Class I. HARE. loi 



eluded j and he brings this animal as an inftance^ 

 aflertino;, from his own obfervation, that after the 

 firfl cad there remain fucceffive conceptions, and 

 other younglings very immature, and far from the 

 term of their exclufion ; but as the hare breeds? 

 very frequently in the year, there is no neceffity of 

 having recourfe to this accident * to account for 

 their numbers. The antients were acquainted with 

 this circumltance. Horace alludes to it in the 

 fecond fatire of the fourth book. 



Facundi leporis fapiens fedabitur armos, 

 fays the hon vivant, every man of tafte will prefer 

 the wing of the fruitful hare. Pliny as a philofo- 

 pher is more explicit, and afiigning a moral rea- 

 fon for the great encreafe of this animal gives 

 the following elegant account of it. Lepus omni- 

 um prad^ nafcens^ folus prater Dafypodem fuper- 

 feet at ^ aliudeducans^ aliudinutero pilis veftitum^ aliud 

 implume^ aliud inchoatum gerens pariter. 



Hares are very fubjed to fleas ; Linnaus tells us, 

 that the Balecarlians make a fort of cloth of the fur, 

 called fit •, which, by attracting thofe infedls, pre- 

 ferves the wearer from their troublefome attacks f . 



The hair of this creature forms a great article 

 in the hat manufacture •, and as this country cannot 



* For a farther account of this doftrinc, we refer the cu- 

 rious reader toM. deBujfonh works, vol. vi. p. 252, 279, &Cy 

 t Faun^ Suec, 25.. 



fupply 



