, &c. of this animal as are 

 known to me. 



In consulting the Mammalogie of Desmarest, and Synopsis Mammalium 

 of Fischer, the two latest general works upon the subject, I find that there is not 

 any species of Lepus described, corresponding to the hare of Ireland, nor is there 

 such in any other work to which I have had access. The species known on the 

 continent of Europe are but two in number, both of which, the Lepus timidus 

 and Lepus variabilis, are natives of the British Islands. Between these species 

 only, and the hare of Ireland, does it seem necessary to draw any comparison. 

 Considered in connexion with them, it holds in several points of view, both as to 

 form and colour, such as the relative length of ears to head, length of tall, In 

 assuming a white garb, (though not periodically,) &c., an intermediate place. 

 The habits of the Alpine hare, together with the localities to which it is restricted, 

 are very different from those of the Irish species ; the latter animal in these 

 respects exactly agreeing with the Lepus timidus. 



Specimens of the hare of Ireland and of Scotland, from the approximating 

 counties of Down and Wigton, and examined in a recent state, presented the 

 following differences :f 



* In the article " Hare," published in the British Cyclopaedia of Natural History, (1836,) it is 

 likewise so mentioned, vol. ii. p. 705. In a note contributed by the late E. T. Bennet, in his 

 edition of White's Selborne, (1837,) it is remarked that " Ireland has also its peculiar hare," p. 128. 



f The males were obtained in February ; the females in December. The latter are in both 

 species generally larger than the males. 



