FOSSIL AND EECENT LAGOMOEPHA. 491 



Of the " Lepus hrasUicnsis " of Pciraguay, wliose fore-limbs (text-figs. XXIX-XXXI) 

 mucli i-esemljle those of tlie Rabbit, D'Azara states expressly that it is not a burrowing 

 animal*, and the same is confirmed by Rengger f. 



About the habits of Sylcilagiis stjlvaticus, the " Grey Rabbit " of the United States, we 

 know from Bachman that " though it digs no burrows in a state of nature, yet when 

 confined it is capable of digging to the depth of a foot or more under a wall in order to 

 effect its escape " |. S. artemisUe, closely related to S. sylvaticm, is described by Clark 

 as burroAving §. 



Special recognition is due to the following graphic description l^y Coues of the 

 locomotion of three different groups of Hares, viz. the Marsh-Hare {S. palustris), the 

 "Wood-Rabbit" (S. sylvaticas), and the "Jackass Hares" [L. callotis). Comparing 

 in the first place the two former, he says : — " The Marsh- Rabbit . . . looks smaller, although 

 actual measurement does not show any very decided difference in size. This deceptive 

 appearance is owing to the different gait . . . The animal's gait ... is a direct conse- 

 quence of the comparative shortness of its legs — of the hinder ones particularly . . . The 

 animal's general configuration is more squat and bunchy ; it seems to run with its body 

 nearer the groimd ]|, scuttles along with shorter, quicker steps, more constrained and 

 spasmodic, moving by jerks, as it were ; and has little or nothing of the free bouncing 

 movements that mark the progress of the Wood-Rabbit. In these respects the last- 

 named species is exactly intermediate between the Marsh-Rabbit and the large 

 " Jackass " Hares {Lepus caJlofis) of the West, in which length of stride, height of 

 bound, and general freedom of swinging gait reach an extreme. These Western Hares 

 are the swiftest of their tribe in this country, and the Marsh-Rabbit is just the opposite 

 As attested by all observers, the speed of the latter is appreciably less than that of even 



* " II ne fouille point de terriers, quoiqu'on dise, qu'etant poursuivi, il se cache sous des fcroncs pourris et entre 

 les debris des vegetaux." (' Essais siir THist. nat. des Quadrupedes de la Province du Paraguay,' ii. p. .58, 

 1801). 



t J. E. Piengger, ' Naturgeschichte der Silugethiere von Paraguay,' 1830. — "Hiihlen oder unterirdische Gange 

 grabt es keine " (p. 248). " Sein erster Lauf i.st scliuell ; er halt aber uicht lauge aus und wird bald von den 

 Hunden eiugeholt" (p. 2.5u). 



X .Tourn. Acad. Nat. Sei. Philad. vol. vii. p. 3:3.5 (18.37). The following statement as to the feeble endurance 

 in running of 6'. sylvaticas is almost identical with what Eengger says of <V. hrasiUensis : — " Although it 

 runs with considerable swiftness for a short distance, yet it soon becomes wearied, and an active dog would 

 overtake it, did it not reti'eat into some hole of the earth, into heaps of logs or stones, or into a tree with a hole 

 near its roots. ... In the Isorthern States, where the burrows of the Maryland marmot and skunk are numerous, 

 this hare retreats to their holes " (op. cit. p. 328). 



§ " Wherever the thorny clumps of chapparal and the loose sandy soil afford protection to this smallest of rabbits, 

 it may be found in great numbers. No matter when or whore one of these maj' be seen, a clump of chapparal or 

 its burrow seem always at hand ; thus it does not travel far, and a few jumps bring it to a place of safety. . . . 

 The burrows usually run into sand hillocks formed around bushes : sometimes, however, they are dug into the bare 

 compact surface." (J. H. Clark, in Spencer F. Baird, ' Mammals of N. America. — Part ii. Special Ileport upon the 

 Mammals of the Mexican Boundary,' p. 48, 1850.) 



11 Cy. also Bachman on Siilrilat/tis j'tilt'-'^ii'is: "Instead of leaping like the common Hare, it runs low to the ground, 

 darting through the marsh in the manner of the Hat." (J. Bachman, " Descr. of a new Species of Hare found in 

 South Carolina," Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. vii. p. 190. Head May 10th, 1830.) 



68* 



