112 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



out of a herd of 600, nearly 150 died; this Avas 70 years since. 

 About 57 years since a similar disease also happened. The cause 

 of the disease is obscure, and 1 have not heard of it in any of the 

 neighbouring parks. In the 1821 epidemic, I am informed thut 

 Dr. Andrews (Mr. "Ward's predecessor), Mr. Forsdyke, sen., and 

 many others, ate the venison with safety. There is also a disease 

 among the ewes at Cassiobury ; and out of 150, over 40 have 

 died, lyord Essex has had dead deer and dead sheep examined at 

 the Agricultural College, Cirencester, and he has had elaborate 

 reports sent him. These he has kindly lent me, and any one 

 interested in the subject may read them. The opinion given is that 

 the deer die of apoplexy from too good feeding. — A. T. Brett. 



Natural Selection in Ealhits. — The doctrines of Darwin are so 

 important to naturalists and biologists, that 1 think any fact that 

 tends to confirm or refute them is worthy of notice: Mr. Jonathan 

 King, of Wiggenhall, about 20 years since, had a wild grey rabbit 

 which produced three black ones. These he had preserved, and 

 now he has a large colony of black rabbits. He says that they 

 never come piebald, and although the black and grey breed together, 

 the offspring are always all black or all grey. This observation is 

 different from the one recorded by Darwin in his charming book, 

 ' A Naturalist's Voyage round the World.' Ho there says (p. 193) 

 in speaking of the wild rabbits of the Falkland Islands: "The 

 French naturalists have considered the black variety a distinct 

 species, and have called it Lepus Magellaniciis. The Gauchos 

 laughed at the idea of the black being different from the grey, and 

 they said that at all events it had not extended its range any 

 further than the grey kind ; that the two were never found 

 separate, and that they readily bred together and produced piebald 

 offspring. Of the latter I now possess a specimen, and it is marked 

 about the head differently from the French specific description. 

 This circumstance shows how cautious naturalists should be in 

 making species, for even Cuvier, on looking at the skull of one of 

 these animals, thought it was probably distinct." Besides the 

 black variety of rabbits, Mr. King formerly had a breed of the 

 silver-grey variety — black rabbits with white hairs, chiefly down 

 the back. The late Mr. Nathaniel Hibbert, of Munden, also gave 

 him a pair of white wild rabbits. These bred and continued as a 

 colony for some time, but being so conspicuous by reason of their 

 colour they met with many enemies, and they did not survive veiy 

 long, dying out according to the law of the survival of the fittest. 

 The black rabbits are now very numerous and outnumber the grey. 

 —A. T. Brett. 



