22 MAMMALIA. FERA. Myoxus. 



common kind, but live and breed in holes apart- The fur is of a dirty ash- 

 colour above, paler beneath, of a silky fineness, and 3 inches or more in 

 length. 



32. L. vmiabiUs. Alpine Hare, — Ears shorter than the 

 head, and black towards the tips, the rest of the body dusky in 

 summer, and white in winter. 



Barrington, Phil. Trans. 1772. p. 11, — Penn. Brit. Zool. i. 102 — Walker's 

 ■ Essays, p. 493. S\ White hare ; G, IVIaigheach-gheal — Inhabiting the 



Scottish mountains, and rarely descending lower than 1500 feet above 



the level of the sea. 

 The Hon. Daines Barrington assigns as the length, in inches, of the fore- 

 legs, from the uppermost joint to the toe, of the hare, Tf ; rabbit, 4.^ ; alpine 

 hare, 64 ; — of the hind-legs, in the hare, 11 ; rabbit, (i-^ ; alpine hare, lOf ; — 

 the length of the body fi-om the rump to the mouth, in the hare, 22 ; rabbit, 

 16"| ; alpine hare, 22. This last species holds, therefore, an intermediate 

 rank between the hare and the rabbit, in reference to its dimensions. The 

 ears are white behind, and in summer the}' are brownish before, and in win- 

 ter grey. The lips are always black. It lurks beneath stones and in holes 

 in precipices. Said to be easily tamed. Breeds a few hundred feet below the 

 summits of the higher mountains. Forster, in his Natural History of the Volga, 

 Phil. Trans. 17G8, p. 343., intimates that the fur of this species is greatly in- 

 ferior to that of the common hare. Dr I^each considers the L. alius of Bris- 

 son, to which he refers the Scottish hare, to be different from the L. variahi- 

 lis of Pallas (Boss's Voyage, App. No. iv. p. 151., and Annals of Phil. xiv. 

 201.) The following notices on the change of colour in this species are inte- 

 resting. " The varying hare becomes white in winter. This remarkable 

 change takes place in the following manner : About the middle of September 

 the grey feet begin to be white, and before the month ends, all the lour feet 

 are white, and the ears and muzzle are of a brighter colour. The white co- 

 lour gradually ascends the legs and thighs, and we observe under the grey 

 hair whitish spots, which continue to increase till the end of October; but 

 still the back continues of a grey colour, while the eye-brows and ears are 

 nearly white. From this period the change of colour advances very rapidly, 

 and by the middle of November the Avhole fur, with the exception of the tips 

 of the ears, which remain black, is of a shhiing white. The back becomes white 

 within eight days. During the whole of this remarkable change in the fur, 

 no hair falls from the animal ; hence it appears that the hair actually changes 

 its colour, and that there is no renewal of it. The fur retains its white colour 

 until the month of March, or even later, depending on the temperature of 

 the atmosphere, and by the middle of INIay it has again a grey colour. But 

 the spring change is different from the winter, as the hair is completely shed ;" 

 Edin. Phil. Journ. vol. ii. p. 101. The laws regulating the colour of the 

 summer and winter covering of quadrupeds and birds I have given in detail 

 in my " Philosophy of Zoology," vol. ii. p. 15. 



Gen. XX. MYOXUS. Dormouse. — No subsidiary incisors. 

 Roots of the grinders with fangs. — Grinders four on each 

 side. Hairy. Destitute of a cascum. 



33. M. avellanarius. Common Dormouse. — Fur above 

 tawny red ; beneath white ; tail bushy. 



Mus avellanarum, Merr. Pin. p. 1 07 — -Ray, Quad. p. 220 — Linn. Syst- 

 i. p. 83 — Penn. Brit. Zool. i. p. 110 — Walker's Essays, p. 499. £. 

 Sleeper ; rF, Pathew Inhabits woods and hedges. Rare in Scotland. 



